The sport of Boxing has seen better days in the US. Besides controversial Heavyweight title fights, most important/good fights don't even get mentioned on the news. Even worse, many of the best fights are only available through expensive Pay-Per-View shows. Luckily, there is actually a lot of Boxing out there on "Basic" and "Premium" Cable. So, if you have any interest in Boxing and want to see it on TV here are the places to check:

Friday Night Fights (ESPN2) - By far, the best Boxing show on TV. Any Boxing fan should catch every episode. The main event on FNF is usually pretty good, even though they rarely feature "important" Championship Title fights. Of course, this doesn't stop them from showing several "Fight of the Year" type matches every season. The ringside commentary is provided by the excellent Teddy Atlas and Bob Papas. Most important of all is that FNF features a "SportsCenter" discussion of all the news in Boxing and analysis by the young and hip Max Kellerman.

World Championship Boxing (HBO) - If you feel like shelling out a little money for a premium channel to see Boxing I recommend HBO. This show features the very best fights that aren't shown on Pay-Per-View (and repeats of those). Jim Lampley and "Big" George Foreman both do a good job commentating while Larry Merchant mumbles along. The production values are great and this is the only show to feature Michael Buffer's patented "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!"

Championship Boxing (Showtime) - There's something a little wrong and cheesy with this show (production, commentators, not sure), but it does feature some of the best fighters on television. This is basically a slightly flawed clone of the above show. For some bizarre reason, the ring announcer is always pitched to as the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr.

Boxing After Dark (HBO) - If HBO can't find a belt lying around but they still have a good fight on their hands it becomes Boxing After Dark. This show recently featured the amazing fight between Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti. In general, these tend to be very excellent fights that just don't involve any title belts.

ShoBox: The Next Generation (Showtime) - This is an odd little show featuring "up and coming" prospects. This usually means they are fighters that no one has ever heard of. Sometimes there's a good reason for this. Occasionally you do get to see a future Boxing star on the rise though.

Tuesday Night Fights (ESPN2) - FNF did so well, ESPN2 has added this during the summer. There's no Teddy Atlas, Max Kellerman or SportsCenter here, but it is usually entertaining. Along with this, ESPN will sometimes also feature a "Thursday Night Special" that is similar to this show but with much better fighters.

Sunday Night Fights (Fox Sports Net) - If you are a casual fan of Boxing I highly recommend you do NOT watch this steaming pile of a show. The production is horrible, the announcing is horrible and the intro to the show has to be seen to be believed. It features Sammy Hagar "singing" some horrible song that actually ends with him yelling "Fox Rocks!". They also feature a female ring announcer who wears less than the Round Card Girls. Recently they've been trying ridiculous things like interviewing boxers in their corners during the fight. Despite all this, they still manage to throw together an ok card sometimes.

Telefutura also features some kind of Boxing show but I haven't seen it since it's in Spanish.

Other than that, you're gonna' have to lay down $35-$55 to see the fight on Pay-Per-View. Many people argue that this is one of the problems Boxing is facing. The most important events in most other sports (World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, World Cup, etc.) are on Network TV for "free". It isn't surprising that not many people are big fans of Boxing when they can't even see the best it has to offer.


If you don't like the idea of skilled professional Boxing but do want to see people get punched in the face there are some options for you. These shows are not actually "Boxing", but I thought I'd mention them.

ToughMan Competition - This show features "regular guys" duking it out for 3 rounds. This is more "exciting" than real Boxing since the fighters don't have the skill to actually block punches and do nothing but through wild haymakers. If you took all the bad stereotypes about Boxing and put them in a tv show you would get this.

ThunderBox - This show is a real travesty. It actually tries to combine Professional Boxing and Professional Wrestling. Even though it features actual Boxers sometimes, they try to create ridiculous "storylines". They also pay the fighters "by the punch".

Celebrity Boxing - This combined with Sunday Night Fights leads me to believe that Fox actually has something against Boxing and is trying to finish it off. This show features notorius "celebrities" punching at each other.

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