ABC to broadcast Wilder-Fury 2 pre-show on Feb. 22 as Fox, ESPN+ name broadcast team for PPV
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak may consider proclaiming Feb. 22 as Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury day in his state, as not only are the heavyweights going to fight a hotly anticipated rematch for the WBC and lineal titles at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas on that date, but they’ll be all over television that day and week, as well.
Fox Sports and ESPN announced that ABC will broadcast a live one-hour preview show that will air at 1 p.m. ET on the day of the fight. It will be rebroadcast at 6 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS.
That will be a major part of a full slate of fight week coverage of the event.
The networks announced ESPN’s Joe Tessitore will do the play-by-play. He will be joined ringside by former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis of Fox and former super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Andre Ward. Long-time referee and judge Larry Hazzard Sr. will serve as the unofficial ringside scorer.
ESPN’s Max Kellerman and Fox’s Brian Kenny will anchor coverage from the desk, where they will be joined by former welterweight champions Timothy Bradley Jr. and Shawn Porter. Kate Abdo, Mark Kriegel and Bernardo Osuna will serve as reporters.
There will be a slew of content starting this Friday on ESPN when “Wilder vs. Fury II: The Roundtable” premieres. On Sunday, Jeremy Schaap of ESPN’sE60 will do an in-depth interview with Fury that will air at 7 p.m. ET.
ESPN’s “SportsCenter on the Road” will emanate from Las Vegas beginning Tuesday, Feb. 18, with Toni Collins, Stan Verrett, Kriegel, Tessitore and Osuna providing reports. Kellerman’s show, “Max on Boxing,” will broadcast daily Feb. 18-21. The shows on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will be one-hour, while the Wednesday version will follow the live news conference and will be 30 minutes.
The news conference will broadcast live on ESPN2 and Fox Sports 1 at 4:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 19, with Abdo hosting.
The popular “First Take” show on ESPN, featuring Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim and Kellerman, will air live from the MGM Grand Casino on Feb. 20-21 beginning at 10 a.m. ET each day. Also, on Feb. 18, Fox Sports 1 will broadcast “Speak for Yourself,” a 90-minute show featuring Jason Whitlock and Marcellus Wiley from the MGM Grand.
The weigh-in will be broadcast live on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. ET from the MGM Grand Garden, hosted by Tessitore, Kenny, Porter and Abdo.
There will be full coverage of the undercards on Feb. 22, and the pay-per-view begins at 9 p.m. ET. It will be available to purchase from cable and satellite providers as well as on the Fox Sports app and on ESPN+.
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