Showtime is hanging up its gloves.
After 37 years of boxing action, Showtime Sports has signed off for the final time. Paramount Global confirmed in October that the network’s sports operation will be dissolved by the end of the year, with future sports programming falling under the CBS Sports banner. Sports chief Stephen Espinoza and his team will depart at the end of the year.
Now Showtime Boxing’s four decades chronicling the sport, the athletes involved and some of its greatest bouts has been documented in End of an Era, a 38-minute special produced by multi-time Emmy-winner Sam Shouvlin and Emmy-nominated All Access director Nick Manning.
Among those bouts are “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler’s defeat of John “The Beast” Mugabi, both of Mike Tyson‘s epic battles with Razor Ruddock, Evander Holyfield bouts with Buster Douglas and Michael Morrer, Tyson-Holyfield I and II, Pernell Whitaker vs. Julio César Chávez, Diego Corrales’ defeat of José Luis Castillo, Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley, the 2018 bout between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, several Jake Paul fights and Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s bouts against Canelo Álvarez, Marcos Maidana, Manny Pacquiao Conor McGregor and Logan Paul.
End of an Era is available now on the Showtime Sports YouTube Channel. It is also embedded below.
End of an Era gives viewers a backstage pass to some of the greatest bouts in boxing history, including the “Bite Fight” between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, the epic clash between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo, which many call the greatest fight of all time, and the exhilarating trilogy between Rafael Márquez and Israel Vázquez.
The special is set against the backdrop of the final Showtime pay-per-view event, Benavídez vs. Andrade in November, the special takes viewers behind the scenes with a group that is widely regarded as one of the leading boxing production teams in the world.
Showtime Championship Boxing debuted in March 1986, and was broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month. A sister program, ShoBox: The New Generation, occasionally aired on Friday nights, featuring fights between boxing prospects. It has exited the sport after nearly 2,000 bouts and five years after longtime rival HBO did the same in 2018.
The special chronicles the history of Showtime Boxing through interviews its broadcasters, including International Boxing Hall of Fame play-by-play man Al Bernstein and reporter Jim Gray aa well as legendary ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. Also included are Showtime Boxing host Brian Custer, play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo, three-division world champion Abner Mares and Spanish language commentators Alejandro Luna and former world champion Raul Márquez, among others.
Here is the full 38-minute End of an Era special:
