HBO BOXING® PRESENTS A PAIR OF SENSATIONAL SHOWDOWNS WHEN
HBO BOXING AFTER DARK®: BRYANT JENNINGS VS. MIKE PEREZ AND
DANIEL GEALE VS. MATTHEW MACKLIN IS SEEN SATURDAY, MAY 24
HBO’s hit late-night boxing franchise returns for a sizzling Memorial Day weekend doubleheader when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK: BRYANT JENNINGS VS. MIKE PEREZ AND DANIEL GEALE VS. MATTHEW MACKLIN is seen SATURDAY, MAY 24 at 10:00 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: May 25 (8:00 a.m.) and 27 (12:30 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: May 25 (3:30 p.m.) and 26 (1:15 a.m.)
Unbeaten competitors headline the feature event, as Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings (18-0, 10 KOs) meets Cuban native Mike Perez (20-0-1, 12 KOs), now of Cork, Ireland, in a 12-round heavyweight title elimination bout. The agile 29-year-old Jennings routinely dominates his opponents, and has lately elevated his performance, forcing the referees to halt his last four fights, three of them before the sixth round. In late January, against the rugged, undefeated Artur Szpilka, Jennings’ bodywork hampered his opponent, nearly sending him to the canvas in the tenth before the official’s stoppage.
Perez, 28, warrants respect as he continues to rise to the top of the heavyweight division. Scoring a draw in mid-January against Carlos Takam in his last HBO appearance, he expects a different outcome this time, aiming for another notch on his undefeated belt.
Veteran middleweight contenders return to HBO to open the night when Daniel Geale (30-2, 16 KOs) of Mount Annan, New South Wales, Australia squares off against Matthew Macklin (30-5, 20 KOs), the fighting pride of Birmingham, West Midlands, UK, in a 160-pound tilt scheduled for ten rounds. Despite flooring Darren Barker in the sixth round of their compelling Aug. 2013 title match, the 33-year-old Geale came up short on the judges’ final scorecards. However, he rebounded from the second loss of his career by battering Garth Wood, prompting his opponent’s corner to retire. In his second appearance on HBO, the Australian intends to confirm his position as his country’s top fighter.
Macklin, 31, has tested the most-skilled pugilists in the 160-pound division —including Sergio Martinez, Gennady Golovkin and Felix Sturm – like nobody else. His depth of experience, along with a unanimous decision last December against the then-undefeated Lamar Russ, should give him unwavering confidence against any competitor.
“Face Off with Max Kellerman: Cotto vs. Martinez” debuts immediately following the doubleheader (midnight-12:15 a.m.), kicking off a slate of original programming dedicated to the June 7 HBO Pay-Per-View showdown between Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden.
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All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
The executive producer of HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is Rick Bernstein; producer, Dave Harmon; director, Johnathan Evans.
® HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.
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