Top Rank names all-female announce team

Broadcast history will be made Saturday, Aug. 14 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Crystina Poncher and reigning WBO junior lightweight world champion Mikaela Mayer will form boxing’s first-ever all-female broadcast team.

Poncher (play-by-play) and Mayer (color commentary) will call the international broadcast of the tripleheader featuring the third fight between WBA super flyweight world champion Joshua “El Profesor” Franco and former world champion Andrew “The Monster” Moloney, undefeated junior welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. against Antonio Moran, and the professional debut of middleweight Nico Ali Walsh, grandson of Muhammad Ali.

The international broadcast will be available to millions of fight fans in more than 150 countries. Viewers in the United States, however, will likely be getting an all-male broadcast crew.

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    • If you’re question is in reference to the all-female broadcast team, then the answer is no, I really don’t care about that. Can’t help but wonder though if these two were the best available announcers for this broadcast, or if somebody is just trying to check a box to show they’re “woke”. Either way, I don’t think it hurts anything, and congrats to them for being the first. Probably not a big deal to many on this forum, but I’m sure it is for these two ladies.

      • Your ‘woke’ reference is rather sarcastic, but I agree with everything else you outlined

        • @BoriMex The “woke” comment wasn’t necessarrily meant to be sarcastic. Don’t know how else to word it. Not saying Top Rank is doing it here, but there are a lot of occasions these days where people are put in position strictly (or in part, anyway) because of their gender, race, etc, whether they’re the most qualified or not. Not real familiar with the two ladies in this article, so I have no idea if that’s what’s going on here. Either way, it’s just one boxing card. No harm in this. I can think of several other situations where putting unqualified people into positions they don’t belong in because they’re transgender, or strictly because of their race IS a problem, but that’s a discussion for a different forum I guess.

          • Agree! Totally respect your point of view and you realize this goes both ways in that very unqualified white males have been shoved down our throats for the sake of keeping things status quo

          • @BoriMex I would love to hear examples of what you’re speaking of….and I don’t doubt that you do have some valid examples…..and I’d love to discuss why lowering standards for important positions (Air Traffic Controllers, for instance) for the sake of diversity is not only insulting to minorities, I would think, but dangerous in general. This subject is way too involved to have a deep discussion here though. This will drift way off topic. If there’s another forum that you, or anybody else knows of where diversity/politics is the intended topic, let me know the site and I’d be happy to discuss it there. It’s a complicated issue to say the least.

  • Layla Ali’s nephew will not be the next star in the family. Her son Curtis Conway Jr will be. Nico & Curtis Jr. are 1st cousins. Their mothers are sisters.

  • I don’t think many people care about this. Top Rank going for some woke marketing to get more attention for the event. Move along. Nothing to see here.

  • I’ve never been a fan of female boxing announcers. I am a big fan of female ring card girls. I don’t mind a female ref now and then on the undercard. I got nothing against women judges (except Adelaide Byrd and Eugenia Williams) Boxing is traditionally a mens sport. I am not a fan of womens boxing, because they just aren’t too good. I think women’s MMA has better strikers than womens boxing. I wish them luck, but kinda hard when I am used to Teddy Atlas, Max Kellerman, Jim Lampley, Al Bernstein.

  • Really happy to see the advancement of women’s rights right in front of us. However, I don’t think anyone really cares.

  • Poncher and BoMac were a good team. I guess with Crawford about to fly the coup they need a replacement. I’m waiting for the first transgender team. Arum is woke enough to do it.

    • “Arum is woke enough to do it.”

      For sure. I’m only surprised Arum and the like haven’t got them kneeling with BLM painted on the ring mats yet.

  • Really, who gives a crap about this stuff. Boxing has enough trouble creating divisions where none need to exist.

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