Showtime Boxing announcers are Mauro Ranallo, Jimmy Lennon Sr. and Jimmy Lennon Jr. Ranallo has been calling for Showtime since 2007.
Showtime Championship Boxing has been one of the fan-favorite boxing broadcasting channels to turn on since its first telecast in March 1986.
The show has also covered some of the legendary boxing bouts in history, including eight Mike Tyson pay-per-view heavyweight fights and two of Evander Holyfield, among many others. It recently covered the highly esteemed bout of Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia as well.
Showtime has also started a sister show titled "ShoBox: The New Generation," called by Barry Tompkins, Steve Farhood, and Raul Marquez.
Meanwhile, a team of broadcast experts keeps Showtime's radio and TV telecasts of the show quite interesting. While Ranallo leads the way, Jimmy Lennon Sr. and Jr. are the amusing ring announcers.
Showtime Boxing Commentators
Veteran broadcaster Mauro Ranallo has been the mainstay for boxing tonight on Showtime performing the play-by-play duties with elegance.
Steve Albert previously carried on the commentary duties for Showtime network calling on some of the biggest fights from 1987 to 2007.
Ranallo started his career as an announcer and manager at All-Star Wrestling in Vancouver when he was 16. Since then, he gained many experiences throughout the country before moving to Japan for the same purpose in 2015.
Mauro's popularity grew in the same year when he joined WWE and sat on the commentary panel of SmackDown till 2017. He was shifted to WWE's developmental brand, NXT. He was there until 2020 before moving to Impact Wrestling the next year.
Besides his thriving fame in TV wrestling, Ranallo also covers Glory Kickboxing and Invicta Fighting Championships MMA. Apart from that, he also beholds the experience of calling games in Canadian football, ice hockey and mixed martial arts events.
He also makes time to speak on mental health issues as a dedicated mental health advocate, as Ranallo himself suffers from bipolar disorder.
Showtime Boxing Interviewer
The boxing reporters on Showtime are:
- Brian Custer
- Jim Gray
Brian Custer
Brian Custer joined the network as a host in January 2014 and has continued to date. Custer is responsible for looking after the commentary progress as the face of Showtime Boxing's TV broadcasts.
Meanwhile, his career and knowledge of the field are not only limited to covering boxing. Custer joined ESPN as a Sportscenter host in June 2021. He is also available as a play-by-play commentator for college football and basketball.
Brian had made his shift from Fox Sports to ESPN after spending seven years on the network. He used to call on college football and college basketball there as well.
Custer was quite a cult hero for the Seton Hall fans during his time at FOX Sports. Previously, he was at Sportsnet New York from 2006 to 2015, where he bagged two Emmy Awards.
Brian initially started out as a news and sports reporter for the local ABC-TV affiliate channel before becoming big in the industry.
The famed Custer is also a prostate cancer survivor; hence he frequently speaks on behalf of the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Jim Gray
Jim Gray first joined Showtime in 1992 as a reporter for the Championship Boxing Series. As of 2023, he leads the show's reporting department as the chief interviewer.
Gray is best known for reporting the fight between Tyson and Evander Holyfield in 1997, the iconic bout where Tyson bit off Holyfield's earlobe.
Gray had interviewed Mills Lane, the referee who disqualified Tyson for a reason, and the interview won him an Emmy. The veteran has been a part of many celebrated sports moments in history to date.
Meanwhile, he has interviewed legendary figures, including Nelson Mandela, Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, John Glenn, and the last ten U.S. Presidents, during and outside his sports interviewing duties.
Gray was also the chief interviewer during the live television broadcast of the Olympic Games in 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2008, and 2012. Apart from boxing, Gray has covered NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA games, and PGA golf in his ongoing veteran career.
While he is busy with Showtime Boxing on Sundays, he also makes time appearing on Fox and SiriusXM as a reporter, commentator, and interviewer.
The sportscaster hails from Denver and has won 12 National Emmy Awards. He has won the title of Sports Reporter of the Year from the American Sportscasters Association (ASA) three times.
Showtime Boxing Analysts
The current boxing analysts for the network are:
- Al Bernstein
- Abner Mares
Al Bernstein
Al Bernstein joined Showtime in 2003 as a boxing analyst. Coming into 2023, he guides the way for others as the chief color analyst.
He also looks after Channel 5 as their main analyst as of 2011. Bernstein started his career in 1980 when he joined ESPN as a boxing analyst and covered the Top Rank Boxing series.
Al also covered other boxing matches, MLB, NBA, NFL, and their drafts with SportsCenter during his time with ESPN. Hence, his remarkable contribution to the field got him inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012, per Yahoo Sports.
While Bernstein has impressed the sports media field with his aptitude, he is also a man of many careers. He was initially a newspaperman turned managing editor at Lerner Newspapers in the 1970s.
He then started writing about boxing during the 80s before becoming an analyst. Moreover, after eight years into ESPN, Al recorded his first album, "My Very Own Songs," about television and sports.
His second album, "Let The Games Begin," was released in 1996, and he also started his way as a live musical performer. Al is currently 72 years old and is still going strong in his broadcasting career.
Abner Mares
Abner Mares was born on 28 November 1985 in Jalisco, Mexico. He is notable for winning gold at the 2002 World Cadet Championships and many other titles at the start of his amateur career.
As a professional boxer, the Mexican-American star is best known for wielding numerous world championships in three weight classes.
He held the IBF bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012, the WBC super bantamweight title from 2012 to 2013, the WBC featherweight title in 2013, and the WBA (Regular) featherweight title from 2016 to 2018.
Abner was out of action for eight years till 2022 looking after his recurring eye injury. He had undergone surgery on his right eye to repair a detached retina in January 2019.
During his absence, he booked a spot at the Showtime announce table as an analyst. He then made his comeback into the ring in September 2022, where he faced off against Miguel Flores in downtown Los Angeles.
Now that he is back in the ring, Mares comes to the Showtime table when he is available. Mares said that he was back to boxing despite a long absence and an injured eye due to his love for the sport.
Note: Amir Khan, Austin Trout, and Daniel Jacobs have served as guest analysts. Also, the third role was previously filled by Antonio Tarver, Ferdie Pacheco, Bobby Czyz, and Paulie Malignaggi among others.
