ESPN 3D to Air Friday Night Fights in 3D: First Boxing 3D Telecast

ESPN 3D will present boxing in 3D for the first time Feb. 18 with ESPNs Friday Night Fights telecast at 9 p.m. ET from Salisbury, Md. The fight will also be televised on ESPN2.

“We anticipate delivering an extraordinary visual experience with our 3D coverage of boxing”, said Phil Orlins, Coordinating Producer, ESPN 3D. “3D is most impactful when you have the opportunity to shoot from close proximity to the action making boxing one of the most ideal sports to cover in 3D.”

Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will be ringside describing the action from the Wicomico Civic Center where two undefeated welterweights are featured in co-main events.

“Here’s hoping we get a spectacular, head-snapping, sweat-spraying, one punch knockout just a few feet away from an ESPN 3D camera!” said Tessitore, who covered ESPN 3D college football games throughout the 2010-11 season, including coverage of the BCS National Championship game. “The color and energy we captured for the BCS National Championship game on ESPN 3D was everything we thought it would be and more. Among those of us on that production team, Friday Night Fights is the telecast we’ve been waiting for. The one descriptive I’ll often use for 3D is that it provides fans the best seat in the house and boxing tends to do that better than most sports as it is. 3D will only add to it.”

Matt Sandulli, ESPN Sr. Coordinating Producer for ESPN’s Friday Night Fight’s said, “We are very excited to see the results of boxing in 3D because it may benefit the most of any sport from 3D because of the nature of the up close coverage.”

Friday’s historic 3D event will feature undefeated southpaw knockout artist, and hometown favorite, Fernando Guerrero (20-0, 16 KO’s, WBA #9), and undefeated welterweight Shawn Porter (17-0, 13 KO’s) in 10-round co-main events. Guerrero, coming off an impressive fourth-round knockout win in his last fight, will meet Indiana’s Derrick Findley (17-4, 11 KO’s). After Guerrero’s last fight ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael wrote, “Guerrero was a standout amateur and has become one of the top prospects in boxing since turning pro in 2007. He’s exciting, has charisma and draws big crowds when he fights.”

Cleveland native Porter, who is coming off an impressive ninth-round October TKO win against Hector Munoz, will meet Buffalo’s Anges Adjaho (17-4, 9 KO’s). Porter, who gained fame for giving Manny Pacquiao a good work in sparring, used a versatile attack, and accurate combination punching to dominate in his last fight. Porter had a tremendous amateur career including a win over Fernando Guerrero.

About ESPN 3D
ESPN was the first to announce in the United States an exclusive 3D network in January 2010 which was the culmination of more than three years of testing 3D television. ESPN produced many 3D domestic telecasts in 2010, including: college football and basketball, the State Farm Home Run Derby, the Masters, the Harlem Globetrotters and NBA games. ESPN 3D first produced the USC vs. Ohio State college football game in September 2009 which became the starting point for the network. ESPN has developed best practices for utilizing and producing 3D technology in live game applications. In addition, ESPN utilizes cutting-edge technology located at the ESPN Innovation Lab in Orlando at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World to continue to develop innovative production enhancements. ESPN 3D is available in the United States to approximately 62.5 million households and has carriage agreements with AT&T U-Verse, Comcast, DIRECTV and Time Warner Cable. It will launch in 2011 on Verizon FiOS TV. Sony was named the first official sponsor of the network in January 2010.