HBO’s hit late-night boxing franchise presents a split-site, world championship tripleheader, highlighted by a red-hot middleweight title clash in Atlantic City, plus an intriguing light heavyweight bout from Wales when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK: DANIEL GEALE VS. DARREN BARKER, JONATHAN ROMERO VS. KIKO MARTINEZ AND NATHAN CLEVERLY VS. SERGEY KOVALEV is seen SATURDAY, AUG. 17 at 9:45 p.m. (ET/PT) from Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City (live ET/tape-delayed PT) and the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales (tape-delayed ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team of Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr. will be ringside in Atlantic City 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: Aug. 18 (8:45 a.m.) and 19 (12:45 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Aug. 18 (5:00 p.m.) and 20 (12:10 a.m.)
The main event of the evening pits Australia’s Daniel Geale (29-1, 15 KOs) against Darren Barker (25-1, 16 KOs) of Barnet, U.K., in a scheduled 12-round middleweight title bout at Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Undefeated in eight straight fights, Geale, 32, most recently avenged his only loss, against countryman Anthony Mudine, and now looks to continue his hot streak in his U.S. and HBO debut. Barker, 31, boasts an impressive streak of his own, scoring fourth-round victories in his last two matches; in Oct. 2011, he battled valiantly against pound-for-pound ace Sergio Martinez in a middleweight championship fight before being knocked out in the 11th round.
In a 12-round light heavyweight title clash of undefeated fighters presented from Cardiff, Wales, Welshman Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12 KOs) squares off against Sergey Kovalev (21-0-1, 19 KOs) of Chelyabinsk, Russia. Cleverly, 26, seeks to defend his belt for the sixth time and continue his climb to the top of the division. Pursuing his first world title, the 30-year-old Kovalev could be one the sport’s breakout stars this year. Both men are making their HBO debut.
The opening televised bout at Revel Casino Hotel will be a 12-round junior featherweight title fight between Colombia’s Jonathan Romero (23-0, 12 KOs) and Kiko Martinez (28-4, 20 KOs) of Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain. Romero, 26, scored a 12-round split-decision victory over Alejandro Lopez in a 122-pound title bout last February. Martinez, 27, is a former three-time European champion.
Immediately following the HBO BOXING AFTER DARK coverage, fight fans can switch to HBO Latino for more action when HBO LATINO BOXING: THOMAS DULORME VS. FRANKIE FIGUEROA is presented at 12:30 a.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from Revel Casino Hotel. In this ten-round welterweight contest, Thomas Dulorme (17-1, 13 KOs) of Carolina, Puerto Rico meets rugged veteran Frankie Figueroa (20-5-1, 13 KOs) from the Bronx. The fight will be presented exclusively on HBO Latino, with commentary by HBO Spanish-language announcers.
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The executive producer of HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Doug Getts.
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