US pay-television broadcaster HBO has acquired the rights for the boxing match between World Boxing Council heavyweight title-holder Vitali Klitschko and Manuel Charr in Moscow, Russia on September 8.
HBO will broadcast the fight on a same-day tape-delay basis, as the opening bout of what is being billed as a world championship boxing ‘triple-header’. The fight between super middleweight world champion Andre Ward and light heavyweight world champion Chad Dawson tops the bill, and will follow Mexico’s WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco’s title defence against John Molina Junior.
HBO’s acquisition of Vitali Klitschko’s fight comes as a surprise because in recent years the US broadcaster has largely ignored the fights of both Klitschko brothers, although it did show Wladimir’s victory over David Haye and Vitali’s win over Tomasz Adamek last year.
Kerry Davis, the senior vice president of sports programming at HBO, told the BoxingScene.com website that following Wladimir’s win over Haye last summer, HBO agreed a deal to show forthcoming Klitscko fights, so long as the pay-television broadcaster was able to schedule them in to their programming.