Wednesday 3 March 2010

Mayweather-Mosley revives terrific '24/7' -- ESPN

By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com

We all know Floyd Mayweather Jr. is comfortable in the boxing ring, but as we all have learned over the past few years, he's just as comfortable in front of the camera.

Mayweather's presence is what helped make HBO's "24/7" reality series a big hit since the inception of the show in 2007 with "De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7" and "Mayweather/Hatton 24/7."

So it should come as no surprise that HBO announced Tuesday at the kickoff news conference in New York to promote the Shane Mosley-Mayweather welterweight title fight that the series will return to follow the buildup to the much-anticipated HBO pay-per-view fight on May 1 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The four-episode "24/7 Mayweather/Mosley" will begin airing April 10 (10 p.m. ET). The second and third episodes will air on subsequent Saturday nights (the April 17 episode debuts at 9:30 p.m. ET and the April 24 episode debuts at 8:30 p.m.). The finale will air on Friday, April 30 (8:30 p.m. ET), allowing HBO's cameras to capture that day's weigh-in.

This will be the fourth time in the eight boxing editions of "24/7," which has won a combined seven Sports Emmy Awards (and deserved them all), that Mayweather will be one of the stars. It will be the first time that Mosley will have the cameras following him throughout a training camp.

"We can't wait to get the cameras rolling on Floyd and Shane as they prepare for this big event," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said in making the announcement. "We appreciate all the access and cooperation that we get from the boxers and their teams. We know the bar is set high and we are excited to meet the challenge."

"24/7" is consistently great. It provides lots of training camp access and certainly works to help market the pay-per-view. From the superb music (including the great theme music) to the lush production values to the sweet tones of narrator Liev Schreiber -- count me in as a big-time fan of the show.

I even enjoyed the recent auto racing-themed series that followed Jimmie Johnson and his team's preparation for the Daytona 500, and I'm not an auto racing fan. But you know what? After watching every episode of that series, I tuned in to the 500.

Mayweather is must-see TV. Adding to the drama, undoubtedly, will be having his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., and his uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, around. Never a dull moment with those guys.

Although Mayweather always makes things fun, I am also looking forward to seeing Mosley, long one of the top stars in the sport, get the "24/7" treatment. His trainer, Naazim Richardson, should provide plenty of interesting nuggets as well.

Mosley-Mayweather is one of the best and most significant fights in boxing. Even without a "24/7," it would do big pay-per-view numbers. With a "24/7" backing it up, the numbers will go through the roof. And I wouldn't be surprised if some of the folks at HBO will need to clear off a little more shelf space for some more Emmys.

Source: espn.go.com

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