PHILADELPHIA (Feb. 9, 2018) – On Saturday night, a highly-anticipated battle between a former world champion and a world title challenger headlines a big night of boxing in the Championship City of Philadelphia, as Hard Hitting Promotions partners with Facebook FIGHTNIGHT LIVE to showcase a card featuring a number of undefeated fighters and rising area prospects. Fight fans from across the globe can catch names like Lundy, Corley, Webster, Cuevas, Rahman and Baumgardner beginning at 7 p.m. live from South Philly on any device wherever Facebook is available, as the easy-to-access combat sports platform delivers its second show of the New Year.
“Our Facebook FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series has showcased outstanding cards from New York to Chicago to Arizona to the heartland, and we’re really looking forward to capturing exceptional action on Saturday from the Fighting City – and the Championship City – of Philadelphia. Saturday’s card features so many fighters that all boxing fans have heard of, and some exciting prospects that Hard Hitting Promotions has been doing a great job of building in the Philly area,” said Mark Fratto, Principal of Linacre Media. “The FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series will deliver its 1,000,000th view live from 2300 Arena and we want to thank fight fans everywhere for their support.”
In the main event on Saturday, Philadelphia’s “Hammerin'” Hank Lundy (28-6-1, 14 KOs) looks to electrify his hometown faithful as the former world title challenger takes on former WBO Junior Welterweight World Champion DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley (50-28-1, 28 KOs), in what will be the 80th career bout for the veteran. In the co-feature, super middleweight contender Derrick “Take it to the Bank” Webster (24-1, 13 KOs) meets hard hitting Colombian Francisco Cordero (38-9, 29 KOs). The card also features a number of intriguing prospects – including Alicia Baumgardner (4-0, 4 KOs) as she vies for the WBC International Female Super Featherweight strap, unblemished lightweight Jeremy “King” Cuevas (6-0, 5 KOs), heavyweight Hasim “Gold Blooded” Rahman Jr. (3-0, 3 KOs) – the undefeated son of the two-time world heavyweight champion – and unbeaten cruiserweight Marcos Suarez (5-0-1, 1 KO).
“We’re honored and privileged to be able to bring such a sought-after main event – an attraction three years in the making – to Philadelphia. This will be one of those legendary fights in this city, one that boxing fans will really be talking about. People who love boxing will not want to miss this fight and won’t have to, thanks to our page and the Facebook FIGHTNIGHT LIVE channel,” said Manny Rivera of Hard Hitting Promotions.
Over the first nine months of programming, the numbers on the 11-show FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series have showed promise and potential for the new platform with an average of close to 90,000 fight fans tuning in per event and nearly one-million fans served.
The Sept. 9 “Real Deal Promotions: Empire State” from Resorts World Casino (225,000), the August CES “Super Saturday” from Foxwoods (203,000), the Sept. CES “Twin River Twinbill” from Lincoln, R.I. (157,000) all topped 150,000 views, and collectively the 10-show series saw a total of more than 18,000 total hours of Facebook video consumed by 986,786-plus users across all devices.
In addition to the raw viewership numbers, the fully-interactive, fan-friendly productions have seen more than 133,000 collective live post engagements (12,000-plus per show), including more than 92,000 “likes” or “loves,” more than 17,000 comments and 5,000-plus shares.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE broadcasts are viewed by 76 percent men, 24 percent women. The top demographic is comprised of males ages 25-34, which encompasses approximately 30.0 percent of the audience, on average.
The Sept. 9 “Real Deal Promotions: Empire State” set a new bar with 224,658 views and the Sept. 15-16 DiBella-CES doubleheader carried the series to three-quarters-of-a-million views in just over four months. The Aug. 26 Foxwoods “Super Saturday” show stands out individually with 3,336 live hours of content viewed, while the Sept. 15 DiBella card saw more than 40,000 viewer interactions including almost 39,000 “likes” or “loves.”
The FIGHTNIGHT LIVE page on Facebook has more than 79,000 fans and more than 81,000 followers.
On Saturday night, Feb. 10, live from 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia, fans can expect a high-impact, multi-camera streaming experience complete with graphics, animations, replays, interviews and an announce team anchored by blow-by-blow announcer Marc Abrams of AWE, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 15Rounds.com and AbramsBoxing.com. To provide spectators with a fully-interactive ringside experience, commentators will ask and respond to questions from the Facebook audience throughout the broadcast.
Created and produced by Linacre Media out of New York City, the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series features professional announcers, multiple camera angles, television graphics, replays and behind-the-scenes access and interviews. The streamed shows are available globally wherever Facebook is available. The initiative not only enables fans from around the world to tune in, but also gives up-and-coming fighters a global platform to showcase their abilities, gives promoters an accessible “broadcast” solution and gives sponsors the ability to reach a mass audience via branded content.
More FIGHTNIGHT LIVE Winter/Spring 2018 dates will be officially announced in the coming weeks.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE is available online at: https://www.facebook.com/FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE/
Follow all the action via social media at FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Facebook, @FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Instagram and @FIGHTNIGHTLIVE_ on Twitter, or by using the hashtag #FIGHTNIGHTLIVE. For the latest Linacre Media events and broadcast schedule, follow @LinacreMedia across all social platforms or use the tags #LinacreMediaEvents or #LinacreMediaOnTV.