Ricky Burns kicks off a bumper season of boxing on Sky Sports when he defends his world title against Raymundo Beltran in Glasgow on Saturday night (September 7).
The WBO lightweight champion returns to action as the season cranks up a gear following the brief summer hiatus.
In addition to stacked domestic shows, Sky Sports will also be bringing viewers live and exclusive coverage of some big international fights.
The new season of live boxing on Sky gets underway with a mouth-watering selection of international bills during September and October.
David Haye’s super-fight with Tyson Fury is the highlight of a packed schedule that already includes some of the biggest names in world boxing.
This includes the technically brilliant Juan Manuel Marquez who so convincingly beat Manny Pacquiao last year, British Olympic hero Anthony Joshua MBE in his professional debut, plus the likes of fellow Olympic champion Luke Campbell and Sheffield’s fighting star Kell Brook.
Commenting on the channel’s line-up of fight nights this autumn, Adam Smith, commentator and executive producer of boxing at Sky Sports, said: “This is fast becoming one of the most exciting starts to any season.
“We have all been counting down to the massive heavyweight clash between David Haye and Tyson Fury, and now our schedule has been hugely boosted by the fascinating super-middleweight showdown between Carl Froch and George Groves.
“With the likes of Ricky Burns, Anthony Joshua and Kell Brook all in early Autumnal action, I am also really pleased about the addition of some cracking international matches with major boxing names.
“Every fight fan will have their favourite – be it the skill-set of Marquez, the quality of Cotto, the power of Stevenson or the slug-fest that will surely be Alvarado v Provodnikov.
“We can’t wait for them all! Bring on the new season – it’s going to be fabulous!”
Matchroom Sport’s Eddie Hearn said “I am so excited about the new season and these early international additions are great news for fight fans.
“It’s a mouth-watering start to the season in Glasgow this Saturday as two weight World Champ Ricky Burns takes on the toughest test of his career in Mexican Raymundo Beltran.
“I believe we are approaching a golden era of British boxing and you can watch it all unfold on Sky Sports.”
Here is how the new season is shaping up on Sky Sports:
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SEPTEMBER 7
Ricky Burns defends his WBO light weight title against America-based Mexican Raymundo Beltran. Paul Appleby, Scott Cardle and Callum Smith feature on the undercard along with several up-and-coming prospects from north of the border.
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SEPTEMBER 21
Popular Liverpudlian Derry Mathews returns to his home city to defend his Commonwealth lightweight title against Curtis Woodhouse.
Another Commonwealth belt will be on the line when Rocky Fielding takes on Mohammed Akrong for the vacant super-middleweight strap. Liam Smith and Erick Ochieng clash for the vacant British light-middleweight title.
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SEPTEMBER 28
A monster Sky Box Office show featuring the heavyweight clash between David Haye and Tyson Fury.
Chief support will see Scott Quigg face Yoandris Salinas for the vacant WBA super-bantamweight belt.
We then cross the pond for Adonis Stevenson v Tavoris Cloud for the WBC light-heavyweight title in Montreal, Canada.
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OCTOBER 5
Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua will make his long-awaited debut at London’s O2 Arena as he looks to make a successful transition from amateur to professional.
A packed card is headed by Lee Selby’s attempt to win the Lonsdale Belt outright when he defends his British and Commonwealth titles against Ryan Walsh.
There’s also a mouth-watering lightweight clash between Kevin Mitchell and Gary Sykes while welterweight prospects Larry Ekundayo and Glenn Foot are also on collision course.
The action then moves to Florida where three-weight champion Miguel Cotto returns against Devlin Rodriguez.
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OCTOBER 13
Las Vegas is the destination as WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley takes on four-weight champ Juan Manuel Marquez while Orlando Cruz and Orlando Salido scrap for the vacant WBO featherweight title.
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OCTOBER 20
Do not miss the potential fight of the year clash between WBO light-welterweight champion Mike Alvarado and Ruslan Provodnikov in Denver.
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OCTOBER 26
The Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield will be packed to the rafters as Kell Brook puts his unbeaten record on the line against Ricky Hatton’s conqueror Vyashaslev Senchenko.
Anthony Joshua will be out again for the second time in a month while a host of Matchroom prospects will be on show, including exciting super-flyweight Kal Yafai.
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NOVEMBER 23
Carl Froch defends his IBF and WBA super-middleweight titles against the unbeaten Londoner George Groves in Manchester, reviving memories of Benn v Eubank all those years ago.
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Sky Sports’ live boxing coverage is complemented by a broad range of support programming.
This includes the popular weekly magazine programme Ringside, presented by Adam Smith and Johnny Nelson, which returns to TV screens on September 5, plus Ringside Extra and Ringside Specials.
There is also the special ‘The Gloves Are Off’ shows in which Johnny Nelson chairs a studio discussion with boxing heroes past and present about the issues that affect boxers and boxing.
Viewers can also enjoy ‘Behind The Ropes’ documentaries and Countdown specials in the build-up to the Haye v Fury Sky Box Office.
