Columnist Tim Graham: FX helps fill boxing void on television

Tim Graham

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

TIM GRAHAM is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. His media column appears Wednesdays. He can be reached on the Internet at tim@lasvegassun.com

The biggest fear surrounding the cancellation of "USA Tuesday Night Fights" was that the decision signified the declining future of televised boxing.

The sport's presence continues to dissipate on ESPN, Fox Sports' "Fight Night at the Forum" is said to be on wobbly legs and the major networks stopped showing bouts on a regular basis long ago.

So when the USA Network announced its 17-year boxing run would come to an end Aug. 25, fight fans assumed the last real bastion of boxing TV would come on pay-per-view and premium cable networks HBO and Showtime.

What a relief it was Tuesday to see a press release from FX.

Fox's cable network (Prime Cable Channel 12) announced it is entering the boxing business at a level higher than USA ever approached.

The debut of "FX World Championship Boxing" on June 27 features top-notch fighters David Reid and Shane Mosely in a doubleheader from Philadelphia. Those two recently headlined an HBO "Boxing After Dark" card.

"We believe this fight, for our first fight coming out of the gate, is a terrific card," said FX spokesman John Solberg, a former publicity man for promoter Don King. "These guys just starred on HBO, but this is even a better card than that one."

Reid (9-0, 6 KOs) is a 1996 Olympic gold medalist and rising middleweight star. He will fight former three-time champion Simon Brown (47-7, 34), who boasts knockout victories over Terry Norris and Maurice Blocker.

Mosely (27-0, 25) will defend his IBF lightweight title against Ivan Robinson (25-2, 10). Reid and Robinson are Philadelphia natives.

According to Solberg, boxing fits nicely into FX's future. The young network already owns rights to Major League Baseball and NCAA football and basketball.

"We want to do something that's not ordinary and not average," Solberg said.

FX's cards won't run every week, but Solberg claims they will be of higher quality than those of other cable stations.

"It's not about getting into boxing, it's an overall plan to do high-profile sports specials, which boxing will be an important part of," he said. "We didn't want to do boxing just to do boxing. We wanted to do events.

"The marquee factor on some of those fights (on other networks), though, has been on up-and-coming fighters without a huge amount on the line or faded stars making comebacks.

"When we televise boxing, it's going to be the type of boxing that ranks up there with the Showtimes and HBOs of the world. We want to do boxing that's compelling."

Monkeying around

The co-hosts of KKLZ 96.3-FM's morning show, Ken Johnson and Jim Tofte, have shown no fear in poking fun at the rumors swirling around UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro.

"Johnson & Tofte" have been receiving heavy requests for their Cavagnaro song parody, done to the tune of "The Monkees" theme.

Cavagnaro is under investigation for allegedly calling Rebel athletes "monkeys" and "gorillas" and softball payers "dykes in spikes."

"We're not worried about him coming after us because we're white guys," Ken Johnson said. "He likes white guys fine from what we can tell."

The parody calls Cavagnaro a "guy nobody likes," questions his salary and notes how little time the former Memphis State administrator spends in Las Vegas: "He thinks the players are monkeys, but it's Charlie who always monkeys around. And since he never leaves Memphis, it's hard to kick him out of town."

Memory lane

UNLV enjoyed a major presence during the 20,000th "SportsCenter" on ESPN Sunday. The "Plays of the Week" retrospective, which featured top highlights since the show debuted in 1979, featured four former Rebels: Randall Cunningham, Ickey Woods, Larry Johnson and Jerry Tarkanian.

Also seen in blooper replays were a pair of hosts with Las Vegas ties: ex-UNLV quarterback Kenny Mayne and former KLAS Channel 8 sports director Karie Ross.

Static

HBO reportedly has offered WBC heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis a five-fight, $30 million deal. ... Former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly joins ESPN as an NFL analyst this year, replacing Joe Theismann. Kelly gained broadcast notoriety with NBC -- which since lost its NFL rights package to CBS -- after his fist fight with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh. ... Classic Sports Network takes a look at the 15 best pitching performances with "A Tribute to the Perfect Game" Thursday at 5 p.m. ... ESPN and ESPN2 offer 11 live games of the NCAA College World Series, starting May 29. CBS has the championship game June 7 at 9:30 a.m.