Source: Bleacher Report
Former WWE announcer Jim Ross has signed with CBS to broadcast boxing matches, according to a Tuesday report by Cliff Brunt of the Associated Press (via the Republic).
His debut broadcast will be on March 12 at the Downtown Las Vegas Event Center in the first of eight “Knockout Night at the D” events to be held monthly.
Ross, 64, was both excited for the opportunity and aware he would require something of an adjustment period, as he told Brunt:
“I can’t overnight become a boxing expert. There will be learned boxing fans, longtime fans, that are going know infinitely more about boxing than I do, and I have no problem with that. My strengths are storytelling and getting you to know the fighter, and then bringing that spontaneity, that voice that cuts through the clutter.”
Ross served as a WWE announcer for 20 years, from 1993-2013. He also served as a WWE senior vice president for talent relations and notably signed “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle, among other professional wrestlers, per Brunt.
While Ross will have to bring a different approach to announcing boxing matches as opposed to the WWE matches of his past, he doesn’t plan on totally changing his style.
“I’m excited because I’ll know about the fighters, I’ll know why you should like this guy, why he’s here, what it means to them—the story behind the fight,” Ross told Brunt. “And when the bell rings, I’ll call what I see, describe what I feel, and defer to my expert color analyst for the intricacies.”
That color commentator will be Al Bernstein, a veteran announcer who noted that Ross “brings to boxing the same wit and larger-than-life personality that has endeared him to wrestling viewers.”
In addition to his new gig in boxing, Ross is also working with FITE TV as an adviser and a spokesman and will be doing voice-overs for Mark Cuban’s New Japan Pro Wrestling show on AXS TV.
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