AL BERNSTEIN RINGSIDE FOR HOLYFIELD-BOTHA

Hall of Fame boxing announcer Al Bernstein will serve as ringside analyst on the April 10 pay per view telecast of the Evander Holyfield-Frans Botha match, live from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas .  Bernstein has announced the last two Holyfield matches, world title challenges against Sultan Ibragimov and Nicolai Valuev.  Joining Al on the telecast will be play by play announcer Tripp Mitchell.

Al said he is looking forward to this event for two reasons: “First, Holyfield and Botha are matched well, and this will be an interesting and competitive fight. Evander showed in his last fight with Valuev that minus the shoulder issues he had for a number of years—he can still be effective. He should have won a decision in that fight. Botha will be in front of him, which stylistically should make for a fun fight. Secondly, I have seen many Crown boxing cards and I know Crown’s matchmaker Frank Luca is one of the best matchmakers in boxing. He has created an exciting overall card for April 10 that will be entertaining to the fans in the arena and those who watch on pay per view. And I love that he’s done it while keeping the PPV and live ticket prices very reasonable, for fans to see a boxing legend for one of the last times.”

Bernstein also shares some interesting history with Holyfield. Al was the analyst for the telecast of the Holyfield-Riddick Bowe fight in 1992, when Evander last fought at Thomas and Mack.  “That was a great night,” Al said, “and anytime Evander enters an arena (even now as he showed against Valuev) there is the expectation that he will rise to the occasion.”

The pay per view is being distributed in the United States and Canada by Integrated Sports Media with the telecast staring at 9 PM /ET-6 PM/PT on both cable and satellite via iN Demand, DIRECTV, Viewer’s Choice and Bell TV. Tickets at the Thomas & Mack, priced from $25 to $250 can be purchased at www.UNLVtickets.com or by calling 702-739-3267