Spike TV announced on February 11 that Scott Hanson will be the blow-by-blow announcer for the network’s monthly Premier Boxing Champions Friday night telecasts. Here, PBC writer Lem Satterfield talks with Hanson about his relationship with the sport.
Scott Hanson, shown here with track legend Carl Lewis, will call the action for Spike TV's monthly coverage of the Premier Boxing Champions series.
LS: What was your reaction to being hired for Spike TV’s coverage of Premier Boxing Champions?
SH: I couldn’t wait to get back into the world of boxing. I love all sports, but there are certain sports that boil down the human side of it.
I think that with boxing, you have the one-on-one between two men with each one seeing how long the other man can hold out. That's an absolutely compelling form of sports drama.
So when I knew that I was going to be doing this for Spike, I thought, “I want to make sure that I can get to the point where I can convey that type of passion and that type of drama to the audience once every month on Friday nights."
LS: Since this qualifies as your initial endeavor into professional boxing, do you feel any pressure?
SH: I'm not nervous, but I'm anxious about this. I can't wait to try and pair my skill set with the tremendous raw product and the atmosphere that a great boxing match provides, and to see if the audience can come up with the type of enjoyment that I hope it will.
I want to not only serve the loyal boxing audience, but to grow the audience to people who haven't watched the sport in quite some time but will now again through the push that boxing is making to come back to the forefront of the American sports landscape.
LS: What are your earliest memories of boxing?
SH: My initiation into boxing was as an intern in the Detroit area at the television production company that my father owned. My dad made me do the lowest-rung work that an intern would do.
I was in high school, and that probably started during my junior year. We would get hired occasionally to do production for HBO Boxing and profiles for upcoming bouts and fighters.
That meant going to the Kronk Gym in Detroit—the old, legendary place that is one of the greatest buildings in boxing history.
I was 16 years old, and I was in the 95-degree Kronk Gym with Emanuel Steward running the show and Tommy Hearns being obviously the greatest name to come out of that gym.
That really sparked that fire for competition that I didn't grow up in, having never boxed in my life.
That was a different age of boxing, and I think that Spike and the powers that be in in boxing these days have a great shot at bringing the sport back to the forefront of the American fan, and I'm glad to be a part of that.
LS: What aspects of boxing coverage do you believe you will find challenging?
SH: The challenge for me will be to be able to help the fans understand what's going on in the ring during a fight without dumbing it down too far, and detracting from the action.
I won't call every left hook that is thrown, and I want to be able to serve the boxing purists as well as to re-introduce the sport to fans who might not have watched boxing for a while.
That will be a tricky tightrope to walk, but Spike is putting together a great team of broadcasters.
So I'll rely on my analysts for the technical side of things, and I will rely on my analysts for the historical side of things.
I want to be there in the dramatic moments when my voice is the last one that people hear when the knockout punch is thrown and the count is being given.
I want to make sure that they feel a part of it through what I can hopefully bring to the broadcast.
- Topics
- Beyond the ring
