ESPN will use fight announcers at remote locations Tuesday

As Top Rank Boxing resumes with its first fight card Tuesday in the 90 days since the Covid-19 shut down, so too will ESPN resume with broadcasting the fight series. But, tonight will be unlike any other televised fight card ESPN has ever had.

That’s because with the stringent coronavirus guidelines put in place by the promotion, ESPN themselves and by the Nevada Athletic Commission, the announcers will not be on scene at ringside in Las Vegas for the card being headlined by WBO Featherweight Champ, Shakur Stevenson.

Rather, they will call the bouts working remotely from different locations.

For example, former world light-heavyweight champion Andre Ward, who serves as one of the worldwide leaders fight analysts, tweeted out this picture of his home set up where he will commentate Tuesday night:

Boxing is Back !! Me and the team are working from home. Tune in tonight 4PM PT/7pm ET LIVE on @espn pic.twitter.com/a6doj2wVqR

— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) June 9, 2020

Further, it was revealed that ESPN’s longtime boxing play by play Man Joe Tessitore will be broadcasting out of their studio in Bristol Connecticut. It’s more convenient for Tessitore to be at their headquarters, as he lives in that area.

And, the second fight analyst and former World Welterweight Champion, Timothy Bradley, will also provide commentary from his home on Tuesday night.

ESPN will utilize Bernardo Osuna on site at the MGM Resort for their typical pre and post fight interviews. Osuna has already been providing updates on Monday and Tuesday for ESPN’s shows in advance of the boxing resuming.

Had a great time joining @notthefakeSVP on @SportsCenter to talk about tomorrow’s return of @trboxing on @espn from @MGMGrand in Las Vegas headlined by @ShakurStevenson pic.twitter.com/fnJEXRFQSC

— Bernardo Osuna (@osunaespn) June 9, 2020

Interestingly, during the Ultimate Fighting Challenge broadcasts, including in Las Vegas last Saturday, the UFC announcers were on site at ringside calling the fight.

ESPN is slated to also televised the numerous fight cards Top Rank will have from the same location throughout the rest of the month of June.

It will be intriguing to see how well the veteran tessitore and his analyst can work together when they’re not in the same location much less at ringside calling a fight.