Earlier this week, it was announced that Max Kellerman would be working his first assignment in over two years as a part of what will be a three-man broadcast booth for the highly anticipated boxing match between Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford in September. And now, we know one of the two broadcasters that Kellerman will be accompanied by.
The event, which will be streamed exclusively on Netflix on September 13, is being promoted by Zuffa Boxing, the brainchild promotion born out of Saudi Arabia’s recent partnership with TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of the UFC, spearheaded by UFC CEO Dana White.
White’s involvement in the promotion of the event seems to have played somewhat of a role in who will be joining Kellerman at the broadcast table for the Alvarez-Crawford fight.
According to Sportsnet MMA reporter Aaron Bronsteter, UFC lead play-by-play man Jon Anik will work alongside Kellerman in broadcasting the fight, with a third broadcaster soon to be announced as the color commentator for the event.
Given Anik’s connection to White, the decision was seemingly easy. However, some obvious roadblocks could potentially make the choice questionable on paper.
Anik obviously knows what he is talking about when it comes to combat sports, given his experience. And he has experience talking strictly boxing in the past, hosting The Mouthpiece Boxing Show for three years during his time at Sporting News Radio’s Boston affiliate, 1510 the Zone before his UFC broadcasting career.
However, being thrust into this kind of role for an event of this magnitude with limited experience calling live boxing matches, will certainly be a challenge he has not yet faced in his career.
Anik has previously alluded to potentially wanting to transition away from strictly being a UFC broadcaster. So maybe this is his first step in testing the waters in a potential move to calling other sports out of his current wheelhouse.
Regardless of what is in store for Anik’s future, both Anik and Kellerman have shown nothing other than being consummate professionals throughout their respective careers calling combat sports. So don’t expect to be let down by the commentary throughout the event, regardless of whoever is ultimately named the third man at the broadcast table.