HBO World Championship Boxing is a sports television series, premiering in January 1973 that has shown a number of significant boxing events in the last three decades. WCB's first event was fought in Kingston, Jamaica, where George Foreman defeated Joe Frazier in two rounds to win the world heavyweight championship. HBO World Championship Boxing will premiere live on HBO Canada beginning January 24, 2009 at 10 p.m. ET/8 p.m. MT

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Memorable events

Some other boxing events covered in the series include:

• The Rumble in the Jungle, in which Muhammad Ali beat Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire
• Thrilla In Manila, when Ali beat Frazier in their third and last fight
• Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney, for the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship
• The Battle of The Champions, when Aaron Pryor beat Alexis Arguello in their first fight
• Carnival of Champions, in which Wilfredo Gómez beat Lupe Pintor, and Thomas Hearns beat Wilfredo Benitez
• Marvin Hagler- Thomas Hearns fight, billed as The War
• Thunder Meets Lightning, in which Julio César Chávez beat Meldrick Taylor with two seconds remaining in the twelfth round;
• Michael Moorer vs. George Foreman, in which Foreman KO'd Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion of the world at age 45
• The biggest upset in heavyweight boxing history, when James Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson for the undisputed world heavyweight title in Tokyo, Japan
• The World Awaits- Floyd Mayweather, Jr. beat Oscar De La Hoya for the WBC light-middleweight title.
• "Undefeated" - Floyd Mayweather, Jr. beat Ricky Hatton to retain the WBC welterweight title with a knockout in the 10th Round.
• The Dream Match - The catch-weight bout held at Welterweight between Manny Pacquiao (moving up 2 weight classes) against Oscar De La Hoya (moving down 1 weight class). Pacquiao won by TKO before the 9th round began (De La Hoya retired on his stool).
• "The Battle of East and West" - The first post-Oscar De La Hoya "megafight" that saw Manny Pacquiao defeat Ricky Hatton with a knockout in the 2nd round. The fight made Pacquiao the 2nd boxer to capture 6 titles in 6 weight divisions, and the only boxer to claim an unprecedented 4 Lineal Championship titles in as many weight divisions.

World Championship Boxing has also had two spin-off series, Boxing After Dark and KO Nation . Additionally, a video game carrying the brand name HBO Boxing was produced for the Sony PlayStation.

Commentators past and present

• Emanuel Steward (current)
• Barry Tompkins
• Fran Charles
• George Foreman
• Gil Clancy
• Harold Lederman (current)
• Howard Cosell
• Jim Lampley (current)
• Larry Merchant (current)
• Lennox Lewis (current; substitute for Steward)
• Max Kellerman (current; substitute for Merchant)
• Roy Jones, Jr.
• Sugar Ray Leonard
• Al Michaels

For pay-per-view fights, Bob Costas and James Brown have been called in on occasion to oversee the telecast while Lampley calls the fight.

See also

• Boxing After Dark (a television boxing program airing on HBO from 1996-present)
• KO Nation (a short-lived television boxing program that aired on HBO from 2000-01)
• Showtime Championship Boxing (a television boxing program airing on Showtime from 1986-present)
• ShoBox: The New Generation (a television boxing program airing on Showtime from 2001-present)