Despite some pretty clear setbacks in the last couple of months — including Jake Paul skipping to Showtime and the repeated postponement of the Teofimo Lopez fight they overpaid to get — Triller are still taking their swings in boxing.
The company are lining up a monthly boxing series that will run on Tuesday nights at New York’s Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. (That’s the one people call “the small room,” which is not a shot, just full clarification.”)
The first event will see Michael Hunter face Mike Wilson in what may or may not be a WBA heavyweight title eliminator (and shouldn’t be, but boxing is the way it is), plus Chris Algieri returning in a 144 lb catchweight bout against an opponent to be determined.
Mike Coppinger says at ESPN that “the deal hasn’t been signed yet,” but that it’s an inevitability.
As much as I don’t love Hunter-Wilson — which was supposed to be on the Lopez-Kambosos card, if you need further hints that Lopez-Kambosos also isn’t happening on Aug. 14 — I do like the idea of someone setting up a monthly series of fights that air on Tuesday nights. Many of us have pleaded with boxing promoters to please consider nights of the week that aren’t Saturday, especially for cards that aren’t “big events” or “hot tickets.”
Cards will stream on FITE TV, which is owned by Triller, and Triller TV, which I do not know what that is, really, I mean I get the idea and can surely guess, but when would I watch that? I’m old, or old enough that Triller is not for me, so I will watch it on FITE. The series will be known as “TrillerVerz” because there will also be Verzuz rap battles featured after the fights, which is also something I do not care about.