“Boxing is not a blood sport. It’s not for cavemen. Boxing is relatable to the common man. Always has been, always will be. There’s nothing like the story. Boxing is a poor man’s sport. Back in the day it was the working man putting himself on the line to make a quick buck and put some extra bread on the table to feed his family. Boxing is life”-Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman
That quote was the background to the opening scene of the inaugural “Gloves Off” program Prime Video and Premier Boxing Champions rolled out. It was Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman meditating on a Florida beach while sounds of his quote played in the background. It was a great way to start the episode, especially with a guy like Thurman, who can gain your attention upon hearing him speak.
There was some familiarity with the first episode as it started to play out. Barry Pepper was the narrator, and he was also the one who would do the same for the Emmy Award-winning show “All Access” on Showtime. The production credits also listed Stephen Espinoza, the former head of Showtime Sports. But before the idea of it being too similar to Showtime’s product crept into your mind with the episode showing you clips of the L.A. press conference, it went into what they labeled as “chapters.”
The first chapter featured Thurman’s rise from a young boy to a world champion. Thurman would proceed to say that Tim Tszyu “isn’t no sick rick in there,” referring to his opponents’ slow-ish feet. He also got into the relationship with the late Ben Getty who trained Thurman from the young age of seven.
Chapter two would head to Las Vegas, NV, where Tszyu was seen on a race track driving a Ferrari. Tszyu would get a thrill out of the experience and talk a little about his personal life along with those in charge of getting him ready for the fight.
Chapter three focused on Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero and how he labels himself an ‘anti-hero.’ Romero is shown driving to the middle of the desert, pulling out a pinata from the trunk of his car with Isaac Cruz’s face on it and beating it down with a stick. The episode then goes into his persona and what it was like growing up as Rolly.
Chapter four went to Mexico, where Cruz was working out in the ring. Cruz’s father spoke on his father’s (Cruz’s grandfather) experience as a fighter and where Isaac Cruz got the boxing bug from.
Before going into the montage portion of the episode, the program cut to a WWE kind of promo that pushed the event on March 30 live on Prime Video & PBC PPV. That was a little different, but it was welcomed as the commercial was creative and not lazy with the photos of the fighters plastered on the screen.
At the episode’s conclusion, which ran just under 22 minutes, it immediately reminded everyone that a person like Thurman had been missed, Tszyu is breaking out of his shell, Rolly is who he is, and Cruz has a Rocky type of story. Although some may argue that this shoulder programming is late, “Gloves Off” felt right on time when watching it.
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