[7][8] In 2016, CBS Sports Network began to pick up a larger number of events from smaller promoters such as Roy Jones Jr. and Pep Gomez.
Long-time coaches Janks Morton, Dave Jacobs and lawyer Mike Trainer made up the rest of Leonard's team.
Promoted by ABC-TV as their replacement for the aging Ali, Leonard made $40,000 for his first professional fight (then a record) against Puerto Rican Luis Vega.
For decades, from the 1920s to the 1980s, world championship matches in professional boxing were scheduled for fifteen rounds, but that changed after a November 13, 1982 WBA Lightweight title bout ended with the death of boxer Kim Duk-koo[16] in a fight against Ray Mancini in the 14th round of a nationally televised championship fight on CBS.
The last time CBS aired a live boxing event[18] prior to 2012, was on January 20, 1997, when then-middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins knocked out Glen Johnson in the 11th round.