Live From Fury-Wilder III: Fox Sports Works With ESPN to Chronicle Last Installment of Heated Heavyweight Rivalry Fox Deportes is also assisting ESPN Deportes' coverage By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor Saturday, October 9, 2021 - 7:51 pm
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Story Highlights
The greatest rivalries in boxing only need a pair of names to tell the story: Ali-Frazier, Tyson-Holyfield, Pacquiao-Mayweather. Nowadays, it's Fury-Wilder that has taken the sport by storm. For the third chapter of this tale at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena, Fox Sports is taking fans above, within and around the squared circle with a bevy of technology and onsite workflows.
There are very few heavyweight fights that ever come around that have this much excitement tied to them, says Brad Cheney, VP, field operations and engineering, Fox Sports. Tyson and Deontay are ready to go, and I think it's going to be a phenomenal fight.
Views From Above: JITACAM, Dynamicam, C360 Cover Aerial Views Fox Sports is known for taking its viewers to all of the hard-to-reach places, and with all of the aerial work that they show during NFL, college football, NASCAR, and other productions, the same expertise will be on display in the Sin City. Compared to sports that are played on massive fields of play, boxing isn't a sport that lends a lot of real estate. To counteract the lack of enormous space, the network is taking to the skies and showing off the fight from a higher vantage point.
A pair of JITACAMs will run on a 100-ft. track to show sweeping aerial shots of the bout.
Leading the way will be two JITACAMs, a pair of cranes that can extend their attached camera 100 ft., will be positioned on opposite sides of the ring. These pieces of equipment will allow for sweeping vistas of the canvas and the surrounding area. For other properties, Fox Sports would call on the services of a tethered or untethered drone, but since this is inside of a closed space, a Dynamicam will be placed above the JITACAMs. This mini three-axis cable cam system will cover a majority of the reverse view of the ring. Lastly, a traditional robotic that serves as the stationary eye in the sky will be replaced by a C360 camera that can provide high resolution shots with infinite zoom and pan capabilities.
A super-slo-motion camera with an 8K Fujinon lens will provide super-slo-motion views of the fight.
The plan is to cover the fight in an engaging way and telling the fight as it goes on from various angles. This includes the two combatants duking it out in the ring, but also the reactions and energy of the thousands of spectators that are anticipated to fill the seats.
There's so much excitement and emotion that's going on around the ring, says Cheney. We're want to be able to showcase that to the people [watching] at home because it raises their expectations about what's going to happen.
Handheld: Megalodon, Super Slo-Mos Bring Cinematic Environment Adding to the idea of storytelling will be a handful of handheld and specialty cameras. Touching nearly all of the network's touchstone events will be the Megalodon, the mirrorless camera that is capturing staggering images in shallow depth-of-field. Based on the free-roaming nature of the camera, the possibilities are a bit limitless on fight night. The network can use this application outside of the ring during the course of the fight for shots of the team in each corner or the fighters as well as used within the ropes between each round.
The beauty of the Megalodon is that goes anywhere it wants to but for the most part, it'll be [used] in and around the ring, adds Cheney. We have great shooters who are there to capture everything that's happening, and it'll always be available for us to use.
Megalodon will be joining the fun at T-Mobile Arena.
In addition to Megalodon, a super slo-motion Sony HDC-4800 with an 8K Fujinon lens will be used on the other side of the ring. This will be used mostly during replays, but similar to dramatic scenes in boxing films like Rocky and Raging Bull, it'll add an extra dash of cinematic brilliance.
On the audio end of the spectrum, more than 50 wired and wireless microphones will be in play during the bout, including those placed on referees and trainers to add extra colors to the proceedings. Outside in the compound, Game Creek Video's Victory will house the full onsite crew that's commanding all of this technology.
Setting the Stage: Lighting Creates Dramatic Environment One of the more underrated aspects of a boxing production is the lighting. When done correctly, it creates a stage that two modern gladiators can be spotlighted on. Once that task is done and a controlled atmosphere is established, that's when the technology and production tools can take over and develop an appeasing broadcast.
Boxing is one of the more unique sports where you're not only covering the sport, you're creating the arena, says Mike Davies, SVP, technical and field operations, Fox Sports. It's about finding the right feel and flavor for the boxing environment out of an empty arena. We're pretty happy with what we've come up with because when you get into a fight like this, you're putting a little bit more into it for the television broadcast, but also for the in-venue experience as well.
This lighting truss was constructed on Sunday and lifted to the rafters during the Vegas Golden Knights' preseason game on Thursday.
As for the physical structure around the ring that supports these lightings, Fox Sports decided to go the basic route to not overcomplicate something that shouldn't be.
We think [a simple square truss] conveys boxing and makes it different from the other fighting products that are out there, adds Davies. We've taken this base and h
