Gus Johnson gets more work -- this time, boxing on Showtime

To paraphrase the late comedic actor Phil Hartman, who played oily actor Troy McClure on one of my all-time favorite television shows "The Simpsons," you may recognize Gus Johnson's voice from some of his other work: play-by-play announcer for CBS on the NCAA basketball tournament;  for CBS on the NFL; basketball announcer on the Big 10 Network; radio voice of the New York Knicks.

Now Showtime plans to announce Wednesday that Johnson  will host and call action on the premium cable network's Showtime Championship Boxing series.

Johnson is taking over from Steve Albert, who has served as the announcer for Showtime boxing since 1987. Johnson is well known among Bruins fans. His call of UCLA's come-from-behind NCAA tournament win over Gonzaga -- a win that helped the Bruins to the first of three straight Final Fours --  is a favorite download of many UCLA fans.

Not to fear, though. He will continue his CBS work. So (and note to Gonzaga and USC fans, you may not want to click), here are the final minutes of that Bruins-Zags game.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Gus Johnson. Credit: CBS Sports

Comments

[Joe]

Great pickup. Johnson is great for fights, he called Duddy-Campas a few years back and did a great job.

And Showtime has a very good lineup for the first part of '09, so it should be a lot of fun with Gus in the hotseat