Max Kellerman’s Post-ESPN Comeback Begins With Boxing

Max Kellerman’s career is coming full circle with a return to boxing.

Sunday, Kellerman appeared at the press conference for Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford, and he will be part of the fight’s Netflix broadcast team on Sept. 13. The extravaganza is backed by Saudi official Turki Alalshikh and promoted by TKO. 

When TKO board member and WWE president Nick Khan was a super-agent at CAA, Kellerman was one of his favorite clients. He also has a long relationship with UFC boss Dana White, as he was an early proponent of what White was building with the MMA promotion, far before it became popular in the mainstream. 

In the press conference Sunday, Kellerman called the Canelo-Crawford super-fight a “perfect storm,” saying that it was “lucky” that Alalshikh happens to be a boxing fan, calling Khan “the best in the business,” and asserting that White is “the greatest combat sports promoter of my lifetime.” 

Kellerman’s broadcasting career first blossomed through boxing. He hosted Max on Boxing on New York’s public access channel as a teenager, and he was an analyst on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights shortly after graduating from Columbia. Mark Shapiro—now the president and COO of TKO, and president and managing partner of WME Group—told FOS earlier this year he tabbed Kellerman as the first host of Around the Horn on ESPN in 2001 based on his success in boxing. 

Kellerman was also part of an acclaimed HBO boxing announce crew alongside Jim Lampley and Roy Jones Jr. 

It is not immediately clear which other roles Kellerman will assume as he returns to sports media, but it would not be surprising if he launches a podcast down the road. 

Kellerman was pushed off First Take by Stephen A. Smith in 2021. He later cohosted ESPN Radio morning drive with Keyshawn Johnson and Jay Williams, and hosted This Just In on ESPN in the afternoon time slot now occupied by The Pat McAfee Show. Kellerman was laid off from ESPN two years ago, with millions of dollars remaining on his deal.