Top Rank on ESPN reporter Bernardo Osuna has been living and working in the “Top Rank Bubble” at Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel, alongside a small group of ESPN and Top Rank production crew, fighters and their camps, since the promotion returned June 9.
Osuna, who drove to Las Vegas from his home in Orange County, Calif., for the assignment, expected fight night to look different, as would his approach to covering the sport due to COVID-19.
As the only ESPN reporter working from site – Joe Tessitore leads the play-by-play from ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., studios, and analysts Andre Ward, Tim Bradley and Mark Kriegel join from home studios – Osuna credits the seamless production to the constant flow of communication between the onsite and remote crews.
(Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)
In the video above, Osuna talks about the challenges of covering boxing from inside the bubble; in the video below, he explains how he prepares for fighter interviews (hear him in Spanish here). On Front Row’s Vimeo page, Osuna explains what he does in his spare time with the crew he now considers his “bubble family.”
Tonight, the first series of Top Rank on ESPN shows inside the MGM Grand “Bubble” concludes with former featherweight world champion Oscar Valdez facing former world title challenger Jayson Velez in a 10-round main event. Live coverage begins at 8 ET.
ESPN Boxing Production and Shelby L. Lacy produced the videos.
Osuna narrated this essay on the Las Vegas bubble for Top Rank On ESPN earlier this season.
