The Best TV Announcer of All-Time

[Diamond WEAPON]

Cossell doesn't even belong in this poll or this thread. The man knew jack-shit about Boxing and was a douchebag on top of it.

[CNorkusJr]

I would like to add to that - his handshake was like a wet dead fish too.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Cossell doesn't even belong in this poll or this thread. The man knew jack-shit about Boxing and was a douchebag on top of it.

How true.

[yancey]

While I am a Dunphy voter, I am very glad Jack Drees was mentioned!

Drees was a pro's pro. Also did horse racing, football and other sports great. One of the great unsung broadcasters of all time.

While I'm at it, I would like to mention the name Win Elliot. He primarily served as Dunphy's side man in a lot of big fights, but he was also great.

[jaclem2]

..anybody who voted cosell over don dunphy never heard dunphy. in fact anyone who voted cosell over anyone else never heard anyone else.

chris schenkel was also excellent.

i agree his radio broadcasts though, are what really made dunphy a legend. but..listen to his commentary on the tv broadcast of foreman/frazier. that's the way it should be done. "I don't think frazier knows where he is"....a descriptive comment from ringside, that wasn't obvious just from the tv picture.

dunphy has a good auto bio....bought it years ago but i suppose one can find it by googling around a bit, if you'll pardon the expression.

[CNorkusJr]

Thank You JaClem, I was unaware of Dunphy Bio- I will look into it. Thanks for tip.

[McCannW14]

Reg Gutteridge and Harry Carpenter deserve mention here. I'm pretty sure that most people would say the commentators that they grew up with were the best, for obvious reasons. Even so, these guys were class. Maybe Gutteridge was a little too reliant on cliches at times, but you always knew you were listening to somebody who had been around boxing for a very long time.
Steve Holdsworth is always fun to listen to.
Who was the guy who commentated for Screensport alongside Jim McDonnel? They were a good team.

Dave Lanning - He was excellent!

[orbtastic]

Dave Brenner, no?

[raylawpc]

Howard Cosell, Congressman Pete King, Charley at Nassau Coliseum for ABC-TV coverage of George Foreman- Joe Frazier weigh-in.

Pete King? I thought it was Dan Aykroyd . . .

[jaclem2]

hey charlie jr....i was going to pm this but then i thought it might be of interests to others too, so:

Don Dunphy at Ringside
Henry Holt and co. Inc. New York
copyright 1988


Mine is hard copy.... doubt if it ever came out in paper.
my copy is autographed....may have been at some boxing writers banquet or some other boxing gathering.....don't remember details.

oh yes...it's a good book

[JMac]

Lampley and Larry Merchant are my personal favorite commentary team. By far.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but for me, Lampley and Merchant are the worse
I liked Dunphy and Tompkins and many others who no longer do boxing.

[JMac]

Cossell doesn't even belong in this poll or this thread. The man knew jack-shit about Boxing and was a douchebag on top of it.

One of the best quotes ever said by a boxer was Tex Cobb after he fought Larry Holmes. He took a beating for 15 rounds but Tex was tough and hard to hurt. Cossell was outraged that the ref would not stop the fight but Tex kept trying to mount an offense even though he was clearly outclassed. Cossell said he was done with boxing after the fight, he will never announce boxing again. When Tex heard what he said, he replied "I'll fight Holmes again if it will get Howard off of Monday Night Football". Great line.

[Flump]

hey charlie jr....i was going to pm this but then i thought it might be of interests to others too, so:

Don Dunphy at Ringside
Henry Holt and co. Inc. New York
copyright 1988


Mine is hard copy.... doubt if it ever came out in paper.
my copy is autographed....may have been at some boxing writers banquet or some other boxing gathering.....don't remember details.

oh yes...it's a good book

Thanks jaclem, I took the liberty of acting on your advice and a copy is on it's way to me, I also ordered "Only The Ring Was Square" by Teddy Brenner.

Personally I can't decide between Harry Carpenter, Reg Gutteridge or Ian Darke from the UK, from the U.S it has to be Dunphy.

[CNorkusJr]

Just read your posts. Thanks for Dunphy update, JaClem. Much appreciated.

The Teddy Brenner book is good and certainly he was an inside man at Madison Sq garden, but he does twist some things around a little to make it look like he was clean as a whistle. You have to wonder on this. Enjoy

[IRLangmaid25]

Over here in the UK I have always been impressed with Ian Darke and Adam Smith as they are both very knowledgable about their boxing and Smith is very passionate too as well which helps. As for the Americans I have been impressed with Jim Lampley on HBO when I have watched a HBO fight on Youtube and I like Larry Merchant eloquence as well. A name that has not been mentioned so far and is someone I rate quite highly Dave Bontempo

[theone]

Personally I dont give a shit what he knew or didnt know about the sport, I voted for Howard Cossell. I've been watching boxing for over 30's years and own quite a large collection of fight tapes and no announcer I ever heard added to the excitement of the fight like Cossell, including Dunphy. But to each his own.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Personally I dont give a shit what he knew or didnt know about the sport, I voted for Howard Cossell. I've been watching boxing for over 30's years and own quite a large collection of fight tapes and no announcer I ever heard added to the excitement of the fight like Cossell, including Dunphy. But to each his own.

Dunphy added no excitement for me, but I still consider him arguably the best.

For the most excitement (sacrificing knowledge), I go for The Colonel, Bob Sheridan. He is simply peerless in this regard.

[CNorkusJr]

Personally I dont give a shit what he knew or didnt know about the sport, I voted for Howard Cossell. I've been watching boxing for over 30's years and own quite a large collection of fight tapes and no announcer I ever heard added to the excitement of the fight like Cossell, including Dunphy. But to each his own.

Cosell should not be thrown out altogether here. I do agree with you "theone" in some regard. Cosell,s history is that of an ABC-TV lawyer turned announcer is a good one.
I think to have a perspective on things is that a TV announcer must have chutz-pah or a gimmick to get watched. That's what TV requires. Cosell was excellent in selling that to the crowds. Love him or hate him doesn't matter-people are going to watch him.

When conservatives in this country hated Ali (even though he was a lights out heavyweight) people tuned in to see him get his clocked cleaned. It never happened until later on in his career. Who best to match him up with- Howard Cosell. A match made in Heaven ,designed by TV execs. It was a perfect blend. They both needed each other to help each other out.
Ali used Cosell to get his messages out to the public and Cosell gave him the perfect podium for it.
Cosell used Ali to further his career as an announcer boxing or othewise. Do you think Cosell would have gotten the Monday Night Football gig without his Ali history ? I think not.
It was amplified by his use of large adjectives dictionary words which many went scrambling to look up.Pure gimmicktry.
The problem I have with Cosell was that he turned his back on the sport and went out of his way to bad mouthed the sport that fed him all these years. That was an injustice by a cranky old man who forgot where he came from.

[Rocky Balboa]

Chuck Hull was the best Announcer of all time!

[Evander]

Perhaps not a lead commentator ... as an analyst Larry Merchant has to rank high.

[BoxBuzz]

..anybody who voted cosell over don dunphy never heard dunphy. in fact anyone who voted cosell over anyone else never heard anyone else.

chris schenkel was also excellent.

i agree his radio broadcasts though, are what really made dunphy a legend. but..listen to his commentary on the tv broadcast of foreman/frazier. that's the way it should be done. "I don't think frazier knows where he is"....a descriptive comment from ringside, that wasn't obvious just from the tv picture.

dunphy has a good auto bio....bought it years ago but i suppose one can find it by googling around a bit, if you'll pardon the expression.

I'm taken aback by your verbal truculence in this matter.

[keithmoonhangover]

I'n not a Yank, but I really enjoyed listening to Gill Clancy, he talked a lot of sense.

[jaclem2]

,,,buzz always makes a post after i do....this time it just took him longer. he knows damn well that dunphy was the best, though buzzy would know him only from tv...but as there is nothing to add on this one he had to add just wordage....with no foolish attempt to disagree. pay no attention to him. :

[jaclem2]

....just to clarify....boxbuzzzy's post was and attempt to replicate cosell's style....in an interview with ali, cosell said (not an exact quote...but close) "you seem excessively truculent " and Ali said he didn't know what that meant but "if it's something good than you're right."

[Seamus]

Ferdie Pacheco