When Did Commentators Go Mental?

[klompton]

Basically when networks started becoming promoters and needed to "sell" fights and fighters. Adding more than one commentator didnt help either.

[greynotsoold]

Most commentators now pick the guy they want to win and call the fight accordingly. Also, most matchups are made where one guy is supposed to win. Most modern commentators know shit-for-nothing about boxing. Especially Larry Merchant and jim Lampley, etc..

[loaded_gloves]

I agree with absolutely everything said here. Every damn word. God I ask myself this all the time.

Say what you want about Cossell, the man had restraint. He didn't try to sell a fight or fighter that was garbage to you as anything other than what it was. And when he was excited, it really was exciting.

Before the bell has commenced on HBO Lampley is selling to you, as soon as round one has begun he's already screaming, and it just creates an awful noise. And EVERYONE has followed their lead, including terrestrial TV now. Last weekend Tyson Fury whacked a 40 year old semi-retired man and his promoter was sweating and gibbering about how Fury was THE MAN in the heavyweight division and absolutely no one challenged him over such obscene claims. No one!

British commentary is a joke - Carpenter and Gutteridge are dead, so if Darke doesn't do it then you're left with retards who just shout and scream at anything the Brit does. The class is gone.

[Goodnight, Irene]

People are too hard on guys like Lampley.

When you go to work, do you tow the company line? Do you do what your boss expects of you? Lampley is guilty of nothing more than this. People act as if all commentators, everywhere, are just given a microphone by some fella on the street and asked to call a fight.

It doesnt work that way.

[loaded_gloves]

People managed not to be shills like Lampley a hundred years before Lampley commentated on HBO.

And the ones in the few decades before Lampley worked for major, major networks.

[Goodnight, Irene]

And the pressure wasnt what it is now.

You think a huge network like HBO doesnt instruct Lampley on an agenda? You buy they just hand him a mike and say, "Go for it, Jim!?"

[dempseyfire]

Bob Sheridan in the 70s (who still calls international fights) was the first I can think of to really go over the top in his commentating and exaggerations, although Cosell was the first to really go beyond just calling the action and framing the calls around his own opinions of what was going on.

[Goodnight, Irene]

I never understood the hate for the Colonel. Every big moment, the guys having the time of his life. Its infectious, and good calling IMO.

[BoxBuzz]

Seems like a great gig.......period.

[yancey]

Give me Don Dunphy over all of them.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Give me Don Dunphy over all of them.

A great observer of the action, but I find him quite dull in large doses.

[yancey]

Give me Don Dunphy over all of them.

A great observer of the action, but I find him quite dull in large doses.

Some might say dull.

Others might say understated.

Count me among the latter.

[klompton]

Dunphy was the best. He comes from the school of "less is more" and I heartily agree. He addresses the very subject of this thread in his memoirs and its an interesting read. Essentially when he was commentating on a television fight (as opposed to radio, which he also did) he felt it was redundant and distracting to repeat punches and actions that the fans could readily see for themselves. He strongly felt it was a lack of discipline, and wish to interject ones self into proceedings that led TV commentators to begin calling fights as if they were radio broadcasts "A hard left hook, and a right to the body." The fans watching TV can see this, why repeat it? Its even worse when you have someone like Lampley or yes even Sheridan screaming "A HARD LEFT HOOK, AND A RIGHT TO THE BODY!!!" in order to try to add excitement where there really isnt any.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Oh Jesus

I quite like Dunphy, but there is clear as day an elitism at play when we're criticising guys for trying to add excitement.

[witherspoon]

People are too hard on guys like Lampley.

When you go to work, do you tow the company line? Do you do what your boss expects of you? Lampley is guilty of nothing more than this. People act as if all commentators, everywhere, are just given a microphone by some fella on the street and asked to call a fight.

It doesnt work that way.

This is a good point, and I agree completely as applied to guys like the Colonel and the great Bernstein. They love the sport and their enthusiasm comes across brilliantly. Different approaches with the same result.
Jim Lampley deserves all of the criticism he gets. I'm sure alot of it is from people who jump on him for obvious goofs like 'bang, bang'.
But, if you watch as much boxing as I have been lately, guys from the late 90's/early 00's, you start to realize that Lampley is constantly waiting for opportunities to belittle his colleagues while trying to sound sympathetic. This he has made into an art form.

I will say plainly that Whitaker v De La Hoya was the most ridiculous performance by an individual commentator I have ever witnessed.
Towing the company line is one thing, we all need bread on the table, but Lampley in this fight just plain LIES to the audience. It's so bad that Larry Merchant is openly ridiculing him by the end of the fight.

As I mentioned on a different thread, Lampley's evil is most conspicuous in it's absence. I defy anyone to watch the following fight and not be impressed by Merchant and Jones Jr's performance minus Lampley. I have come to the conclusion that, amazingly, Lampley actually intimidates his colleagues!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AMx0ZJnqSk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8lfNIda ... ure=relmfu

[oliverfennell]

British commentary is a joke - Carpenter and Gutteridge are dead, so if Darke doesn't do it then you're left with retards who just shout and scream at anything the Brit does. The class is gone.

Jim: "They're just arrrrum punches, Adam."

Adam: "And there's a kerrrrrrr-unching right hand!"

Jim: "He's HUT, Adam, no doubt about it, the wee fellow is HUT!"

[Diamond WEAPON]

British commentary is a joke - Carpenter and Gutteridge are dead, so if Darke doesn't do it then you're left with retards who just shout and scream at anything the Brit does. The class is gone.

Jim: "They're just arrrrum punches, Adam."

Adam: "And there's a kerrrrrrr-unching right hand!"

Jim: "He's HUT, Adam, no doubt about it, the wee fellow is HUT!"

That Scottish accent really works for me for some reason

[keithmoonhangover]

Aye. I'm also a fan of snooker. They have the commentary right. They don't feel the need to constantly talk.

I can't stand John Virgo in the commentary box, I have to turn the sound off. He hates O'Sullivan.

Willie Thorne really knows his stuff though.

[Sportofkings]

The Japanese commentators almost shit themselves with excitement whenever a punch is landed

[Diamond WEAPON]

The Japanese commentators almost shit themselves with excitement whenever a punch is landed

I love watching Japan-based fights because of that coupled with the dead silent crowd. You can hear all the contact and the intense screams and shrieks of the team

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Cosell was the best.

Lampley went mental the second he first gazed upon the body of Marco Antonio Barrera. I've seen Barrera eat a 3 punch combo and inexplicably hear, "BIG LEFT HAND BY BARRERA!"

[yancey]

Cosell was the best.

Lampley went mental the second he first gazed upon the body of Marco Antonio Barrera. I've seen Barrera eat a 3 punch combo and inexplicably hear, "BIG LEFT HAND BY BARRERA!"

Cosell was one of my favorites, too. His ego problems could be annoying, but he could definitely lend an air of excitement to the event, without being ludicrous.

I just think Dunphy was the gold standard.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

3 is too many, that's a mistake that is made over and over.

[raylawpc]

My favorite commentator is called "Mute."