BoxRec

I love how whenever wrighty gets on and SWP is playing he gets stick from LHS (Lineker Hansen and Shearer). Lawro is a pudendum as far as im concerned, Lineker is ALWAYS BLOODY GRINNING when it comes to the WHU relegation struggle. MOTD is very biased against us IMO, never gives us credit when its due. We beat Arse and Man U and they just focused on their chances and on any fouls we may have made.

in boxing.... Hate McGuigan, think hes a cur, says what he is told - BUT i dont mind him laying into fraudley, who is just a bottlejob who is gonna get found out.

Atlas is great, i love the tactics bit at the start. Jim Watt is a legend. Id love to see more of Eubank, imagine his voice and vocab on the colour commentary?

God No!

Eubank as a commentator! The man can barely string a sentence together. He's alright when hyping himself, but he'd be bloody awful as a commentator.

"Thitttth man, he ith fighting like a buffooon!" He ith not fit to tie my boot-ths"

Yes Chris, but how do you feel he is doing in the bout.

"the man ith a barbarian, I am the boxther"

"Groan...."

jamesmcdonnell wrote:God No!

Eubank as a commentator! The man can barely string a sentence together. He's alright when hyping himself, but he'd be bloody awful as a commentator.

"Thitttth man, he ith fighting like a buffooon!" He ith not fit to tie my boot-ths"

Yes Chris, but how do you feel he is doing in the bout.

"the man ith a barbarian, I am the boxther"

"Groan...."

YES! Just for humour! abtholiutely spiffing!

search wrote:
Barry McGuigan - REALLY like Barry. He's a great pundit.

Rawlings: Absolute joke. MISLEADS the public and should be ashamed of himself for doing so.

So you like Barry but hate John even though their on the exact same shifty game...?

Contradiction...

search wrote:Johnny Nelson - OK, he's not bad. I think he talks sense most of the time. As regards Hatton, he is blinkered though.

Nicky Piper - Not convinced but he is ok, never let's Nelson get a word in or finish a sentence.

Glenn McCrory - I really like Glenn. His partnership with Ian Darke is the best in boxing history

Jim Watt - A good solid commentator. He picks up on things quickly but can latch on to a point and talk bollocks too

Barry McGuigan - REALLY like Barry. He's a great pundit.

Duke McKenzie - absolute PLUM. talks no sense and is a complete PLONKER. get him off.

Richie Woodhall - VERY GOOD.

Rawlings: Absolute joke. MISLEADS the public and should be ashamed of himself for doing so.

Ian Darke: I've saved the best for last, darkie is the best ever

Glenn McCrory would agree with you. He seems in awe of Ian...

"Yesssssss, thatssss rightt Ian, he's (insert affirmative statement here).
Ad infinitum.

Ian Darke is very good though, I'm a big fan.

Have to say Ian Darke and Jim Watt are great. Never liked Johnny Nelson but sometimes can give some good info on the Ingle fighters. I like Larry Merchant, even though he seems to be getting worse all the time. Emmanuel Stewart is decent, Teddy Atlas is class. Can't stand Duke McKenzie. McGuigan is very knowledgeable but tends to hype every fight he is involved with before it starts but is then quick to dish out the criticism. I thought he got a bit too excited about the Audley win last time out. I'd love to see Hopkins join the HBO commentary team if he ever hangs up his gloves.

In football, I don't like any of the UK pundits, particularly when England play. Ian Wright is the worst. None of them are ever willing to single anybody out and tend to sit back feeling sorry for themselves when England fall apart. Back in Ireland we have a far better team with Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady and Johnny Giles. Check this out - after England qualified for the World Cup quarters, Sven is being interviewed by the BBC who of course are kissing his ass as usual. When it goes back to the RTE studio Dunphy sums it all up perfectly....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cugYQ35vtvQ

Also "Dunphy calls Ronaldo a brat"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfCz_BXmPuA

And "Dunphy on a rant in the wake of Keanes exit from Man Utd"

http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_ ... rep4trYNj4

search wrote:Glenn McCrory - I really like Glenn. His partnership with Ian Darke is the best in boxing history...

Ian Darke: I've saved the best for last, darkie is the best ever

Without question!! Totally agree

I think part of the reason Ian and Glenn work well, is that Glenn is prepared to take the back seat. Also their voices have the right sound. Ian is more nasal and excitable, whilst Glenn has a deep and resonant timbre, which lends a bit of gravitas. I don't think Glenn says much which is that insightful, but I do agree that the two make a good team.

The importance of the sound of voices shouldn't be underestimated. I think it's partly why John Rawling doesn't work so well, he doesn't have a very exciting voice, and isn't great at conveying excitement of the mood of the fight. That's no big knock though, I'm sure my voice would be bloody irritating if I was commentating.

Larry Merchant is getting on a bit now and maybe time for him to be put into the old retirement home. He has years of experience but it takes him half a year to ask a question.

Jim Lampley went down in my estimation a little during Lacy-Tsypko when he made it blatantly clear he has no regard for any Boxing that happens outside of America.

Steve Farhood on Showtime is okay but his accent grates me.

Colonel Bob Sheridan is tolerable now and again but couldn't stick him on a regular basis.

Lennox Lewis is good when it comes to technique and styles of fighters but his general knowledge on the modern game seems distant.

Max Kellerman is alright, seems to know his stuff.

I know most of these are not ex-fighters but needed to get it off my chest.

I really like Larry Merchant, he especially a few years ago make some smart observations and not pull his punches. He is getting on a bit now, but I still pleased he is decided against his retirement.

Jim Lamphley is not bad, as a presenter especially - we have been grazed with two excellent boxing presenters in recent years in the UK (Paul Dempsey and Jim "voice of boxing" Rosenthal). Lamphey is very good also.

Colonel Sheridan bores and annoys me - just shut up once in a while you fatty.

My favourite current US boxing Guy is Al Bernstein.... he can do it all - present, commentate (with a co-commentator and alone) and doesn't bore me at all.

My favourite analyser of all time was Gill Clancy - fantastic calls he made and really got into the fights. Also like Ferdie Pachecco- his co-commentary on Ali vs Spinks II, biased I know, but so emotional.

I used to be a fan of Steve Holdsworth but now he is continually getting shown up in terms of knowledge by Bob Mee that in order to say "I'm the boss" goes off in a rediculously off topic (favourite places in a particular country seems to be his latest one) and now seems to make these "dirty old man" comments on the Ring Card girls/ smart girls in the audience which you can almost hear Bob Mee cringing in the background.

I was watching Lennox Lewis V Justin Fortune last night and Gil Clancy showed up as a commentator, your right he was good. I remember Dr. Ferdie Pacheco commentating on the first Matthew Saad Muhammed V John Conteh fight, he got a bee in his bonnet claiming Muhammed's corner were using some illegal substance (i forget which) to stem the blood flow on a cut. In the end i don't think they were but apart from that Pacheco was okay.

I enjoyed the guy who was co-commentating on the MSG channel during Duddy-Campas, he was quite dry and to the point...had a New York accent and was a veteran i think. Tommy Miller or something? Did a good job.

Liked Eamonn Andrews. And Reg .. who had an ability to tell saddos where to get off when they criticised him.

Mason was good but he fell out with Sky and either they won't ask him back, or he won't go back out of principle. I interviewed him a few years ago for Boxing News but unfortunately they never ran the piece. He was a good character, a nice guy, knew his stuff and was clearly still a fan of the sport.

I remember all those years ago being impressed with him as a pundit for Sky after Lewis beat Ruddock, when he was telling everyone Lewis was the real deal and we should all get behind him, unlike some who can be ungracious towards boxers who had beaten them. Mason realised his own title dream was over but was still a supporter of British boxing and wanted Lewis to do well for that reason.

Oliver do you still have the Gary Mason interview? A lot of people round here would love to read it. Im a big fan of the guy, what does he do for a living nowadays? How was he?

Duke Mackenzie has said plenty of daft things inthe past.
So has Jim watt come to that, its'a shame I can't remember.
Jim hjas been annoying on plenty of occasions!

If i had a choice is would be Steve Holdsworth every time.

Oliver do you still have the Gary Mason interview? A lot of people round here would love to read it. Im a big fan of the guy, what does he do for a living nowadays? How was he?

I'll see if I can get a copy of it back from BN. The computer I had it on had a hard drive crash a while ago.

I interviewed him in 2003, shortly after the Herbie Hide/Audley Harrison "riot" at York Hall. The UK HW scene was buzzing at the time (Audley on the rise, Hide on the way back, Bruno talking comeback, Williams, Sprott doing well, even Francis still a factor, Potter, Reid, Holden etc etc) and Gary was loving it (but stopped short of wanting to come back himself!).

I'm not sure what he's doing now but at the time he was running a security company and also trying to get into artist management. He'd "discovered" a female R&B singer and said he'd send me a CD but never did. He was also working on a book and wanted to set up a boxing website, which we discussed a little bit (I ran a site at the time) but nothing came of it from my side. Mason's own website (garymason.net) has closed.

He picked me up in his Merc outside London Victoria station and we basically just drove around London chatting for an hour or so. I haven't seen him since so I can't give you any updates on the above. Hopefully I'll see him again sometime now that I'm based in London. (I originally made his acquaintance having talked to him at a couple of shows and then we set up the interview)

It seems he has struggled to find his niche post-boxing (rugby, arm wrestling, punditry, writing, websites, security, artist management...) but you can't fault the man for trying. Judging by his car and suit, he was clearly doing OK financially at the time.

Trivia time - who do you think he said hit him the hardest? Clue: it wasn't Lennox.

i do not rate teddy atlas.
woodhall is an absolute gift to tv punditry with his wide knowledge and consideration.
jim watt is worth listening to but isnt half so good without reg. reg was fantastic - harry carpenter severely underated.
alan minter's commentary on mcguigans defeat to steve cruz was priceless back in the day.
most of the modern day pundits are too interested in getting the next gig to be really worth the time

caster wrote:Dislike Larry Merchant with a passion!

I agree there. I dislike Jim Grey even more though.

Duke McKEnzie had another 'uncredible' (sic) night yesterday...it is truly excrutiating listiening to his crap. He massacres the English language and loves a cliche as well as not being able to 'read' a fight at all.

Nice guy but would be better as just a studio guest.

Glad we don't have to put up with the 7ft Mister Ed guy struggling to talk through a tongue too big for his mouth that used to do the BBC...can't remember his name...

TEddy Atlas is unbearable. Can't stand the twat.

Dave Clarke - this guy seems likeable but permannetly seems like he's about to burst into laughter and sports a permanent sh1t-eating grin....

I like JIm Watt, Mccrory and really don't mind Adam Smith. Ed Robinson (and to the guy who compared him to Smith should know he is actually an ex-fighter at a top club and had a brief pro career) asks insightful and good questions in interviews. Johnny Nelson is also strong.

ron atkinson used to make me physically sick talking utter shite thinking he was a paisley or a ferguson ( and for anyone who might be wondering, im white)

oliverfennell wrote:

Oliver do you still have the Gary Mason interview? A lot of people round here would love to read it. Im a big fan of the guy, what does he do for a living nowadays? How was he?

I'll see if I can get a copy of it back from BN. The computer I had it on had a hard drive crash a while ago.

I interviewed him in 2003, shortly after the Herbie Hide/Audley Harrison "riot" at York Hall. The UK HW scene was buzzing at the time (Audley on the rise, Hide on the way back, Bruno talking comeback, Williams, Sprott doing well, even Francis still a factor, Potter, Reid, Holden etc etc) and Gary was loving it (but stopped short of wanting to come back himself!).

I'm not sure what he's doing now but at the time he was running a security company and also trying to get into artist management. He'd "discovered" a female R&B singer and said he'd send me a CD but never did. He was also working on a book and wanted to set up a boxing website, which we discussed a little bit (I ran a site at the time) but nothing came of it from my side. Mason's own website (garymason.net) has closed.

He picked me up in his Merc outside London Victoria station and we basically just drove around London chatting for an hour or so. I haven't seen him since so I can't give you any updates on the above. Hopefully I'll see him again sometime now that I'm based in London. (I originally made his acquaintance having talked to him at a couple of shows and then we set up the interview)

It seems he has struggled to find his niche post-boxing (rugby, arm wrestling, punditry, writing, websites, security, artist management...) but you can't fault the man for trying. Judging by his car and suit, he was clearly doing OK financially at the time.

Trivia time - who do you think he said hit him the hardest? Clue: it wasn't Lennox.

Well is wasnt fuckin g Jess Harding

How about Tyrell Biggs? Only joking

At a guess I'd say James Pritchard

Steve Holdsworth on Euro Sport, sometimes he just talked to much. But he would speak his mind and not hold his criticism back for anyone.

I cant stand Sid Wadell his accent gets on my nerves.

I seem to remember Reg Gutteridge offering considered comments quite often. Speaking of Barry McGuigan: I thought he was fantastic as a co-commentator in the early-Nineties. Much better speaking on-the-fly than with the post fight stuff.

Ian Darke's a safe pair of hands really. He gains a good amount of credit from me for his historical knowledge. Woodhall can be great, but he's prone to fixating on certain aspects of a fight.

Mason was easily the best co-com though, no doubt. I recall another very decent commentator from around the time Naseem Hamed was starting out, can't think of his name...

oliverfennell wrote:
Trivia time - who do you think he said hit him the hardest? Clue: it wasn't Lennox.

Very intrigued mate, do tell?!

Biggs, Tillis, and Pritchard had some power, but i would guess Mark Chill Wills belted him the hardest..?

Didn't he get a rather unexpected, potent jab below the belt from that tranny he got caught out tonsil wrestling with.

Fair dues to him he did hold his hands up at the time. He's a good personality is Mason.

Oh and BTW I too am also intrigued as to the answer.