BoxRec

Has there ever been a more rude sports commentator than Howard Cosell? I recently watched a tape of Earnie Shavers vs. James Tillis, here are some of the things he said during the fight:

"Why would they put an undersized referee like that in the ring with two heavyweights?"

"The referee has got a belly on him, he's not in shape."

"Maybe the referee should get a look (by the ringside doctor) too, he looks more battered than the fighters."

"James Tillis is terrible."

"This fight was a disgrace, a disgrace."


I also remember him ripping the Larry Holmes vs. Tex Cobb fight throughout the entire 15 rounds a year or so later. He must relly have been a miserable old man towards the end of his career.

Alister

Howard did seem to have his favourites that's for sure such as Kenny Norton.

I have the first Holmes V Shavers fight on tape and Howard does not seem to keen on Holmes in that fight either, although he did seem to warm to him a little later in the fight.

Cosell was bad and terribly biased but one thing to keep in mind with the Shavers-Tillis fight is that the version that is in circulation, where you can hear Howard make all of those terrible remarks is a studio tape which shows video and audio that normally would have been covered over by commercials. i.e. the viewing audience didnt get to hear those remarks when it was aired. Its hard to say what else howard said between rounds when he was off the air in other fights, or any other commentator for that matter. Frankly I think Jim Grey is the worst he gives fighters no respect.

Cosell was intelligent - an attorney and military officer outside of broadcasting - but he rubbed people's nose in it. How much of the rudeness was him and how much was show, I can't be sure. If an event appeared dull, he would decide to liven it up by making himself the focus of controversy. As we've noted, he could be biased. If he took a dislike to an athlete for whatever reason, he could be needlessly cruel. But on the other hand, if he admired or personally liked an athlete, he was staunchly loyal. He stuck by Ali through his tribulations, even though Cosell himself was a hawkish conservative.
But I'll never forget one comment I heard at the time of Cosell's passing. Usually, people will find something nice to say about the deceased, no matter how awful a person may have been. But even right after Cosell's death, his former colleague Al Michaels described Cosell as "the most evil man I ever met." Others commented on his Jekyll/Hyde personality - the dark side being brought out by alcohol.

I remember during the 1972 Olympics two American sprinters missed their race because their coach gave them the wrong time to report to the stadium. Cosell brought the coach on and just ripped him up one side of the hill and down the other, making the poor guy feel worse than he must have already felt. Another time on a MNF game he referred to a WR as a monkey after the receiver had just made a spectacular catch. The remark caused an uproar with many accusing Cosell of racism (the WR was black). Humble Howard was a lot of negative things, but I don't think being a racist was one of them. In that case it was just a poor choice of words.

For the most part, I thought that Cosell was in
in his element when he was interviewing
someone. He would cut to the chase and
ask pointed questions.

As a television broadcaster covering a game
or a fight, I think that Cosell was good at lending
drama to the said events. However, he was
far from being an authority in any sport,
especially boxing. In fact, Cosell knew very
little about the fine points of boxing styles and
how certain boxers match up.

Of course, Cosell became very shrill when covering
the numerous mis-matches shown on ABC during
the 1970s and 1980s. But under such circumstances,
Cosell knew which side the bread was buttered and
never blamed Roone Arledge or any other ABC
sports bigwigs for arranging the telecasts of
farces. In fact, the "Big Three" networks made
it possible for a top fighter like Muhammad Ali
to fight the Richard Dunns, the Jean-Pierre
Coopmans, and the Alfredo Evangelistas of the
world for terrific paydays.

- Chuck Johnston

Personally I 've always thought that there was something wrong with Cosell during the Shavers vs Tillis fight as his judgement seems well off. For a start it was not an awful fight, and Tillis was not awful, but very tough (he went distance with Tyson and Weaver showing he had a good chin and heart)... few other heavies would have got up from that Shavers punch... Cosell gave Tillis no credit.
I have some earlier fights commented on by Cosell and his judgement and overall demeaour is much better... he seems to have declined as a commentator by the mid-80s.

Alister wrote:I also remember him ripping the Larry Holmes vs. Tex Cobb fight throughout the entire 15 rounds a year or so later. He must relly have been a miserable old man towards the end of his career.

That was the fight that caused Cosell to say he'd never broadcast boxing again, to which Cobb said something along the lines of, "I'd go another 15 rounds if he'd stop announcing football too!"

Johnny Carwash wrote:

Alister wrote:I also remember him ripping the Larry Holmes vs. Tex Cobb fight throughout the entire 15 rounds a year or so later. He must relly have been a miserable old man towards the end of his career.

That was the fight that caused Cosell to say he'd never broadcast boxing again, to which Cobb said something along the lines of, "I'd go another 15 rounds if he'd stop announcing football too!"

Cobb had such a great wit, I miss those one liners.

Cosell was an obnoxious condescending jerk who was always biased toiwards his favorites. And his technical knowledge of boxing was shaky at best..
However, But he did call some exciting battles at his best he could really add an element of theatrical bombast to an exciting fight.
His DOWN GOES FRAZIER!! DOWN GOES FRAZIER !! is Iconic

I have just read Larry Holmes biography and he didn’t like Cosell one bit.

Can you blame him?

From Holmes side of the story I do not blame him one bit.
But there are two sides to every story and when you read an autobiography you are getting pretty much a one sided version.

Yeah, I'm sure Larry Holmes harrassed Howard Cossell, just because he had nothing better to do. Ahem...