BoxRec

I'm glad ITV are making an effort to improve the commentary after the shambles that was Jim Rosenthal/Ricky Hatton horror.

John Rawlings competent, but hes no Ian Darke (but who is). Fortunately he is no Jim McNeilly either (thank fornicate)

The problem is the co-commentator. Duke McKenzie is terrible, Richie Woodhall was terrible on BBC, and although they have McGuigan and hes a good analyst, his commentary back in the days of Pro-Box was poor. The problem with all of them is that unlike the Sky team they are all shills for whatever fight they are showing & none of them are ever remotely critical of any fight/fighter & for me they lose their credibility.

Obviously Bruno/Benn/Eubank cant fill the roll as their not very articulate & none of them seem to follow the game, so who would suit the roll?

Bring back Gary Mason IMO. Mason is articulate, eloquent, witty, and unlike a Glen McCrory doesnt have to be prompted to offer insight. He was also always brutally honest & would disagree with Darkie on air if he felt what he was saying was bollocks.

Come on its been 10 years since Gazza said 'fornicate' live on air lets bring the big fella back because someone as dull as Rawling needs a colourful sidekick.

For one thing Mason last night would have come out and said the Calzaghe fight was shit & would have curbed all the over-the-top wanking over Khan & put the kid into more realistic perspective.

Did Mason ever do commentary? To be honest, never really rated his commentary skills I always had the impression that he didn't follow the game that much and was trying to follow it as the programme went on.

Even though he was very poor to start with, I was beginning to like Derrick Williams' analysis towards the end. Thought he was improving, although I cannot see him being a commentator either.

I'd say Steve Collins is the man.

Check out tapes of Holyfield/Douglas, Holyfield/Mercer, Ruddock/Page, Holyfield/Tyson etc. Mason did the commentary. Awesome stuff, especially in the Holyfield/Douglas fight. He was always spot on with his analysis he knew what was going on.

overhand_right wrote:Check out tapes of Holyfield/Douglas, Holyfield/Mercer, Ruddock/Page, Holyfield/Tyson etc. Mason did the commentary. Awesome stuff, especially in the Holyfield/Douglas fight. He was always spot on with his analysis he knew what was going on.

I haven't got tapes of Holyfield vs Douglas/Mercer or Ruddock vs Page but I have the Holyfield vs Tyson fights and it was Gutteridge and Watt for match one and Glenn and Ian for the rematch. Mason was in the studio.

stujones wrote:

overhand_right wrote:Check out tapes of Holyfield/Douglas, Holyfield/Mercer, Ruddock/Page, Holyfield/Tyson etc. Mason did the commentary. Awesome stuff, especially in the Holyfield/Douglas fight. He was always spot on with his analysis he knew what was going on.

I haven't got tapes of Holyfield vs Douglas/Mercer or Ruddock vs Page but I have the Holyfield vs Tyson fights and it was Gutteridge and Watt for match one and Glenn and Ian for the rematch. Mason was in the studio.

Same here.

Yes Duke is pretty dull, and you can usualy guess what he's going to say before he says it....

Was it Duke who said last night, refering to Joe's hand injury delaying the Lacy fight, as an example of how "unpredictable boxing is.."??

WHAT? I mean, wasn't Joe getting injured and somehow delaying the Lacy fight the most predictable thing to have happened in years?

Mason - I remember watching him commentate with Gutteridge in the 90's ( Tyson I think ) and Reg becomes quite vicious in his comments to Gary - implying he was talking sh**t, and making snide comments throughout.

Reg sounded like he'd gone a bit senile in fact, and soon disappeared off the air waves.

MightyWarrior wrote:Yes Duke is pretty dull, and you can usualy guess what he's going to say before he says it....

Was it Duke who said last night, refering to Joe's hand injury delaying the Lacy fight, as an example of how "unpredictable boxing is.."??

WHAT? I mean, wasn't Joe getting injured and somehow delaying the Lacy fight the most predictable thing to have happened in years?

Mason - I remember watching him commentate with Gutteridge in the 90's ( Tyson I think ) and Reg becomes quite vicious in his comments to Gary - implying he was talking sh**t, and making snide comments throughout.

Reg sounded like he'd gone a bit senile in fact, and soon disappeared off the air waves.

Last time I saw Reg on the TV was when he did a little segment for five in the run up to that programme they hyped as "Eubank vs Benn III". I was discussing their first and second fight. He looked well and sounded the same as before - noticed he had an old ITV sport shirt on.

As well as being a very good studio analyst, I think Johnny Nelson is terrific as a second commentator. Was it the Jamie Moore fight he did recently? Worked well I thought, very calm, pointed out both the pluses and the minuses very well.

Yes, I think Johnny Nelson is very good, but I also think Jim Watt talks sense. Can't be doing with Adam Smith or John Rawlings either though.

I don't mind Rawling. But Adam Smith..... well, lets just say I'm not a fan.

I don't mind Rawlinson but I can't stand Duke McKenzie he puts me to sleep.

I'd love ITV to get Ian Darke, Glen McCrory and Johnny Nelson from SKY, I think Johnny Nelson is a really good commentator, he speaks very clear and puts his point across very well.

I'll say nothing of Rosenthal for now but Ricky did a fantastic job commentating when Khan fought what'shisname and I hope he does a lot more.

mrbassie wrote:I'll say nothing of Rosenthal for now but Ricky did a fantastic job commentating when Khan fought what'shisname and I hope he does a lot more.

Somehow I can't see Hatton doing the commentary for a Warren promoted show and it doesn't look like ITV will be showing any other promoters shows.

dwo 27 wrote:I don't mind Rawlinson but I can't stand Duke McKenzie he puts me to sleep.

I'd love ITV to get Ian Darke, Glen McCrory and Johnny Nelson from SKY, I think Johnny Nelson is a really good commentator, he speaks very clear and puts his point across very well.

Nelson would be a good pinch but Darke often praises who he's told to (that much is obvious, McCrory is aweful he just follows Darkes lead all the time...example: Darke: "blah blah blah", McCrory: (irrespective of whatever Darke said) "Yes that's right Ian......etc. etc."

Most underated member of the Sky team is Paul Dempsey, really links well and asks the panel all the right questions, all of the time.

I thought John Rawling provided the perfect one half of a commentary team last night, things take time to settle and ITV's return to boxing is no exception.
I hope, for the sake of boxing, that ITV draw in the talent they are currently studying because when the talent moves on they'll be left with the people who forced them to study outside talent.

I agree with mrbassie, McCrory's favourite saying is "That's right Ian" and Jim Watt is always reliable for his little chestnut "He needs to just drop in a little feint to draw a lead"