BoxRec

...I think that the boxing commentator has died a death really... they don't make them like they used to!. Harry Carpenter has to be my number one.... knew what he was talking about and only got excited when the occasion merited it. Unlike commentators today Harry only said something when it needed to be said and some fights I have with him Commentating have long periods between him saying anything. Today Commentators rattle on about everything under the sun as if their more interested with the sound of their own voice rather than the fight in front of them....
views anyone???....

Well said. I was watching an old tape recently with Carpenter's commentary. Talk about economy of language.

I was also watching Holyfield/Tyson I with Reg Gutteridge's commentary. I had forgotten how good he could be.

it was also funny to see that Jim Watt's inane comments pissed off RG just as much as they do Ian Darke

Slapsie

Read the title and immediately thought 'Arry Carpenter. His unbiased commentary for Tyson - Bruno is now the stuff of legend "go on Frank, get stuck in" (or something to that effect) after Bruno landed the left hook and shook Tyson up

Think it was 'Arry, anyway

Yes Harry didn't play games... he'd support the home boxer, but in a fair and measured way. I really liked his economy of language as Slapsie mentioned. He would even go quiet between rounds so you could hear what the corner was saying to their boxer! . Such actions would seem like madness to todays commentator .
Reg was good as well but was a bit more talkative and I found his double act with Jim Watt rather grating.
Other than the incessant inane chat, the most disturbing thing about boxing commentators today is that most of them sound as if they have never watched a boxing match before in their lives!!!!........ :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x

mind you, compared to Dan Maskell at Wimbledon, 'arry was positively a chatterbox.

I think Maskell's record was 3 games at a centre court match without uttering a word. he broke his silence with "oh I say, good shot" and then was silent for the rest of that game too.

And don't get me started on John Arlott

Slapsie

I thought Jim Watt was okay. He wasn't entertaining but he was insightful and always read a fight well.

My favourite co-commentator is Hagler. He called the Rahman KO of Lewis about a round or so before it happened.

I liked Carpenter but Gutteridge was horrible with his repeated cliches and nonsensical gibberish. He reminded me of a parrot. Watt had great insight and tried to keep Reg honest but it was a lost cause.

The absolute worst of all time is Fat Blob Sheridan. That bloke has no idea what he is seeing.

My favourite at the moment is Emmanuel Steward.

Collins2000 wrote:I liked Carpenter but Gutteridge was horrible with his repeated cliches and nonsensical gibberish. He reminded me of a parrot. Watt had great insight and tried to keep Reg honest but it was a lost cause.

The absolute worst of all time is Fat Blob Sheridan. That bloke has no idea what he is seeing.

My favourite at the moment is Emmanuel Steward.

Who does Steward commentate for???....

I think Scott Ledouxe is pretty good when I've heard him commentate.

HBO, Silkov. Ever heard of it?

Collins2000 wrote:HBO, Silkov. Ever heard of it?

HBO???... is it catching???... :x :x :x

No, but there's a bad case of bullshititis in the Ernie Roderick thread.

I like Al Bernstein, Teddy Atlas, Joe Tessetore, Jim Lampley and Bob Pappas in that order.

wlvrne wrote:I like Al Bernstein, Teddy Atlas, Joe Tessetore, Jim Lampley and Bob Pappas in that order.

I'd forgotten about Bernstein. He's a good one. Teddy's good too, apart from when he gets a bit carried away. There's a bloke with a wonky eye on some of those smaller cable shows in the USA who is very incisive. Been around boxing for years. I forget his name.

I'll go with Bernstein. I met him at a fight card in Vegas years ago. Seems like a really good guy as well as a good comentator.

The Great John L wrote:I'll go with Bernstein. I met him at a fight card in Vegas years ago. Seems like a really good guy as well as a good comentator.

Yeah, I'd love to have a couple of drinks with him,(if he does) and pick his brain.

Ezzard wrote:I thought Jim Watt was okay. He wasn't entertaining but he was insightful and always read a fight well.

My favourite co-commentator is Hagler. He called the Rahman KO of Lewis about a round or so before it happened.

Hagler???? I didnt know he commentated

I l always liked Sean Ogrady on tuesday night fights.

ShoeShine wrote:I l always liked Sean Ogrady on tuesday night fights.

totaly spaced out poor Sean. I'll pick him over Lampley.

Speaking of Lampley, if you mix the letters up they spell, "my lapel".

well i am going to have to go with the current HBO commentaters of my time because besides hearing there voices, i dont know much about them.

i did like hearing the way howard cosell commentated though

I like Don Dunphys commentaries and Cosell could be a good commentator, though he seemed to lose the plot later on....

Cosell was the greatest hands down in my book. He was exciting, and funny and made every fight seem important. His call of the Foreman/Lyle fight was ithe greatest called fight I ever heard. His love for the sport was evident in his voice especially in his blow by blow account of the incredible action.. He was insightful, and painted an intriguing atmosphere for the fans , pointing out early in the fight, before it heated up, that Foreman did not look like the same indestructable force he once was.; and expressing his oipinion that Lyle after losing to Quarry and Ali may be facing his last big shot and need to come up big.
The funniest thing about that fight was he kept asking his announcing partner, Ken Norton, what happened to the fighter who had once destroyed him!
Classic stuff.
Dunphy was great, but couldnt hold a candle to Cossell in adding excitiment to a fight.
Of todays announcers, Bernstein is far and away the best.

If we go back to radio in the 30's and 40's, there was no better than Sam Taub (sponsered by Adam Hats) Any of you old timers remember?

What about Gil Clancy? I always thoght he made the fight interesting with his overall knowledge. He also knew when to talk and when not to so he was never overly wordy unlike current baseball anouncers Tim Mccarver and Joe Morgan where you get blah blah blah blah blah.

Ferdie Pacheco was good also, I remember if a fight was dull he would say if this fight was taking place in Mexico these fighters might get lynched.

I remember Hagler doing color comentary on a fight card while he was still in the fight game.Quite entertaining actually. What he lacked in glibness he more than made up for with his common guy down to earth style. He also had an honesty about himself that was uniuque and refreshing. My favorite quote from Marvelous Marv while doing commentary was after a guy got hit with a combination Marv's comment was "beautiful punishment". He brought a true fighters perspective.

bobby czyz, len berman