Top 5 Worst Boxing Commentators of All Time

[sweet_scientist]

Boring played out topic, but fuck it, I'm going with it.

Who are they?

Let me give my 5:


1. Emanuel Steward - Surely has to be the worst. Draws conclusions on the fight within 10 seconds of the bout starting and then changes his mind a minute or two later, only to let us know that he predicted this turn of events all along. To add to that, he shamelessly follows the lead on Jim Lampley's stupid comments instead of standing his ground and speaking with conviction on his own behalf and if you're following Jim, by definition you're goners.

2. George Foreman - A congenial presence, but says some of the dumbest shit ever heard in a commentary box

3. Ferdie Pacheco - Biased beyond belief, starts with 4 rounds in the bank for any house fighter before the fight even starts. And his pop medical diagnoses are largely bollox.

4. Howard Cossell - Ushered in the annoying attention whore commentator syndrome with his self important rambling and none too edifying remarks

5. Jim Lampley / Colonel Bob Sheridan - Good, colourful personalities, but seriously NFI on accurately calling the action. You might as well have fights they commentate on silent and have random BANG! KABOOM! etc. quotation bubbles pop up on the screen like in the comic books rather than listen to their misinformed enthusiasm.

Dishonourable mention to Dave Bontempo - a guy that all too regularly gets caught up in a pre-conceived idea and rolls with it regardless of whether the action taking place confirms it or not. HATE commentators like that....

Who are your top/worst 5?

[jdempsey85]

Howard cossell gets on my fucking nerves

[Senor Pepe']

Tom Brookshier (CBS in the 1970's)

Jerry Quarry had to save his ass many times on the boxing telecast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sal Marchiano

Screaming 'Good Night Sweet Prince' everytime some poor bastard got 'blasted' and
knocked out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Lampley

More concenred about making a 'big splash' for himself.

[bladerunner]

Pacheco is the worse man.

He really pisses me of.

One instance i remember was in the Chacon-Edwards rematch.

Chacon gets cut early on.

And he goes on and on about how the fight should be stopped.

And how Chacon cant go any more round.

Its like this the all fight.

He just couldnt shut his yap about the cuts.

Cuts that werent that bad to begin with.

Its one of the best fights ever and one of my favorites too.

But now i have to watch it with the sound off cause of Pacheco.

[sweet_scientist]

Originally Posted by bladerunner

Pacheco is the worse man.

He really pisses me of.

One instance i remember was in the Chacon-Edwards rematch.

Chacon gets cut early on.

And he goes on and on about how the fight should be stopped.

And how Chacon cant go any more round.

Its like this the all fight.

He just couldnt shut his yap about the cuts.

Cuts that werent that bad to begin with.

Its one of the best fights ever and one of my favorites too.

But now i have to watch it with the sound off cause of Pacheco.

Yeah, he almost ruined an un-ruinable fight. Like there was nothing else to focus on during that fight...

[frankenfrank]

Originally Posted by sweet_scientist

Boring played out topic, but fuck it, I'm going with it.

Who are they?

Let me give my 5:


1. Emanuel Steward - Surely has to be the worst. Draws conclusions on the fight within 10 seconds of the bout starting and then changes his mind a minute or two later, only to let us know that he predicted this turn of events all along. To add to that, he shamelessly follows the lead on Jim Lampley's stupid comments instead of standing his ground and speaking with conviction on his own behalf and if you're following Jim, by definition you're goners.

2. George Foreman - A congenial presence, but says some of the dumbest shit ever heard in a commentary box

3. Ferdie Pacheco - Biased beyond belief, starts with 4 rounds in the bank for any house fighter before the fight even starts. And his pop medical diagnoses are largely bollox.

4. Howard Cossell - Ushered in the annoying attention whore commentator syndrome with his self important rambling and none too edifying remarks

5. Jim Lampley / Colonel Bob Sheridan - Good, colourful personalities, but seriously NFI on accurately calling the action. You might as well have fights they commentate on silent and have random BANG! KABOOM! etc. quotation bubbles pop up on the screen like in the comic books rather than listen to their misinformed enthusiasm.

Dishonourable mention to Dave Bontempo - a guy that all too regularly gets caught up in a pre-conceived idea and rolls with it regardless of whether the action taking place confirms it or not. HATE commentators like that....

Who are your top/worst 5?

d problem is , this list includes 6 names that r d main commentators that ever were in English , and almost d only 1s that were/mattered 4 more than just a single/couple of fights .

[lora]

Agree with all these ones.

Harry Carpenter was often crap whenever a British fighter was involved.

Never liked Gutteridge much either.he does have his immortal "jung-koo chang, which sounds like something from a takeaway" line though.

For secondary\colour men...Duke McKenzie and McGuigan are both shit.Minter could barely string a coherent sentence together.

[lora]

Originally Posted by Senor Pepe'

Tom Brookshier (CBS in the 1970's)

Jerry Quarry had to save his ass many times on the boxing telecast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sal Marchiano

Screaming 'Good Night Sweet Prince' everytime some poor bastard got 'blasted' and
knocked out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Lampley

More concenred about making a 'big splash' for himself.

He was a legend.

[sweet_scientist]

Originally Posted by frankenfrank

d problem is , this list includes 6 names that r d main commentators that ever were in English , and almost d only 1s that were/mattered 4 more than just a single/couple of fights .

There's other shit ones too. To name but a few:

Ray Mancini - great at divising fight plans for failure
Alex Wallau - was utterly unrealistic with his expectations on fighters
Post-Ryan Gil Clancy (awful)
Marvin Hagler - just too deep a voice

[Longhhorn71]

What about any of those Fkhead actors they would drag in for the old Closed Circuit fights?

I remember Burt Lancaster doing a big-time CC fight back in the olden days.

[Vic-JofreBRASIL]

No Teddy Atlas ? I don´t think Teddy is bad tbh, actually I like him...but is surprising that no one mentioned him yet....

[Senor Pepe']

Joe Louis as an analyst for the Liston vs. Clay I fight.

Joe, was clueless.
-------------------------------------------------------

Brent Musberger

In the dictionary, under the word 'bad' is a picture of Brent.

[MURK20]

Larry Merchant is the most unapologetically biased commentator ever. Big George can be a buffoon at times, but he always entertained. ES does have a lot of expertise that I to soak up. However most of your points about him are spot on.

[MrBumboclart]

Gerry Cooney was in the Shavers-Cobb fight, he kept saying how boring it was and sighing really loudly. Then him and Ken Norton (probably bitter over get KTFO by Cooney) had a little argument after Cooney started rooting for Shavers and Norton told him he had to be neutral lol

I also think Hagler was awful. He commentated a SRL fight after the loss and Ray hit a guy low and Marvin wouldn't stfu about it and how he should have been disqualified and had points taken off.

[BillB]

I didn't care for Cosell.

I agree with Senor Pepe about Joe Louis.

I respected Joe but I could barely understand anything he said.


ABC brought Ali in to do color commentary, with Cosell, at the Foreman farce when Foreman fought five men the same afternoon. Ali acted like an idiot, screaming at Foreman and taunting him. It was a shame. Having Ali offer serious comment on what was going on would have been very interesting.