For those who dont like Jim Lampley..

Papa's good, it's just that Lampley is on another level. HBO Boxing just won't be the same without Lampley and to a lesser extent, Merchant. Merchant doesn't say much but when he does, it has meaning to it.

For instance, in Hopkins/Taylor 1, Merchant observed, "That was a really lazy punch thrown by Taylor, i wonder if he's tired". And turns out, he was 100% right as JT admitted that he had nothing left in the late rounds. No other observer in Lampley or RJJ even mentioned that Taylor looked tired.

 

Appreciate Lampley's excitement, rich vocab that harkens to the old-time literary titans who used to cover boxing in the papers or on radio or TV.

His partisanship for the house fighter I take with a grain of salt. Acknowledge the other comments here about the trickiness of calling the fight from ringside and throw him a pass on that. He's not usually way off.

Don't care to get too deep into what kind of scumbag he might be in real-life. If he keeps it professional, so will I, and I dig his and Merchant's dimension that they bring to the blue-ribbon bouts.

Will miss`em both when it comes.

Max is OK. I'm getting used to him. And Lennox is improving.

My fave trio was Lampley, Merchant and Big George Foreman. That **** was as entertaining as the fights sometimes.

 

Yup "Hopkins imposing his will and skill on the man who is tonight the lesser fighter" :verysad

 

My fave Tito/Vargas "What a performance by Trinidad! From start to finish, braveheart, braveheart all the way!"

 

BHop - Trinidad

 

I'm Scottish but prefer Lampley and Merchant any day of the week, Harold Letterman is a pretty funny guy as well, we like him at my house.

Darke and Watt at Sky Sport's are not bad but Ian Darke sensationalizes every punch thrown and sometime's this does not accurately portray the fight, and Watt seem's super critical maybe because he's an ex-fighter.

Setanta,Showtime,versus and ESPN are not in the same league as the HBO team although Kellerman is ****ing atrocious.

 

I think he is great. He is very eloquent, knows his stuff...comes up with good, exciting prose.

 

Round 10 Tito Hopkins

"Hopkins won't take NO for an answer"
"Clock still running, Trinidad running out of time"

THAT was the round that I finally realized Tito's about to knocked the **** out and won't be undefeated for long:scaredas:

 

You and me both pal.

 

Lampley is the best fight caller, bar-none!

 

yeah lampley is great.. i remember whe he said in the morales pac fight..1 when erik turned south paw and banged with pac "talk about going in to the jaws of the lion" it adds up to the whole action

 

Lampley is great. The best. Yes there are legit criticisms but overall he is absolutely top notch.
Bob Papa's approach is as if he is an archaeologist explaining the formations of rocks over tens and hundreds of thousands of years. No urgency. No enthusiasm. No excitement.

If he was some sort of insightful genius, or, at least, deadpan witty like Merchant, it might be partially forgivable.

But he clearly isn't.

He might as well be selling us an insurance policy rather than a boxing match.

Bob
Pappa
Is
Terrible.

 

I hate the ****ing ****, would love nothing more than to work him over in an alley with a 2x4 with rusted nails stuck through one end.

 

When Lampley is on point, he's the best.

Unfortunately, he has a tendency to be biased, blind, and overdramatic.

But he has a great voice for commentary.

 

i love watching lampley's expression when larry merchant is the only one laughing at his own quotes and jokes. i do get more of a laugh watching lampley's face than larry's quotes tho. it gets me every time it's like if lampley's having a cramp or going through some pain having to hear good old larry's comments. i do wish they had george back tho