Did HBO commentary have a huge bias for Vitali in the Lewis fight?

Every time he fought..... the HBO guys gave him ****, everyone was the guy to take his thrown, only George Foreman gave him his dues

 

They just couldn't accept that a non-American heavyweight could kick all theirs into next week.

Klitschko was their saviour

 

I like the HBO broadcast team (Merchant Lampley) but notice sometimes they openly root for and favor certain fighters. The most blatant example was the Chavez-Taylor fight, when they were creaming their jeans over Meldrick, hardly noticing that Chavez was hurting him badly. Taylors quick salvos were winning the fight for him, but Julio's less frequent but more damaging shots were being ignored, even as Meldricks face was being pounded into an unrecognizable mess.

 

Well Vitali was Beating Lennox that's for sure. Brits and Lennox Lewis were in biggest Panic in their life. They had NO BALLS to give rematch which Lennox Promised. It tells you something alot of Lewis wanted no more Vitaly Klitschko ever again. Vitali was just too much to Chew for Lewis.

 

I always hate that bit at the end of round 6....

Vitali's staggering like a drunk and falls into the middle of Lewis and then hugs him across the ring

And they shout 'LEWIS CAN BARELY STAND UP' even though it's clearly Vitali who's on the verge of falling.

 

Lewis won and Vitali lost. TKO round 6.

On my scorecards i was a draw. The first two rounds Vitali, (the fourth as a fan from Klitschko) but round 3, 5 and 6 Lewis.

 

I don't think it was terrible or anything, it's just that the underdog was doing great and people like seeing the underdog do that. I think the HBO guys were probably just getting caught up in that and also the hope of a 'young new lion' coming along, since Lewis was just three months off 38 at that point after all. I don't think it was a huge bias just understandable excitement.

If I had to pick one incorrect call, I'd definitely go with Jim Lampley in the closing seconds of the sixth. Where Vitali is falling all over Lewis and he incorrectly declares that "It's all Lewis can do to stand up." If you weren't watching the video a call like that would suggest something completely different, that Lewis was staggering about ready to fall. That was a bad, misleading one from Lampley.

But overall, hey, everyone loves an underdog story.

 

"And they shout 'LEWIS CAN BARELY STAND UP' even though it's clearly Vitali who's on the verge of falling. "


I saw that, Vitali was hugging Lewis around the hips and it was Lewis who could barely stand up atsch

"Lewis won the fight , but Vitaly won the event" WTF !!! Maybe we should of given Vitaly a medal for winning a couple of rounds

 

This has been done to death. There should be no contraversy about this fight. Lewis won on a tko and him repeatedly punching Vitaly in the face had nothing to do with the stoppage!

This should be put to bed. Lewis won because he was the better fighter on the night.

 

HBO commentary is really bad, mainly due to Lampley, Lederman's scorecards are pathetic and the less said about Kellerman the better. Merchant's a gem though. Whenever I DL an HBO fight I try my best just to tune it out, Lampley never shuts up even though he hasn't got a clue what he's talking about and it's just distracting.
I don't know if they were biased or just incompetent, really you can pick out any number of fights where punches that missed by miles caused Lampley to orgasm over what a great shot it was, many others where very solid punches land from the fighter he's not rooting for and he says nothing.

 

I've said I don't consider this one terrible or anything but now I'm thinking...what would people nominate as the worst HBO broadcast where they showed heavy bias towards a fighter in blind ignorance of what was actually happening in the ring? Then got all shocked and indignant at the result? And perhaps the worst Showtime one?

 

And they kept saying 'Vitali just needs 1 punch to put Lennox away', except for the fact Lennox wasn't even bothering to defend himself against Klits arm punches and was just walking him down to land his bigger more damaging blows

 

Mind you, if you want really dramatic, Radio Five Live is always the way to go. They make even the most routine jabfest sound thrilling.

Needless to say, they made this fight sound like Vitali had torn off one of Lewis's arms and was beating him with the wet end. Fun stuff. I was almost disappointed by the time I actually saw the footage a little while later.

 

Yeah Those commentators were disgustingly exxagerating, but why THE **** YOU BRITS act like Lennox was no kind of problems in that fight? He was literally going life and death there(unmotivated, out of shape, and shockingly what 5lbs over weight :shock:, these excuses came very familiar after the war he had against Vitali which nobody know who would have won with out the cuts. And yes win was legit no doubt about, but you know ****ing exactly Vitali was not beaten up otherwise. was willing to continue, were bagging for it).

Lennox got away like dog from the barrier of that fight, didnt gave much of a winner expression in the ring in that night and even not after the fight.

IMO you are worse than *******s with JMM issue getting ridiculously Childish when asking about the final fight the solve it once and for all who is who. Boxing World wanted to see, why not you Brits, LL nut huggers, maybe little bit worried extra about your man? :/