So if you were or are a commentator, would you nuthug the inhouse fighter, like if they paid you if the fighter was in-house: his yard, all local referees, promoter being the network, more money fights down the road, etc etc, or a large ppv star who cashed in more than his more talented counterparts (example Ryan> tank even though in fight = tank> Ryan) or whatever other reasons politically, Or would you speak the truth no bullchit and call it like it is. These guys seem to never last: Paulie Malignaggi making some true comments equals kicking him off the air. T atlas, pushing his own belief that horn beat pacman while rubbing timothy Bradley's head because he agreed with him lol. So in succession what things would you bring to the forefront? What issues would you tackle? What would you do with your platform? Would you go down as a $hitty commentator/ ex fighter or would you be thrilled to be working this as a dream job instead of a 9 to 5? Would you simply stay diplomatic and not deter from the owners of the program? Because then again there is peer pressure: just like teddy coerced his biasis on tim Bradley and rubbed his head for it. What kind of chit would advocate/ or "sell" the masses?
Commentators aren't, in general, supposed to be investigative journalists. The guys at the desk are there to sell the fight and as an audience member I want to be sold on the fight, it does me good if they can create excitement. But you can do that with the truth. There is something inherently interesting about almost any fight, what's at stake, the preparation that went into it, the likely outcomes, etc. Sell what's really there. ESPN in particular has discovered that certain formulae drive viewership so they try to shoehorn everything into it. Every boxer has to be a dancer or a KO artist. Every football team has a quarterback controversy. They've got the story they want to tell and they try to bend reality to it. Reality is always more interesting, but it takes work to uncover the good story. And who wants to work?
ESPN drives me up a wall with their manufactured drama. Every main event has to have some sort of "riveting story" no matter what that will be repeated 50 times per telecast.
Commentators back then felt like relatively knowledgeable people immersed in the sport. Nowadays they feel like indoctrination apparatus.
Imagine Howard Cosell interviewing Tyson Fury... Imagine Tyson Fury and Muhammad Ali **** talking at each other and then Howard Cosell talking over/in between them.
