Can only come to think of bad ones myself, but didn't want to be too negative. Hopkins-Trinidad and Whitaker-McGirt I were just horrible. And as bad as his commentary in Pea-Buddy I was, his nutsucking of Tito even when he is getting his ass handed to him by Hopkins must be the most surreal thing I've heard in sports commentary ever. Any good ones?
I always found him hilarious, probably because ionly took half of what he said seriously. Merchant is bad sometimes but atleast he was genuine in his ignorance and bias against boxers/movers, lampley is terrible. His knowledge of boxing isnt bad but Sometimes its blatantly obvious someone from HBO told him beforehand which fighter to hype up. Its almost ruined several great fights and forced me to turn the sound off because of how terribly biased/dishonest lampley is sometimes. I really enjoyed RJJ who sees and points out alot of things that most people would overlook Steward(rip)for obvious reasons was a valuable, great commentator. I like Max because kellerman unlike merchant respects the fact that hes never boxed professionally himself, respects the fighters and the effort they put in(even if theyre not face first sluggers) and has alot of knowledge. Tompkins and leonard were good. i dont feel any particular way about cosell
Yes javing a trainer or fighter as a commentator is always great...especially a respected trainer, because they are usually more articulate than fighters. George was always just funny and entertaining to me. In terms of i sight he was no where near as valuable as RJJ clancy or steward
Ugh, Kellerman. is terrible and he can be very disrespectful. Hes actually drawn criticism and headlines for being disrespectful.
More so than Merchant? I doubt it... then again i only watch lomachenko and crawford on hbo right now. Even Merchant isnt as bad as Lampley. I wish there was a button where you could turn Jim "hype man" lampley off
I like Kellerman because he's held longevity and he keeps getting contracts .. he never changed never wavered always stayed true to his beliefs ...
Yes, Kellerman is just as bad. Lampley and Kellerman are both hype men, they each pick a fighter or assigned for all we know, and give bias commentary in that fighter's favor. Its not unlike pro wrestling.
RJJ "I guarantee you he will *not* make it out of this round." Merchant: "Klitschko has said if he is beaten by Ross Purrity he will quit boxing." RJJ "Well, he betta quit den..."
He seemed to almost predict Lewis getting kod by Rahmann. He realized Lewis was carrying is hands way too low and it could spell trouble. That was a good moment.
He was a bit of a clown as a commentator but an entertaining, likeable clown. And as someone has already pointed out Foreman, Lampley and Harold Lederman were clearly under instruction from HBO bosses to hype up and be biased towards certain fighters under HBO contract back in the day - Oscar De La Hoya, Naseem Hamed and Ricky Hatton spring to mind.
I liked George on heavyweight bouts. He'd do some homework or had pre-scouted the guys. With the lighter weights, it was fairly obvious he might know who the HBO house fighter was & that's about it. He sure didn't do his homework there & he's hardly the only one of the guys on HBO guilty of that.
