How much impact do commentators have on the publics interpretation of a fight?

hell of a lot.

In England we have Boxnation which provide some of the worst commentry you'll ever hear.

 

Means almost everything. I remember Meldrick Taylor vs. JCC Sr. in March of 1990. HBO made it sound like Taylor was winning easily, yet I saw Chavez landing punches and slowly taking over, because of the swelling on Meldrick's face. Meldrick never was great defensively. He had fast hands but he always stayed in range of fighters to land his fast punches,and then he would get hit maybe one punch for every 2 or 3 he landed. So when the fight was stopped at the end HBO made it sound like it just happened without much reason and Steele stopped it early, but I saw Taylor's face getting badly banged up (although he did get swelling from lesser fighters Meekins and McGirt). My friend who was at that fight at the Las Vegas Hilton told me later that in the crowd everyone could see Chavez landing big punches and it was a pretty even fight, and he got home and saw HBO and couldn't believe how they were making it onesided for Taylor. Taylor got as close to beating Chavez that night as he ever would again. Chavez figured him out and just had to throw more punches in the next fight. Steele stopped the fight well.

 

I remember someone saying in some boxing book that in the first Holyfield/Lewis fight that everyone in Canada thought Holyfield won yet everyone in the US thought Lewis won (or vice-versa) because the commentary in the two countries were so different.

I remember when I first started watching boxing I wouldn't keep my own scorecard so I just relied on what the commentators said to decide who won the fight.

 

It's really easy for the commentary to influence you, even if you're a seasoned fan. The commentary team can change the entire feeling of a fight.

One example is Mayweather vs Hatton -- I was watching the Sky Sports broadcast and they were never convinced that Hatton was in the fight. They would mainly stress how well Mayweather was doing, and how Hatton was in trouble, etc. The fight came across as a vintage Mayweather showcase. The HBO commentary, on the other hand, made the fight feel much more competitive. They were going on about how Mayweather was feeling uncomfortable due to Hatton's footspeed, pressure, etc, and Hatton came across as more of a threat.

Another example that comes to mind is Malignaggi vs Khan. The British commentary was, once again, less enthused about the British fighter's performance. You got the sense that they thought it was a decent performance, but nothing special or worth raving about. The HBO commentary gave a really different perspective on the fight -- they were admiring Khan's work and ability to outbox Malignaggi in the middle of the ring. The fight came across as one of Khan's best performances with HBO commentary.

(The recent Mayweather vs Cotto match also had horrific commentary by Sheridan. It felt like Mayweather was suddenly the best fighter in history, and Cotto was a useless bum.)

 

A lot.

For an example "The Colonel" was doing the commentairy on Floyd vs Cotto for BN.
If you're not a regular viewer you might believe Floyd was completely whooping Cotto with no chance of even getting a even round.
When Cotto hit him cleanly it either got ignored, twisted into a Floyd tactic or even denied (even in replay) the punch landed.

I think a lot of people are influenced by that. Certainly if they were pulling for the fighter that gets all the praise, or just the other way 'round.

 

alot. but the commentary for Pacquiao vs Marquez III wasnt fooling anybody

 

Well people in general are reactionary. They would rather Champion what sounds good to keep regurgitating than what's actually playing out infront of their eyes. So when a commentator coins a phrase they keep repeating it cause its easier than using their own intelligence to access the fight. Me personally I'm not easily swayed or coerced by other peoples opinions. I make a point of always trying to stay neutral and try to take a step back from the hysteria.

I dont wanna offend anyone but I think you have to be pretty conformist minded to fall for that kind of BS.

 

Happens to often, watch Khan Peterson and JMM-Pacman 3, although I had Pacman winning 115-114.

 

Just watch hbo trying to save the PAC v mayweather fight by the way they completely pretended pax wasn't getting his ass kIcked.

 

It always makes me laugh how people regurgitate the same old rubbish about how Oscar was hitting thin air against Whitaker. Sure that happened occasionally, although probably most notably in one particular round toward the end, but people translate that to.........Oscar was missing the whole night Lol.

Its like Leonard flurrying at the end of rounds against Hagler. Its all this, ah Leonard was trying to steal rounds. Newsflash, when there are close debatable rounds on the table up from grabs then judges are LOOKING for someone to punctuate the round to sway their opinion, if you close a close round out and you super-seed what the other guy has been doing the rest of the round cause what he was doing wasn't that significant, chances are you gonna edge the round.

 

hate that coronel bob **** after the cotto mayweather fight

biast mother****er

 

He was ridiculously overrating what Mayweather was doing in that fight. He and Dave Bontempo were giving Cotto no credit.

 

A lot.