how would U rate Vai Sikahema as a guest analyst?

Thought Vai Sikahema was very impressive as guest analyst on the Gamboa card -- so good Kellerman and Atlas, et all, should be hearin' footsteps for the HBO slot when Larry Merchant finally sails off into the sunset.

What were your impressions of Vai's performance?

 

I watch him on tv here in the Philly area i am used to him.

 

Any opinion, c, how he did on the Gamboa card?

 

Thought he did a good job, but not great. Vai seemed like the type of guy, similar to that of Teddy Atlas, who wanted to force his opinions down the throats of the audience rather than just simply state it. I thought he was getting a hard-on when describing his favorite Philadelphia fighters and the heavyweights from the 1970's.

I still remember when Brian Kenny and Shannon Briggs were the commentators for one of the ESPN cards earlier this year when Tessitore and Atlas were unavailable. I was much more impressed with Briggs than I was of Sikahema. Overall, Shannon just seemed more comfortable and he had a great rapport with Kenny.

 

Very interesting, R -- shows ya how opinions can vary. I think the specific question Kenny raised to Vai was: Who were your top ten Philly fighters? Sure, it was subjective, but what more could he have done?

As for Briggs, I missed that show, so have no frame of reference.

 

One of the best guest analysts ESPN has had - you can tell he's a pro. Very knowledgable about the sport, although he made a couple of factual errors (can't recall what they were now). Smooth and easy to listen to. He would be a MAJOR improvement over the annoying and unqualified Kellerman on HBO.

 

Exactly my sentiments, Z, though to be fair, Max has a font of boxing minutia at his fingertips.

 

Kellerman knows alot of trivia, but he doesn't really know the sport. This is most likely because, alone among boxing commentators, he never worked as a boxing journalist or was a participant. There's something that comes from paying your dues that all the reading of boxing books or watching fight films can't make up for. It's called depth.

IMO, almost ANYBODY would be an improvement over Kellerman. Sikahema is not really a boxing guy himself, but at least he's not as irritating.

 

I thought he was pretty damn good. He got a couple of things wrong but I would like to see him back on there. You can tell he knows his ****

 

He annoyed me heaps.

Eg "this is the end of my celeb boxing career" and talking as if he is a pro fighter. That was p'ing me off

 

Call it "depth", call it gravitas, or "he knows his ****," as Cardstars put it; that's the bottom line. Sikahema has it.

He may notta fought pro, but you fight 80 amateur fights, spend as much time in gyms as he has; the game's in your blood.

 

bump

 

bump

 

A lot to like in Vai as a boxing analyst. He's knowledgeable, knows some history, experienced behind a mic, and most importantly he's enjoyable in there. I wouldn't mind seeing him back and yeah he's a better alternative than Kellerman.

 

Vai was decent, but I'm not sure how he would do on a week to week basis.