Lamps doesn't miss Big George

"The two men had just closed out the telecast and were off the air. Foreman wasn't bug-eyed. This was an intense, steely stare. It was scary. This was the pre-grilling machine Foreman. This was the look Foreman would display when he was a young heavyweight. And it certainly wasn't the look of love. Now, Foreman leaned in toward Lampley.
"Why did you push me like that?" Foreman asked Lampley. "Why did you put me in that corner?"
Lampley, wearing a twisted smile, turned to Foreman.
"George, that's my job," he said. "I'm just doing my job."
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/1999/11/19/1999-11-19_foreman_in_fighting_mood.html

Also, what he said to Lampley during the Hamed fight, something about how he better 'watch what he says'. Larry Holmes in an interview once said that George was still a gangster under all the fake bull****.

I don't know the man personally, I've never been to dinner at his house, but that's the vibe I get from him. We KNOW he was thuggish and brutal as a young man, and I don't think, when the pressure is on him, that he's changed all that much. Yeah, he prays more, big deal. I've known plenty of thugs who call themselves christian, as if that somehow automatically un-thugs them. It doesn't.

 

Tarver is good and getting better. I never cared much for RJJ when he did it, it seemed like he was pretty uninterested in any topic of conversation that didn't involve RJJ as the subject being talked about lol...

The best ex fighter I've ever seen in the booth, by FAR, was Joe Mesi. I wish to hell he would get back to it instead of trying to be a politician.

 

What is so bad about getting a straight and direct answer?

Foreman was ace in my opinion but I never had to work with him.

 

Hell no. Foreman is much more entertaining to listen to than any one of them. Foreman, Lamp and Merchant were the best trio on HBO in a very long time. Its all about contrast and distinctiveness and those three complemented one another perfectly. I don't know why people take character appraisals from someone like Lampley seriously.

 

I loved the Merchant, Lampley and Big George team, though Foreman got it wrong A LOT!!! Foreman is a salesman with that gentle giant approach. That is why he was a commentator. I am suprised to hear Lampley give such a fast answer about missing working with George. Maybe there was a beef. I'm not talking about their on screen fueds, no I mean a real fued. Like, George comes home to find "The Lamp" in his bed with his wife, eating a big *ss sandwich.

 

Not an example...it was "off the air" Because two people have a professional disagreement doesn't equate to:
"George was quick to go to physical intimidation, which is absolute childish bull**** from a grown man, especially one of his size and accomplishments and working in the position he was placed in."
In fact, it is the opposite! If true, George waited until the telecast was over.
This is interesting in that article:
"Was I queasy seeing my announcers go at it?" Greenburg asked. "No, I love it."
Reinforces the belief why the colour guys often have such contrary positions.

I just watched that recently...and yes, it WAS a little heated, but no where near "physical intimidation" (although we couldn't see them at the time). But Lampley was totally out of line on his comments and George was right to call him on it.

I don't doubt this for a second. But I have never seen him be anything but professional on the air. Total goofball sometimes, I agree.
But he is not there for the hard-core boxing fans like us. We will watch anyway. Casual and barely-fans always liked him and those are the people HBO needs to attract.

 

Man, I hear you. It's refreshing to watch a boxing match where you don't have to listen to a guy spit out stats and stories that only distract from the action in the ring.

In a perfect world, they'd be very conservative with their commentating during rounds and would save most of their points for the breaks.

 

yep, Czys was good too... too bad they fired him for drunk driving. It's not like anyone expects ex-fighters to be angels in the first place.

 

eh, if you like him, then you like him. No skin off my nose, but I'll tell you one thing: If a bigass negro like Foreman ever turned his coldass stare on YOU like he apparently regularly did on Lampley, you would feel plenty intimidated. I don't think Lampley cares whether it was on or off the air, that kind of thing has no place in a working relationship. I saw Foreman once walking down a casino hallway post-fight, and I'll tell you this: seeing him on TV does no justice to the man's size or aura of menace. He is one massive ****ing slab of humanity, seemed like his shoulders were six feet wide from behind and people got WAY the hell out of his way, celebrity or no. If he gives you a hard look and some hard words, I guarantee you will feel physically intimidated.

Also, I don't think Lampley said one thing out of line in the Hamed fight. MAB was performing brilliantly, he said so, and George didn't care for it. He loved Hamed, for whatever reason.

 

He said that prety quick too. He snapped his neck around and started answering the question even before the other guy's mic go to him.

 

The less commentary the better. It sways the opinions of noob/weak-minded boxing fans too easily. :deal

 

Trinidad-Hopkins is seared into Lampley's brain forever.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLtyKffXp4s[/ame]

 

I still don't get Foreman's gripe against Lampley here.

Hamed had in many fights been zealously bringing his religious beliefs needlessly into the conversation around him, so what was so wrong with Lampley picking up on this?

 

I never liked foreman as a commentator. glad they got rid of him