Pongsaklek Wonjongkam won the interim Thai bantamweight title today

An example of what I was talking about by the British guy. EJ Boxing is his channel. Here he's commentating on Francisco Rodriguez Jr vs Katsunari Takayama from 2014, a real cracker of a fight, which not enough English speakers saw.

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Oh, and here he is again commentating for Denis Lebedev vs Guillermo Jones in 2013.

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I really like that he's brought a friend in to watch and discuss the fight with here so it feels like a regular color commentary team. Normal teams work in threes, the blow by blow guy who might also mention the fighters backgrounds and history, the former fighter who discusses technique and strategy, and an unofficial scorer.

The best fights without English commentary from recent years to my mind have been
2015
Orlando Salido vs Roman Martinez I
Ola Afolabi vs Victor Ramirez
2014
Orlando Salido vs Terdsak Kokietgym
2013
Giovani Segura vs Hernan Marquez
2011
Akira Yaegashi vs Pornsawan Porpramook
Hernan Marquez vs Luis Concepcion I
2006
Somsak Sithchatchawal vs Mahyar Monshipour
1997
Sirimongkol Singwangcha vs Joichiro Tatsuyoshi
1994
Joichiro Tatsuyoshi vs Yasuei Yakushiji
1988
Jung Koo Chang vs Hideyuki Ohashi II
1985
Myung-Woo Yuh vs Oh Kon Son
1982
Katsuo Tokashiki vs Lupe Madera I

It would also be cool if classic stuff like Eder Jofre vs Fighting Harada I and II were in English.

 

Only just got the win over Manot / Yodpichai Sithsaithong

 

Would commentaries be better done "as live" or "with historical context"?

I.e. "This 2001 fight featuring 3 word future world champion Shinsuke Ohashi, was his third defense of the OPBF title, and would come 22 months before he challenged Victor Ortega for the WBA crown"?

 

I feel they work better and are more "honest" on a certain level when done with a historical context, just as you wrote up there.

 

Your example is spot on. I think a little historical context is a necessity. You would basically be introducing the fighters to people who were unfamiliar with them, so explaining up front why they are important, and why the fans should care more about them is a must. Of course, it could just be injected into the commentary spontaneously in a lull in the fighting, like you sometimes see commentators do. They talk about past opponents, past performances, and possible future match ups. That sort of thing. If I were going to talk about Yoko Gushiken I'd definitely mention how popular he was in Japan and how 50 million people would watch his fights on Japanese tv. Or if it was a Jiro Watanabe fight I'd mention his post fight career as a small time gangster. Maybe, throw in some analysis of roughly where they stand in the history of their division and compare them to a champion that the viewers might have already heard of.

Although, there is something to be said for the "live" spontaneous party feeling. I say, trust your gut and do what feels natural.

Two of the writers over at badlefthook (Connor Ruebusch and Kyle McLachlan) tried to add English commentary to Inoue vs Narvaez and Rigondeaux vs Amagasa a week or so after they happened with good results too. I'm not sure why they never did any more.

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That’s Fleaman right? It works quite well.

 

That’s a great list of fights to do....

The commentator sounds like Ashley Theopane...less the slurring.

 

Could be Flea Man. I was looking for his when I stumbled upon it. But it's not on his youtube channel "Fleaboxing." I just remember him mentioning that he did that once and I kind of remember the fight possibly being one of Inoue's. I'm not sure what Flea's real name is. He could be that Kyle McLachlan guy, or this could be just something else. Around the time he mentioned it I think he also mentioned that he was writing a book about former Muay Thai fighters who'd transitioned to boxing; so maybe he's just been busy writing his book.

 

Yeha Kyle is Fleaman

 

Helluva a book idea, a book that needs to be written. When he visited me in Thailand he ran me through it. Interesting stuff...I wonder if he’s still at it. That was sometime ago.

 

I didn't even know that Pongsaklek is still fighting nowsaday. My bad! I jus thought that he has retired already.

 

Well, he was out of the ring recently for I believe a five year stretch, so you were actually correct until this last minute bit of insanity...

 

I think this insanity is set to continue anywhere a licence can be granted!
Read this... I knew he was at evolve in Singapore but I didn't know he was in so much financial strife.

http://www.asianboxing.info/oriental-opinions

 

Yeah I just watched it back, no real snippets of interest, no little gems or nuggets of insight. Other than the normal fighter intros in round 1 the commentator says they both weighed in at 107 pounds. At the start of round 2 he confirms it's from outside the front of Sakon Nakon Sports Stadium in Issan, which confirms it's the first bout. Round 3 just fight action talk. Round 4 mentions the ref is an experienced wold class ref. 5 jut fight action, 6 talks about an upcoming card in Chaiya south of Thailand, 7 & 8 just more fight action commentary. Only one commentator so there was no partner for conversation so mostly limited to talking about the action. I really enjoyed Pong chasing in round 7.

By the way like your channel, loads of good fights.