Jim Lampley has got to be one of the biggest haters on the planet. For the last several fights, Lampley has openly criticized Bernard on absolutely everything. It got really bad when BHOP fought Lampley's new Boyfriend, Jermaine Taylor. Everytime Jermaine thought about the possibility of throwing a punch, Jim Lampley would scream in esctasy. When he actually threw a punch, Lampley would call it as a scored blow, even when it clearly missed. Then When BHOP took control of both fights, Lamps got very quiet as BHOP began to break Taylor down. He didn't make a peep. :deal After the first Taylor fight, Lampley gleefully announced BHOP's retirement before BHOP did. It's as if he was praying for BHOP to lose. atsch It got even worse the night of the Tarver fight. Lampley made it seem all but impossible for BHOP to win, and said that he was an old man not really capable of competeing anymore. BHOP's dominating performance forced him to cheer BHOP on, but begrudgingly. Then the night of the Winky fight, Lampley was so pro Winky that he resorted to calling phantom shots again, then getting oddly silent whenever BHOP got into his groove. He was openly berating Hopkins, while making it appear as if Winky was dominating him. Then, he mentions Chad dawson, comparing him to Hopkins, simply because he was younger, as if dawson would destroy BHOP and give Lampley a new boyfriend now that the relationship between him and taylor is on the rocks. Lampley was totally disrespecting a legend, and when the judges announced the decision, it made him look like the fool he was. :deal Lampley's hating ass needs to go. :yep :good
HBO and Bernard have been bickering for awhile. Larry Merchant, a longtime supporter of the Philly native, gave Bernard a pretty tough interview after the Morade Hakkar fight, telling B-Hop that he "got paid tonight for doing nothing" and even claimed afterwards that the junior middleweights like Vargas, Wright, and De La Hoya would beat Hopkins. Hopkins also implied at a meeting that Manny Steward was an Uncle Tom, and screamed at Larry Merchant when Larry stood up for the black Wayne Newton. I think there's still a mutual respect with Larry and Bernard because of the Philly connection though.
I noticed Merchant was absent the night of the fight:think Him and Manny seem to have patched things up, but I remember the uncle Tom comment.
I'm sure Larry and Bernard are cool at this point. They are both especially grizzled guys, i'm sure they can appreciate that.
Aren't Manny and Bernard cool? ****, Bernard went up to Manny asking him who he had winning; they've talked on air after both of Hopkins' last fights.
They had an altercation in late 2005 at an HBO dinner. They kissed and made up after the Tarver fight.
Lampley is a complete 'company man' for HBO. Sine DiBella used to be with HBO, and he and Hopkins hate each other, I guess Lamps is just following suit. Also, Taylor is an HBO fighter, more reason to hate Hopkins when he was fighting Hopkins. Basically, Lamps is about as much of a hater of Hops as you can find, outside of DiBella.
:rofl :rofl :rofl No ****. "I Have Jermain Taylor up, 4 rounds to 1! Frankly, Bernard can suck my dick! JIM!"
Maybe because Bhops doesn't want to adhere to Lampley's bullshits. Bhops knows what he is talking about than Lampley most of the time. :yep
Hopkins has earned an anti-establishment reputation...Hollywood Boxing Office is the establishment. Lampley is on HBO's nuts, sucking company **** all night.
Maybe they insult him because he doesnt throw or land many punches. The punch stats was something like 8 landed punches a round in the two fights against Taylor, and no one wants to see that ****. No one likes lame fights, even the announcers.
But JT was still getting beat up, and when Hopkins did throw combo punches, Lamps was oh so quiet. :yep Maybe Lampley prefers the type of knock down, drag out fights he has with his girlfriends. :think
As other have mentioned, most of the HBO commentating haven't been fans of B-Hops. In addition to Lampley and Lederman (who was AWFUL the other night), Foreman and Hops didn't get along too well. I'm fairl certain X once said something to the effect: "How can you listen to anything George Foreman says and take it seriously? The man named all six of sons George!" :rofl With regards to this fight, I didn't think Lampley was especially bad. At least when compared to Imbecile Max and Lederman. Lederman was being ridiculous. To their credit, Max and Lampley called him out, subtley, but clearly. That broadcast sure as hell could have used Larry Merchant.