Would boxing have been better or worse to watch without Cosell's commentary?

They needed him at the Oscar's Sunday Night. As if Chris wasn't embarrassed enough LMFAO.

 

We didn't hear much of Cosell here in the UK during his career as US fights would either have a British commentator at ringside or the TV companies would record one over the taped footage.
I have heard plenty of him on videos and DVD's and he seemed genuinely engaged and knowledgeable in the 60's and early 70's. It seems to me that riding on Muhammad Ali's coat tails made him think he was a star and the quality of his commentaries declined as he put more energy into proving his own points and celebrating his own cleverness.
I much prefer the less is more style of Don Dunphy. He had the knack of making you think he was talking to you personally.

 

It would have been far worse. Cosell lent an undefinable sort of electricity to the proceedings when the occasion called for it, as in "down goes Frazier...down goes Frazier," et al,...and a certain ambiance totally lacking in the years following him, with the faceless mediocrities like Lampley, Kellerman and the Cosell wannabe Larry Merchant. Those younger fans who disagree with me are just used to the manufactured pap that ensued after Howie's eclipse following Holmes-Cobb. It's what they were raised with per boxing, and they don't know any difference, I guess..They missed out on the ambiance and flavor of the 70's.

 

Keith Jackson was colorless, regardless of his positive qualities as a broadcaster. Cosell, whether he meant to or not, leant charisma and a certain color to that era he was in.

 

He was a sports guy. That is just my opinion. He quit boxing when he saw it would not be as big a factor in popularity with Tex Cobb and Holmes.

 

Jackson had charisma of his own. He just wasn't obnoxious.

 

I miss Howard.

He and Bob Uecker (a really funny ex baseball player) were discussing a particular play where they disagreed. Cosell said Uecker, you are just being truculent and I bet you don't even know the meaning of the word truculent.

With no hesitation, Uecker said I know what it means. If you lent me a truck that would be a truck-u-lent. For one in his life Cosell was speechless.

 

Jabs at grammar and vocabulary are staples in virgin Incels and forum tough guys. Cosell would've loved posting on this forum. Howard was a loser. An unintelligent pompous one with no charisma, lot like most commentators. Not all, The actual boxers tend to be the most colourful and insightful ones. heck I loved Foreman, hated how guys who'd never been in the ring treated him like a dimwit at times. He did it to himself sometimes, but that was his charm he was a self professed dope, but a kind one.

 

"Tim, oh Tim. You know being around boxing so long has taught me things you could never learn in such an unimpressive career. Now what you have also failed to realise is it's "where" not "were" let me just say Ali and I an educated man of boxing both would disagree with you and with such a ravaging statement I discard you in an unempathetic fashion, what's lost on you is just how much I know but don't stay, my contributions must be limited for limited audiences such as yourself"

 

I thought that Howard Cosell was okay. I remember him calling the title defenses that Muhammad Ali had between 1965-1967, the fight against Karl Mildenberger stands out in my mind, criticizing Ali because he was having trouble with Mildenberger's southpaw stance. Did you know he was also an attorney? I remember watching Howard with Don Meredith and Frank Gifford on ABC's Monday night Football. In my hometown when he was calling the fight between Sugar Ray Leonard vs Daniel Gonzalez on March 24 1979, boxing fans were walking by trying to pull his hair piece off of his scalp, one fan spilled beer on him on purpose. He referred to my hometown as being populated by savages. I remember right in the middle of a Monday Night Football game, he informed those watching that game that John Lennon had been murdered.