Jim Lampley
TV ANNOUNCERS INVOLVE THEMSELVES TOO MUCH IN BOXING
Sacramento, CA– There have been several times over the years where I have been tempted to mute the commentary during fights. The tag team of Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant often wears on my nerves. They usually seem to be watching a different fight, and have their favorite fighters that they cannot help but show their bias for. One such fighter is Manny Pacquiao.
HOWARD COSELL WAS NO CHEERLEADER
As I watched June’s Pacquiao-Tim Bradley showdown, it was clear that Merchant and Lampley were big fans of the Pacman, and understandably so. Manny’s blazing speed, iron chin and concussive power have earned him arguably the largest fan base in the sport. The problem is that they let their bias influence it.
LIKE HBO ON AIR CREW OWN MANNY PACQUIAO STOCK!
Lampley, Merchant, and the rest of the HBO crew showered praise upon Pacquiao from the opening bell. They made it seem as though he were landing his straight left at will, and leaving Bradley on wobbly legs. Manny did land some crisp straight lefts, but not nearly to the degree that they indicated. I never saw Bradley truly shaken up by a punch in that fight either,
though HBO would have you believe every punch Manny threw was getting to him.
WATCH THE UK FEED OR MUTE THE VOLUME!
I implore you, the viewer to try to ignore the commentary as much as possible. The HBO guys are paid the big bucks because they are colorful and compelling to listen to. In terms of actually providing accurate commentary, there is little to be gained from listening to them. The reason for this bias may be simply that the fighters they favor have contracts with HBO. As such, it is in their best interest to protect their investments. The team never raised any questions after Pacquiao’s highly controversial victory over Juan Manuel Marquez last November, but were outraged when Timothy Bradley got his own controversial nod over the Pacman.
LEDERMAN “OVERBOARD” ON PACQUIAO BANDWAGON
The always colorful Harold Lederman, HBO’s on air fight judge, had lopsided scorecards in favor of Manny despite that fact that he was inactive for at least two minutes of most rounds. The reliability of Compubox, which tracks which punches actually land, is highly debatable. To be fair, it is hard to see exactly what lands in real time, but one cannot help but
wonder why it appears to be so inaccurate at times. Compubox had Pacquiao out landing Bradley by about 100 punches. After watching the fight in slow motion several times, I can say that this is false. Not only did Manny NOT outland Bradley, but I believe he rightly lost the fight.
MANNY HAS MANY FLAWS!
Fans and commentators alike love Manny Pacquiao, but this does not mean he is a model of perfection. He has always struggled with boxers, and when faced with skilled pugilists like Marquez and Bradley, he looks incredibly mortal. The viewing public was outraged at the outcome of Pacquiao-Bradley, and I believe much of that outraged stemmed from them being swayed by the HBO team. The judges used are well-seasoned professionals. Duane Ford, in particular, actually trains other judges and C.J. Ross had Bradley winning. The HBO team questioned the validity of the decision, and the judges themselves, after the fight. The ironic part of this is the fact thatJerry Roth, a judge who has been involved in controversial decisions in the past, scored the fight in favor of Manny. This little tidbit was overlooked by HBO in their cross-examination of the judges.
DONAIRE GOT UNWARRANTED PRAISE
HBO favorite Nonito Donaire was given an extra boost by the commentary team in his last fight against Jeffrey Mathebula. The HBO team praised Donaire, who missed wildly with punches and was countered repeatedly by the jab of Mathebula. At the end of the fight, Compubox actually had Mathebula landing 231 punches to Donaire’s 151. When Donaire
was given the decision by a large margin, HBO downplayed the power of Mathebula, claiming Donaire landed the harder shots. Nonito did manage to drop Mathebula in the 4th round, but appeared flustered by the boxing skills of the South African for the majority of the fight. The fact that commentators claim to know who is landing harder shots is ludicrous. They have no way of knowing whose shots are actually harder. There were many occasions where Mathebula backed Donaire up with his jab, which indicates some sort of power on his part.
FIGHTING THE TRUE “ONE ON ONE” SPORT
Combat sports are more subjective than any other sports. While there are rules, and general scoring criteria, there is always a great deal of subjectivity. Do you go with the guy landing the most punches, the guy landing what appear to be the harder shots, the guys pressing the action, or the one dictating the pace with ring generalship? There is no definitive answer to this question. This is part of what makes boxing so compelling to watch. Fights can be viewed from a variety of different angles, and valid arguments can be made for each angle.
PROPAGANDA EVEN IN BOXING DANGEROUS!
The influence of broadcasters on the public is dangerous. It can lead to unwarranted public outcry, which damages the sport as a whole. The immediate reaction after controversial decisions has become “boxing is dead”. With stiff competition from mixed martial arts and corruption within the sport, there is as risk of the public losing what little interest it has left. Boxing has become a niche sport, and biased commentary threatens to ensure it will remain that way. Next time you watch a big fight, mute the audio and watch with an open mind. The sport of boxing needs unbiased analysis and it is our duty as fans to be as impartial as we can.
Zak Young