ESPN is ok, I don’t mind Bradley and Ward. Tessitore can be a bit over the top at times but he’s still usually good.
I’m not too keen on DAZN USA. Mora can sound annoying at times
I don’t like the DAZN UK team at all except Andy Lee. He’s the only one with some reality and I like how he put a Tony Bellew in his place about Conor Benn last week. The main commentator Costello sounds like he is commentating on horse racing, not boxing. He’s awful. And the aforementioned Tony Bellew is a disgrace and Matchroom shill. Actually Darren Barker and the guy that do the earlier fights on the card are much better than Costello on the main fights. They should use those two and Andy Lee for the full night.
PBC is mostly garbage
I think ESPN has hands down the best team right now. Tessitore is pretty solid as a play-by-play guy and for my money Tim Bradley and Andre Ward are the best you could ask for in analysts. Both are very smart fighters who had versatile styles and could adapt to their opponents, so getting not just one but two guys like that breaking down fights is great. It also helps that they have very different dispositions as fighters and different perspectives on fights and fighters. In general I think their commentary is pretty fair, they talk up their main guys but not to the point that I ever feel they're watching some other fight from me. Also ESPN has the best production on their cards imo. Lots of great segments and graphics.
IMO the worst is FOX's team by a mile, I'm not crazy about DAZN's commentary team either. Showtime with Mauro, Al and Abner Mares is pretty good although I remember thinking Al Bernstein sounded like he was drunk on a recent card.
They should give the option to boxing fans to be able to get the Network commentating audio for a extra fee. Let’s see who the hell pays that to hear ESPN,DAZN,Fox and Showtime crew.
I say they need to focus more into the sound of punches and the actual live atmosphere. Also in this world of technology they need to actually get accurate punch stats numbers.
The bold:
For my watching pleasure, in my own world, this is a team I'd gather for every platform in every big fight: Crystina Poncher, Chris Algieri, and my dude, Paulie. With Poncher as the leader of the pack. I love their passion and respect for boxing.
Brian Custer and Kate Abdo can serve as the lead in. That's my dream team.
They should give the option to boxing fans to be able to get the Network commentating audio for a extra fee. Let’s see who the hell pays that to hear ESPN,DAZN,Fox and Showtime crew.
I say they need to focus more into the sound of punches and the actual live atmosphere. Also in this world of technology they need to actually get accurate punch stats numbers.
Ward is garbage. The pussy also never ran back the hating bullshit he was saying about Canelo. After Canelo beat Plant, the piece of shit went silent. Now I can't stand to see or hear anything that MF has to say.
I think each broadcast team could be better.
ESPN: overall I like Ward and Bradley, Tessitore is polished but gets over the top unnecessarily. Osuna used to annoy me but he tries and I appreciate that Kriegel is the absolute worst.
DAZN: Grisham is ok, Mannix doesn't annoy me as much as others but I do enjoy when Mora punks him out and gets him frustrated. Mora is getting better but I still disagree with some of his takes. This team is very average and vanilla to me.
Showtime: Overall, my favorite team. Mauro is annoying, Abner is learning on the job and sounds a bit robotic. The other three old guys I enjoy out of nostalgia. I miss Malignaggi.
FOX: Not a fan of Lennox's takes, Goossen is a bit bumbling, Albert is a professional, Abdo is a looker. Porter is top notch when he's on there.
I get he was juicing but the man knows how to call a fight.
yeah i like his commentary. the fight he popped for was on showtime though so i can see why they would let him go as it's a conflict of interest. dazn should have picked him up tbh
Ward is very good so long as he doesn't interject his own career into the conversation.
Agreed. I like Ward as a commentator. He's a bit sensitive when it comes to his career and you can see he gets biased when a topic affects his career or virtues of the sport he associates with himself.
he was caught juicing and showtime felt that it gave him an unfair advantage over the rest of the crew.
I get he was juicing but the man knows how to call a fight.
I think Ward and Bradley are decent. Bradley can start to get annoying sometimes.
I was watching UK coverage of the Loma fight and I was really impressed with Jamel Herring. Thought he was pretty dang good
i rewatched the fight on UK coverage and i also enjoyed Jamel Herring commenting
I guess we all agree that boxing commentators across the board leave a lot to desire, but I can think of a long list that I'd rather not listen to even more.
Mauro Ranallo sounds like a cartoon voiceover, Bernstein and Mannix are the most bias in broadcasting, and Ray Flores sounds like an MC at a high school talent show.
I admit Tess & Kriegel are so over the top they're hard to sit thru, and Ward's arrogance seems to be always just barely in check, but Bradley is at least fun at times and calls it on the real.
Can't wait till someone offers Shawn Porter a contract, he'll probably be better than all of them.
Dang this is the 2nd post of yours in a day or two where you said everything I wanted to. Get out of my mind!
Espn is the worst.....I miss hbo ....yes lampley was a bit much but ya never knew how drunk metchant would get and how much he would incoherently babble .....Manny steward was very good he'll even max was good. Miss the hbo production and the music! Part of boxing died when hbo stopped doing fights
But to be real Antonio Tarver is the best analyst out there. But I don’t know why he’s unemployable because he is great.
he was caught juicing and showtime felt that it gave him an unfair advantage over the rest of the crew.
It's the Disney model. They have to do that to get to come back to work the next day. It is what it is. I have kind of a love hate relationship with them. I agree, Tessitore has to stop with the Ukranian dancing comment. I get that maybe people are seeing Loma for the first time, but he needs to spread that comment out or say something else. There's more to Loma than just Ukranian dancing.
Bradley goes from being a solid commentator to all of a sudden waiving his pompoms. Half the time, when he screams, "He's hurt," the guy is not hurt. He overreacts to every punch thrown, blocked or slipped. It's nuts.
Ward is kind of dry. I always get the sense that he disagrees with Bradley just to disagree.
And Kriegel says some of the dumbest, inane garbage I've ever heard. There was a reason Teddy told him, to his face on air, that he has no business commentating on boxing.
But I also understand that ESPN makes them do what they do.
I think Ward and Bradley are decent. Bradley can start to get annoying sometimes.
I was watching UK coverage of the Loma fight and I was really impressed with Jamel Herring. Thought he was pretty dang good
I was rewatching the Helenius Kownacki II broadcast on FS1 on Friday and I thought Lennox Lewis, Brian Kenny, and Andre Ward was pretty good. If Showtime could somehow replace Andre Mares with Ward I think that would be great. But to be real Antonio Tarver is the best analyst out there. But I don’t know why he’s unemployable because he is great.