Do some boxing analysts and commentators hurt our sport's popularity?

[The Hammer]

Even as a hardcore fan i hate listening to Atlas. No way ignorant or casual fans will listen to him.

Yes, sometimes I have to turn down the sound to enjoy watching a fight when Teddy's commentating.

[Sparked_1985]

Favourite pundit is still Bunce.

As inflammatory as that man is, he cracks me up.

Barry McGuigan is also very good. I really like Richie Woodhall an awful lot too and Duke McKenzie is great value.

Out of the Americans, I only really like Larry Merchant and another guy whose name I forget, he done the Haye fight against Mormeck, he was great.

I can't stand Kellerman. He is instantly unlikeable, he gets under my skin everytime. He is very very very disrespectful of most boxers, most recently Chad Dawson. There is a fine line between having an opinion and just being a giant arsehole.

[vercingetorix3]

Promoters > Analysts, Commentators in terms of hurting the sweet science.

[Spacey1991]

In all fairness even though some of them are complete idiots and ****heads, its still Boxing publicity...

[jcarr71]

I love Kellerman. He's usually spot on. Teddy beats the viewers over the head with a hammer though. He sees one thing and talks about it nonstop for the entire bout. It is awful. He's also a ridiculously bad scorer. As for Bernstein, I forget he exists when he isn't on my tv. I don't have much of an opinion either way.

A couple things do bother me though. The HBO crew, especially Lampley, cheerleads. They often will talk about what the house fighter is doing well and ignore the successes the other fighter has completely. At least when you watch a Sky Sports PPV (such as Khan/Kotelnkik) they make no pretense of being unbiased. They are openly rooting. HBO seems to try to manipulate viewers subliminally into seeing the fight HBO wants to see.

Most of all though I hate when commentators call attention to a boring fight. Even pro wrestling commentators know their job is to help make the show entertaining. Stop talking about how bad your program is and just call the fights. It makes no sense to put such a negative vibe out. That form of "keeping it real" can make an uneventful but fairly normal fight seem like Dirrell/Stevens II.

[Davros?]

Favourite pundit is still Bunce.

As inflammatory as that man is, he cracks me up.

Barry McGuigan is also very good. I really like Richie Woodhall an awful lot too and Duke McKenzie is great value.

Out of the Americans, I only really like Larry Merchant and another guy whose name I forget, he done the Haye fight against Mormeck, he was great.

I can't stand Kellerman. He is instantly unlikeable, he gets under my skin everytime. He is very very very disrespectful of most boxers, most recently Chad Dawson. There is a fine line between having an opinion and just being a giant arsehole.

I cant stand Kellerman at all its the guys voice it does me in.

[superchamp]

Colonel Bob Sheridan is the best at keeping me excited. I think he just truly loves boxing, or knows that its his job to pretend to truly love boxing.

I've met him at a couple of fights though, and he talked non-stop for like 30-40 min, about how much he loves boxing, so I have to believe him

I'm also in awe of him when he singlehandedly commentates an entire 3-4 hour telecast, doing both announcing and colour commentary.

[βetamax]

Have you ever noticed the commentators and analysts on TV for other sports are much more POSITIVE than some of the boxing commentators?

The MMA commentators try to build excitement, as do the hockey, football and basketball commentators and anaylsts.

But in boxing we need to listen to the negativity and constant bitching by people like Teddy Atlas, Wally Matthews, Max Kellerman and Al Bernstein. Oh, we have some good ones like Gus Johnson, Joe Tessitore, Manny Steward and Jim Lampley, but with every telecast we have some idiot bitching about referees' decisions, and either nuthugging or discrediting boxers.

Would boxing become more popular if they replaced some of the negative, biased commentators with better ones?

Your comparing play-by-play commentators with color commentators. Play-by-play commentators will naturally sound more neutral while it's the color commentators job to speak the truth whether it's something positive or negative. While they may not always be right and it may not always be what you want to hear I do appreciate that there is something there trying to keep it real.

I have news for you - no one watches FNF fights other then hardcore boxing fans. Your boogyman Teddy Atlas has NOTHING to do with the state of boxing. If your going to criticize someone for being negative and who's on the big stage where the casual fan will tune in, then do with so with Merchant. Of course you never bring him up and I think we both know why.

[rocky_balboa23]

Have you ever noticed the commentators and analysts on TV for other sports are much more POSITIVE than some of the boxing commentators?

The MMA commentators try to build excitement, as do the hockey, football and basketball commentators and anaylsts.

But in boxing we need to listen to the negativity and constant bitching by people like Teddy Atlas, Wally Matthews, Max Kellerman and Al Bernstein. Oh, we have some good ones like Gus Johnson, Joe Tessitore, Manny Steward and Jim Lampley, but with every telecast we have some idiot bitching about referees' decisions, and either nuthugging or discrediting boxers.

Would boxing become more popular if they replaced some of the negative, biased commentators with better ones?

i answered yes..I sometimes, even like the commentators here in the Phils..They try to analyze the fight and make some suggestions on how a beaten fighter can turn the tide around..they also try to educate non boxing fans..I cannot say that to many boxing analysts in the US

[Scott9945]

While there are a number of commentators I don't like, I don't think it has very much to do with the sport's popularity. People either like the fights or they don't. If it is an exciting match then people watching won't even remember the commentary.