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Michael Buffer Interview: On Pacquiao, Cotto, Roach, Mayweather, Klitschkos, Ali and
Michael Buffer Interview: On Pacquiao, Cotto, Roach, Mayweather, Klitschkos, Ali and so Much More!
By David Tyler, Doghouse Boxing (Oct 1, 2009)
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And now, for the thousands in attendance and the millions watching over the world, ladies and gentlemen, Let’s get ready to Rumble!
David Tyler – Michael I know that you did not start in the boxing business until you were in your mid-30’s.
Michael Buffer – Yeah, how about 40.
DT – What started your interest in boxing?
MB – I was living in Philadelphia in the late 70’s early 80’s and this was the beginning of ******** in Atlantic City. They began to have a lot of fights every weekend and plenty of weeknights. In Atlantic City boxing was a natural attraction for the Hotels and Casinos to bring in customers. As a fight fan I just thought it would be great to be part of it and I never had any thoughts about being a ring announcer. What happened is that I was watching a fight with my oldest son Michael who is now 41; he was like 13 or 14, at the time. We watched the ring announcer give a split decision where he announced both of the winning scores to avoid the drama of that third and deciding score. The one where everybody holds their breathe and waits for the final announcement of the winner. My son said boy I hate it when that happens, Dad you could do a better job than that guy. I began thinking about what he said and thought it might be interesting to try. I fought my way into getting a chance and I was pretty bad at first but as I continued on, I felt that I got much better.
DT – Did you go directly to HBO?
MB – No, actually the number one rated show on ESPN when I started back in 1982 was boxing. The events were held around the country every week, usually out of Atlantic City or Las Vegas and a few places in-between. I started doing the fights for Bob Arum and Top Rank and with that came a lot of exposure and of course the weekend network fights. The elevated exposure just really took off.
DT – How did you create the catchphrase, ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’?
MB – You know, I guess because of all the exposure, the ring announcers were introducing the entire commission which swelled to four doctors, five commissioners, an executive director, state chairman, then add to the mix the alphabet organizations with supervisors at ringside, you have been plenty deep in introductions before you say fighters names and you have just taken the wind out of the arena. I’ll give you an example, for a big fight the fighters come to the ring to music and the crowd is pretty amped up and the ring announcer which is just basically a PA announcer introduces teams that they could care less about. You go to a football game and you don’t hear the entire front office being introduced. But in boxing it is something that is done all the time. So I wanted a line or word or catchphrase, something that would bring life back to the crowd. Something comparable to ‘Gentlemen Start Your Engines’. When 400,000 fans live at the Indy 500 hear that they go crazy. The race is about to start, that’s what they have been waiting for and I tried,’ tend your battle stations’ and ‘fasten your seatbelts’ but they felt pretty flat. Muhammad Ali and Budini Brown they would get animated by saying ‘I’m ready to rumble’ and ‘rumble young man rumble’ and I kind of fine tuned that with ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’. Sal Marciano who was the blow by blow announcer for ESPN used to say ‘we’re ready to rumble’ from Resorts International, that was one of their favorite venues back then. It had a nice tune to it and I started saying it by accident, ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble’.
DT – That may be the most famous catchphrase in any sport. Has anyone ever counted the number of times you have used that at major events?
MB – Ha! Ha! No not me. I kind of wish that I had kept track of the number of championship fights I have done but I had no idea it would become so popular.
DT – If I wanted to hire you to open my brother’s birthday party by using your catchphrase, how much would it cost?
MB – Well, you speaking theoretically of course, my brother Bruce Buffer is actually my manager and business partner. He handles all those kind of requests. If you’re serious just call Bruce and he will give you a quote.
DT – Michael, when they hand you the cards to announce the winner of the fight, what’s actually on the cards?
MB – What we usually get now is the entire score sheet and all three judges’ scores with the individual judge’s name at the top and at the bottom the totals. The commission will circle the winning total of each one. They will usually make a note like ‘Jack Johnson by Decision’.
DT – Have you ever made a mistake by announcing the wrong winner?
MB – Actually, I made a mistake once. It was on an undercard fight, not on TV, it was in San Antonio, Texas. What happened was it was one of the early fights on a card where you have somebody with a lopsided record, maybe a local star, and they bring in an opponent who is not necessarily going to win but without naming names the fighter who had the winning record, something like 19-0 with 17 knockouts and his opponent was 4–15, very insignificant stats obviously. I did the introductions and sat down and was going over my notes for the rest of the evening. I heard the crowd explode and a fighter falls down and counted out and without looking to see who it was, I thought that was quick. I got up and got the time from the referee and I just assumed it was another victory against a guy who was a toe tagger and I’m giving a big introduction, ‘The winner by Knockout Victory’ and I’m starting to name the fighter who came in with the great record and a voice behind me said, Mr. Buffer, it’s me, I’m the winner. Here’s the guy in the Chuck Taylor sneakers and the borrowed boxing trunks that scored the one round knockout.
DT – Michael do you work for HBO or the promoters?
MB – I work for the promoters. I’m strictly freelance and have never had a contract. Primarily I work with most promoters that are seen on HBO. A lot of people associate me with HBO which is certainly no disgrace as they are the top network for boxing. I do have a contract with some German networks. Years ago I had quite a few fights with Showtime. A lot of people don’t realize that I was actually the first person that said ‘It’s Showtime’. It wasn’t my idea, Jay Larkin who is the founding father or the George Washington of Showtime came up with the idea when we did it with Tommy Hearns and Michael Olajide. There line that they were using was ‘It’s boxing, It’s Showtime’ so for the fight I said ‘It’s Showtime’ and I followed it up with ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble’. That’s actually the first time that it was used on the air. I had forgot about it myself until somebody sent me a video of the fight.
DT – You will be working again for Showtime in the Super Six, Super Middleweight tournament.
MB – Yes, the very first fight is out of Germany and a great one it is with Arthur Abraham and Jermaine Taylor. I believe that fight is October 17th and it will be a dual event, one in Germany and the other fight in England.
DT – As a boxing fan, you must be excited about the Super Middleweight tournament?
MB – Yeah, really because it is a great mix and because it is a great mix it will be a great tournament. I don’t think this has ever happened before where a loss is not an elimination from the event. It’s very compelling and I think it’s a good idea because so much emphasis is always put on fighters today that are undefeated. A lot of fighters with their first loss, especially if they are great fighters, become even better fighters after a loss. Sugar Ray Robinson won something like 80 fights in a row and his first loss was to Jake LaMotta and they had a re-match 21 days later and Robinson went on to run off a streak of 40 or 45 victories in a row. There is no disgrace in losing and it’s evolved that it is and I think this tournament will add a little something special because of the rules.
(to be cont'd)
By David Tyler, Doghouse Boxing (Oct 1, 2009)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now, for the thousands in attendance and the millions watching over the world, ladies and gentlemen, Let’s get ready to Rumble!
David Tyler – Michael I know that you did not start in the boxing business until you were in your mid-30’s.
Michael Buffer – Yeah, how about 40.
DT – What started your interest in boxing?
MB – I was living in Philadelphia in the late 70’s early 80’s and this was the beginning of ******** in Atlantic City. They began to have a lot of fights every weekend and plenty of weeknights. In Atlantic City boxing was a natural attraction for the Hotels and Casinos to bring in customers. As a fight fan I just thought it would be great to be part of it and I never had any thoughts about being a ring announcer. What happened is that I was watching a fight with my oldest son Michael who is now 41; he was like 13 or 14, at the time. We watched the ring announcer give a split decision where he announced both of the winning scores to avoid the drama of that third and deciding score. The one where everybody holds their breathe and waits for the final announcement of the winner. My son said boy I hate it when that happens, Dad you could do a better job than that guy. I began thinking about what he said and thought it might be interesting to try. I fought my way into getting a chance and I was pretty bad at first but as I continued on, I felt that I got much better.
DT – Did you go directly to HBO?
MB – No, actually the number one rated show on ESPN when I started back in 1982 was boxing. The events were held around the country every week, usually out of Atlantic City or Las Vegas and a few places in-between. I started doing the fights for Bob Arum and Top Rank and with that came a lot of exposure and of course the weekend network fights. The elevated exposure just really took off.
DT – How did you create the catchphrase, ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’?
MB – You know, I guess because of all the exposure, the ring announcers were introducing the entire commission which swelled to four doctors, five commissioners, an executive director, state chairman, then add to the mix the alphabet organizations with supervisors at ringside, you have been plenty deep in introductions before you say fighters names and you have just taken the wind out of the arena. I’ll give you an example, for a big fight the fighters come to the ring to music and the crowd is pretty amped up and the ring announcer which is just basically a PA announcer introduces teams that they could care less about. You go to a football game and you don’t hear the entire front office being introduced. But in boxing it is something that is done all the time. So I wanted a line or word or catchphrase, something that would bring life back to the crowd. Something comparable to ‘Gentlemen Start Your Engines’. When 400,000 fans live at the Indy 500 hear that they go crazy. The race is about to start, that’s what they have been waiting for and I tried,’ tend your battle stations’ and ‘fasten your seatbelts’ but they felt pretty flat. Muhammad Ali and Budini Brown they would get animated by saying ‘I’m ready to rumble’ and ‘rumble young man rumble’ and I kind of fine tuned that with ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’. Sal Marciano who was the blow by blow announcer for ESPN used to say ‘we’re ready to rumble’ from Resorts International, that was one of their favorite venues back then. It had a nice tune to it and I started saying it by accident, ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble’.
DT – That may be the most famous catchphrase in any sport. Has anyone ever counted the number of times you have used that at major events?
MB – Ha! Ha! No not me. I kind of wish that I had kept track of the number of championship fights I have done but I had no idea it would become so popular.
DT – If I wanted to hire you to open my brother’s birthday party by using your catchphrase, how much would it cost?
MB – Well, you speaking theoretically of course, my brother Bruce Buffer is actually my manager and business partner. He handles all those kind of requests. If you’re serious just call Bruce and he will give you a quote.
DT – Michael, when they hand you the cards to announce the winner of the fight, what’s actually on the cards?
MB – What we usually get now is the entire score sheet and all three judges’ scores with the individual judge’s name at the top and at the bottom the totals. The commission will circle the winning total of each one. They will usually make a note like ‘Jack Johnson by Decision’.
DT – Have you ever made a mistake by announcing the wrong winner?
MB – Actually, I made a mistake once. It was on an undercard fight, not on TV, it was in San Antonio, Texas. What happened was it was one of the early fights on a card where you have somebody with a lopsided record, maybe a local star, and they bring in an opponent who is not necessarily going to win but without naming names the fighter who had the winning record, something like 19-0 with 17 knockouts and his opponent was 4–15, very insignificant stats obviously. I did the introductions and sat down and was going over my notes for the rest of the evening. I heard the crowd explode and a fighter falls down and counted out and without looking to see who it was, I thought that was quick. I got up and got the time from the referee and I just assumed it was another victory against a guy who was a toe tagger and I’m giving a big introduction, ‘The winner by Knockout Victory’ and I’m starting to name the fighter who came in with the great record and a voice behind me said, Mr. Buffer, it’s me, I’m the winner. Here’s the guy in the Chuck Taylor sneakers and the borrowed boxing trunks that scored the one round knockout.
DT – Michael do you work for HBO or the promoters?
MB – I work for the promoters. I’m strictly freelance and have never had a contract. Primarily I work with most promoters that are seen on HBO. A lot of people associate me with HBO which is certainly no disgrace as they are the top network for boxing. I do have a contract with some German networks. Years ago I had quite a few fights with Showtime. A lot of people don’t realize that I was actually the first person that said ‘It’s Showtime’. It wasn’t my idea, Jay Larkin who is the founding father or the George Washington of Showtime came up with the idea when we did it with Tommy Hearns and Michael Olajide. There line that they were using was ‘It’s boxing, It’s Showtime’ so for the fight I said ‘It’s Showtime’ and I followed it up with ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble’. That’s actually the first time that it was used on the air. I had forgot about it myself until somebody sent me a video of the fight.
DT – You will be working again for Showtime in the Super Six, Super Middleweight tournament.
MB – Yes, the very first fight is out of Germany and a great one it is with Arthur Abraham and Jermaine Taylor. I believe that fight is October 17th and it will be a dual event, one in Germany and the other fight in England.
DT – As a boxing fan, you must be excited about the Super Middleweight tournament?
MB – Yeah, really because it is a great mix and because it is a great mix it will be a great tournament. I don’t think this has ever happened before where a loss is not an elimination from the event. It’s very compelling and I think it’s a good idea because so much emphasis is always put on fighters today that are undefeated. A lot of fighters with their first loss, especially if they are great fighters, become even better fighters after a loss. Sugar Ray Robinson won something like 80 fights in a row and his first loss was to Jake LaMotta and they had a re-match 21 days later and Robinson went on to run off a streak of 40 or 45 victories in a row. There is no disgrace in losing and it’s evolved that it is and I think this tournament will add a little something special because of the rules.
(to be cont'd)
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