ESPN Should Fire Bernardo Osuna

[solo20]

you must be new to boxing if you think Bernardo Osuna doesnt know anything for crying out loud the man was on solo boxeo FOR YEARS WITH OUT HIM AND HIS PAL THE SHOW WOULD HAVE SUCK DONKEYBALLS

[hectari]

you must be new to boxing if you think Bernardo Osuna doesnt know anything for crying out loud the man was on solo boxeo FOR YEARS WITH OUT HIM AND HIS PAL THE SHOW WOULD HAVE SUCK DONKEYBALLS

Osuna just doesn't have the personality for FNF.

[southpaw_07]

Don't forget that ESPN are on a minimal budget. This is a network that paid one of the fighters on their FNF card $275 to risk his life in the ring. It is very hard to get a qualified sport journalist working for the money they are offering. You will only get a bipolar lunatic like Teddy Atlas and a effeminate half-man like Osuna who cares more about how his hair look like than to actually saying something that makes sense. I wasn't surprised that Brian Kenny and Max Kellerman left ESPN, they were too good and were offered a lot more money elsewhere.

[jbp23]

What is it with ESPN FNFs, they go from one extreme to another. Max Kellerman who is a know-it-all phony intellect who never shuts up to someone who is incompetent and can't stop mumbling his words. He may be experienced in boxing commentary, but he needs to come across as experienced through his commentary. It seems as if he is uncomfortable with public speaking. As an attorney I've seen many people with tons of knowledge in their respective area, but when they have to do public speaking you would think they had no experience or knowledge in law. So Osuna may have boxing knowledge but whats the use if he can't keep himself together when hosting FNFs, afterall in essence his job is public speaking and if he's not good at it then he needs to step aside. By the way Ive been a die hard boxing fan since I was 6 yrs old and I'm 32, I was n the amateurs as a kid and love boxing more than anything. Its the only sport that truly mirrors life and its the only sport where you get to know the essence of a man's character, spirit, and courage, basically its the only sport were men cannot hide who they truly are. Its so true that in the ring the truth always comes out. As for Solo Boxeo, the Mexican standard for boxing commentary is not all that high. hell have you heard the ridiculous things JCC says when he works a fight ( and I worship JCC).

[Caxcan]

Osuna actually has great credentials. You won't find many broadcasters with his level of experiencing covering the sport. He's also very natural on camera while broadcasting in Spanish, but he comes across awkward at times in his new role. Anyway, I don't think espn should rush to can the guy after only a few months. He just needs some time to adjust imho.

[TheUndertaker]

I always watch Friday Night Fights, and I usually enjoy the commentary by Teddy, who does an excellent job with his commentary on the action ( I do often disagree with him on his rants regarding certain fighters) and overall he does a good job, Joe Tessitore who is probably the best in boxing at calling the action and he obviously loves the fight game. However, the replacement of Brian Kenny (who was a genuine fight lover) with Bernardo Osuna (aka Bernardo the ******o) has turned out to be a huge mistake as he is just plain awful. It seems the only qualification he brings to the job is he speaks Spanish and he can pronounce Mexican fighters name's correctly other than that he makes me cringe with his constant errors. He calls guest fighters by the wrong names, he mumbles & stumbles over his words, he seems to be working from a memorized script and if he detracts from the script he gets lost as he does not have the ability to seem natural or be comfortable and let his words flow. He is just a horrible replacement for Brian Kenny and he is ruining the best segments of Friday Night Fights and that is the boxing news discussions, with Teddy and Joe about boxing controversy's, recent fights, other boxing relevant topics, and interviews with fighters. The guests seem uncomfortable with him also. I recall one instance(I don't recall the fighters name) were he called the fighter by the wrong name and the fighter was insulted and had to correct him. Hell I don't blame the fighter for being so insulted, he had every right to be. The position Bernardo the ******o has requires that he know boxing in and out and what I mean by that is he should have in depth knowledge of the sport, its history, its current goings-on, he should know as much as possible regarding current fights, future fights, who's fighting, their records, he should know who are the prospects, the history of the more prominent refs and judges, etc, etc. But he just seems like he crams into a memorized script the past weeks boxing news just enough for the weeks episode of Friday Night Fights. By the way he did not even translate correctly what Abril said in his so-called interview with him.

This is just my opinion, but he needs to be replaced immediately before more damage is done to Friday Night Fights reputation, after all he is the lead guy on the broadcast and he's making Friday Night Fights look cheap (Teddy and Joe seemed annoyed by his poor performance too) and amateurish. What does everyone else think about this?

I know Bernardo Osuna personally and I have to say your comments are way off the mark. ESPN fly's him in every week to do the show and not only for the English speaking Friday Night Fights but he also has to do a segment for the Spanish version of the show that airs the same night simultaneously. Bernardo does know boxing as he was on Showtime Boxing before as well as Solo Boxeo. If you truly know or like boxing then there is no way you can say that Teddy Atlas is more interesting to listen too, he says the same crap week after week when he does Teddy's Corner and he sounds like he was hit with a lead pipe upside the head one too many times! I think like everything once Bernardo gets accustomed to the role in studio, not too mention the hectic schedule, he will improve on air. BTW I know plenty of the talent at ESPN and I have to say that Bernardo is one of the more humble down to earth guys that work there compared to some others.

[Feint]

I’ll slightly defend Osuna by saying that it isn’t easy being the replacement for someone who was as good as Brian Kenny. Not only was great on FNF, was also an excellent radio host. ESPN really lost a good one.

That said, the problem with Osuna is that he comes off as incredibly flat and uninteresting. For all his experience in boxing, there just isn’t any passion in his voice and it always sounds like he is reading off a teleprompter. (Yes, they all read off of teleprompters, but I shouldn’t be able to tell that they are.) He isn’t necessarily bad, he’s just boring.

[Feint]

Osuna actually has great credentials. You won't find many broadcasters with his level of experiencing covering the sport. He's also very natural on camera while broadcasting in Spanish, but he comes across awkward at times in his new role. Anyway, I don't think espn should rush to can the guy after only a few months. He just needs some time to adjust imho.

This is an excellent evaluation. For someone with as much experience as he has in the sport and also on camera in general, he is really coming off as awkward. It's just odd.

Also, you are definitely right about ESPN likely not firing him so soon, especially since when you fire someone under contract, you still have to pay their salary. He would have to be either completely incompetent or do something really ****** to get fired so soon.

[jbp23]

I know Bernardo Osuna personally and I have to say your comments are way off the mark. ESPN fly's him in every week to do the show and not only for the English speaking Friday Night Fights but he also has to do a segment for the Spanish version of the show that airs the same night simultaneously. Bernardo does know boxing as he was on Showtime Boxing before as well as Solo Boxeo. If you truly know or like boxing then there is no way you can say that Teddy Atlas is more interesting to listen too, he says the same crap week after week when he does Teddy's Corner and he sounds like he was hit with a lead pipe upside the head one too many times! I think like everything once Bernardo gets accustomed to the role in studio, not too mention the hectic schedule, he will improve on air. BTW I know plenty of the talent at ESPN and I have to say that Bernardo is one of the more humble down to earth guys that work there compared to some others.

Sounds like your letting your personal relationship get in the way of judging his ability as a boxing commentator. Well there are some contradictions in your reply. You state he is experienced in english and spanish boxing commentary. He worked for Shobox and Solo Boxeo, and he has been working for FNF's for awhile, b4 being the host. So if he has so much experience then he should not need much time if any to get accustomed to the role in studio, since he has done this kind of job in the past, more precisely, he is very experienced in this role and working for the above mentioned programs he should already be accustomed to a hectic schedule. These do not sound like reasons why he stinks, they sound more like excuses as to why he stinks. Also he has had plenty of time to settle in and get used to his new job. Someone so experienced should not be flubbing fighters names, especially fighters who are co-hosting the show with you, that is unprofessional and disrespectful to the fighter. Someone with so much experience should not be flubbing his lines or misspeaking as much as he does. By now he should already know how to interview a fighter and since he is billingual he should be able to translate much better. I am sure he is a nice guy, but how does that excuse him and qualify him for this role?

As for Teddy, he has pissed me off on many occasions, and he constantly shows favoritism to American fighters, but when he is calling a fight he does a great job. One more thing ESPN should learn from HBO when they fired Lewis and that, I forget his name, other lead commentator. If within 6 months they r not up to par its time to cut them loose after all this is the big leagues of sports broadcasting and excuses like he's too tired or he has not gotten used to his new role yet just do not cut it.

A few more things, not only is he awkward like many have noted he sweats like a pig, which makes him even more awkward. As for his contract that all depends on the details, I highly doubt that they signed a long term contract with him and probably not a very generous contract either. They probably gave him a 1 or 2 yr contract because it would make no sense to give him a long term contract when u have no idea how well he will do. There is however a shortage of really good boxing commentators. maybe they should look to England, they have a few really good boxing commentators and it would be a nice change.

[Fix]

anyone got a video of when Osuna messed up the boxers name?