Comments Thread For: Teddy Atlas Confirms Removal, Will No Longer Call ESPN Fights

[PsychoPat]

Idk who he works with but Paulie does fights in the U.K. Too

Yeah paulies been on a couple of sky broadcasts but not as much recently since he called Carl froch callum on more then one occasion lol

[Scipio2009]

I dont know about you guys but I am just excited to see Espn really backing and putting money behind Top Rank on Espn. 18 cards in the first year and Im hoping it turns into even more like a fight every 2 weeks like Ufc. For years weve been talking on here about how great Pbc was for trying to put boxing back on free t.v. and now that Top Rank has done it and is putting on some great fights on cable boxing is finally coming back as a mainstream sport thanks to Top Rank and the Bobfather. Pbc fighters will be forced to fight on Top Rank cards on Espn or fight once a year or every other year on Showtime.

If Top Rank is going to be the face of boxing for the casual fan, the fights need to be a ton better, lol.

Lomachenko-Rigondeaux was a good matchup, but the show was anchored by three 50:1 or worse fights; doubt that Friday Night Fights ever delivered that.

The fight card of the week ended up being the FS1 card, and it wasn't even close; showcase fight for Luis Ortiz (which led to a great promo with Wilder) and three fights that were basically 50/50.

[Scipio2009]

Except it's not

No, experienced pro boxers do the expert analysis. RJJ, Hopkins, Ward on HBO. Previously Foreman, Lewis. Malignaggi on Showtime. Previously Tarver. Bradley and Ward have done it on ESPN.

Atlas does color. Same as Kellerman or Bernstein.

The color guy on Showtime is Mauro Runallo, just as the color guy on HBO is Jim Lampley.

This is a three-man team we're talking about here; color guy, old fighter, trainer/journalist/historian.

Color guy tells the story, the old fighter calls the exaction, and the trainer gives incites as to where the action may be heading. (Reason why Showtime has the best team, imo, is because everyone largely knows their roles, so they play off of each other well, something made easier with Bernstein at the table).

A two-man team is different, especially for how long Teddy and Tessitore have been together; Teddy's calling of the action bleeds into Tessitore's telling of the story and Tessitore's storytelling bleeds into calling the action (having to work through a bunch of those poorly-matched FNF cards over the years led to changes)

[Scipio2009]

teddy's probably a helluva drunk, but he's not a good commentator. even when he stuck to boxing, he was still annoying, with his weird analogies like, "we are FIREMEN!", "set the table then clear your plate", etc. his physical demonstrations of keys to victory were often inaccurate, or very incomplete and lacking any depth. their most notable feature was when he finished by saying "BANG, BANG". It made ppl laugh at teddy's buffoonery and theatrics, and left us with the impression that his demonstrations were better left to someone with actual boxing ability. but teddy didn't stick to boxing, because he was far to emotional, and talked for the ENTIRE broadcast from start to finish, from the 1st bell, through all the rounds, in between rounds- to the point where it was sickening, and highly distracting from simply being able to watch and enjoy the action. maybe only max Kellerman, jim lampley, and larry merchant could ever hope to compare to teddy's annoyance quotient when it comes to talking non-stop during a broadcast. most of his time talking was spent arguing and/or clashing with everyone over everything, and complaining about the boxing game and the politics. overall, he was filled with criticism and a negative tone. past announcers going back to don dunphy, howard cosell, gil Clancy, ferdie Pacheco, al Bernstein, steve farhood, and so many others would let the action develop, and never talk through the entire broadcast, but rather, give the viewer a chance to form their own opinions about what they are seeing instead of explaining every second of action and constantly going off on a dumb tangent. bye teddy. 1st ballot double gin and tonic hall of famer

I don't know who's alt this is, but can you actually point to a fight breakdown where Teddy's tactics in the pre-fight ended up actually being poor instructions, lol

ESPN gave Teddy a lot of garbage to filter through on Friday Night Fights, but it helped him hone all the way into his voice and, in the end gave boxing fans things like the truly great call from the Garcia-Malignaggi fight; Teddy set the stage, explained what was going on from the start, and brought the viewers along as the fight was turning, explaining things in theatrical ways, but in ways that made sense to the general sports fan.

[Scipio2009]

Don't really like Atlas but it's sad that they have decided to dump him. He's one of the most well known boxing commentators in the world and has worked so long for ESPN. Hopefully they fire fat dan and give Teddy his job.

Teddy doesn't have the stomach to sit and kiss up to promoters like Rafael seems happy to do.

If anything, I wish that ESPN simply gives Teddy a 1-hour or 30-minute daily show, where he can talk about fights and fighters (with Rafael basically acting like the "what did we miss" guy on PTI). Profile fights as the come up (announcements/cancellations) and actually profile fighters for the casual sports audience (current fighters, former fighters, historical stories, etc).

[Pigeons]

The color guy on Showtime is Mauro Runallo, just as the color guy on HBO is Jim Lampley.

This is a three-man team we're talking about here; color guy, old fighter, trainer/journalist/historian.

Color guy tells the story, the old fighter calls the exaction, and the trainer gives incites as to where the action may be heading. (Reason why Showtime has the best team, imo, is because everyone largely knows their roles, so they play off of each other well, something made easier with Bernstein at the table).

A two-man team is different, especially for how long Teddy and Tessitore have been together; Teddy's calling of the action bleeds into Tessitore's telling of the story and Tessitore's storytelling bleeds into calling the action (having to work through a bunch of those poorly-matched FNF cards over the years led to changes)

You're wrong. Jim Lampley and Mauro Ranallo are the play-by-play guys. They call the action. Max Kellerman and Al Bernstein are color guys. They provide analysis and information when the play-by-play/action is not being called or described. The pro boxer is the expert analyst. Very similar to the color guy except they typically provide analysis from the standpoint of a ring veteran instead of an experienced observer.

All 3 can obviously provide color especially when they are conversing among each other, but their main job title is exactly as I described above.

[Scipio2009]

So they let him go for speaking the truth?

Bob Arum doesn't want the truth; he wants a platform to turn his prospects into stars.

ESPN weighed it out, and seems to have decided to side with Top Rank; don't be shocked if you see Stephen A. pushed off of the Top Rank Boxing shows too (pressing Terence Crawford on the welterweight fights that Arum has no interest in making, and openly talking up Davis vs Lomachenko, couldn't have sit well with Arum).

Hopefully ESPN finds something to do with Teddy that's at least interesting.

[Scipio2009]

Idk who he works with but Paulie does fights in the U.K. Too

Paulie's with Sky Sports

[Code Red]

I think there was more to this than what is on the surface. I think Teddy knew Kriegel was put in there to replace him. Teddy may sound a little punchy but he's not stupid.

Well it can definitely be ESPN does not want to ruin this new Top Rank contract they have. Bob Arum as we all know can be devious when it comes to contracts.

[Code Red]

ok you dumb flom0. what rounds do you think horn won? fight wasn't close. pac was the clear winner.

4 of the first 6 and 10-12, but most importantly Jeff Horn forced Manny to fight his fight. Pac was never comfortable, he muscled Pac around the ring, he made Pac look small, weak, and fragile. Manny was clearly in distress the entire fight and even when Horn was hurt he went right back to muscling and bullying Pac the next round.

Truth is I really dont see how you can have anyone but Horn winning the fight.