For me, the marriage between boxing and television has been a magical one. Nevertheless, some things about it are downright aggravating. Some of it can’t be helped, while other things should be looked at. Here are 7 things that have jumped out in recent years.
1. Commentators talking at the wrong time: Announcers have plenty of time during a fight to showcase their observational prowess. What makes a truly good announcer is knowing when to put a sock in it. Sometimes, they drown out key and compelling content with verbiage.
It boggles my mind how announcers often don’t have the wisdom to know when there is an important exchange between fighter and trainer in the corner. Sometimes, you’ll hear a trainer ask his charge if he still wants to continue. Instead of letting us hear what the fighter says, they either start yapping all over him or the producers shoot it over to the other corner.
Unless an announcer just looked into the eyes of God and was told the secrets to life and he can’t wait to relay it to the viewing audience—he should SHUT UP! The most amazing thing about Antonio Tarver asking Roy Jones, “You got any excuses tonight, Roy?” wasn’t that Tarver said it, but that we were actually able to hear it! Nine times out of ten, it would have been drowned out by some chatty announcer.
There is a built-in drama aspect to the sport, in the form of verbal exchanges between fighters and trainers, fighters and refs, refs and trainers, fighters and fighters, and so on. To have that content drowned out by announcers babbling on and on is really awful. If you’re in the television business, you should have a keen eye for what makes good television. And for my money, hearing Angelo Dundee plead, “You’re blowin’ it, son!” beats hearing a promo for a “Strikeforce” event taking place in 3 months any day of the week. Which brings us to another one of my complaints…
2. Shameless network promotion: I think Showtime takes the cake in this one. Apparently, Showtime producers have told their announcers to fill every vacant space with network promotion. It’s as if the Showtime crew spends half its time hocking shows and future MMA events.
If a fight is over and there is some time to kill, I don’t have a problem with it. But in the middle of the fight, it’s detrimental to the flow of the event to constantly crowbar information on upcoming events into the telecast. Let’s stay focused. There is a fight taking place. Ain’t nobody trying to hear about “Nascar: 360” or whatever the hell it is. If anything, you’re turning me off to it.
3. Shilling for Sanctioning Bodies: I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who dry-heaved when, during the Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.-Sebastian Zbik fight, Sergio Martinez was shown at ringside with the caption “former middleweight titleholder” beneath his face. It’s misleading for those who are not in the know, and an insult to the intelligence of knowledgeable boxing fans.
I like how ESPN has championed the idea of “legit champs,” but with networks like HBO undermining the effort, it’ll likely not get off the ground. I understand the reasoning. These fighters work hard and deserve credit. They are not the ones who put forth this ridiculous format of 19 champions in one weight class. But there is a line in the sand—a barrier of good taste. And saying Martinez is a “former middleweight titleholder,” when he is in fact the Middleweight Champion is crossing that line and then some.
Most level-headed boxing fans realize that Chavez, Jr.-Zbik was a good match, but in essence, a bout between contenders. For a variety of stupid reasons, the WBC decided to strip Martinez. It was their stance that Chavez, Jr. and Zbik were more worthy of the title than Martinez—an astonishing conclusion. And HBO just went along with it. Why? What do they owe the WBC? At least Max Kellerman tried to add some common sense to the situation, before being overruled by Roy Jones—a man who simply doesn’t get it.
4. Fans talking on cell phones: I get it. Sometimes you need to take a call. But go back and watch Ward-Gatti I or Corrales-Castillo I. Try to take your eye off the action for a second and scan the ringside area. There are guys talking on their phones while historic action is taking place in the ring! Who are they talking to? Why in the world would you be on a phone during a time like this?
It’s ironic because we know why these nimrods are on the phone—so they can look like a “baller.” They want to look like their hustle is so strong that they can’t be off the phone for even a second. What ends up resulting is that they come across looking like little teenage girls who can’t put down their phones. You see this and part of you wants a prime Earnie Shavers to walk over and punch the guy right in his head. As Don Vito Corleone once opined, “You can act like a man!” Real men aren’t on the celly in the 10th round of Corrales-Castillo. Sorry.
5. The announcing team operating in a vacuum: Sometimes it would be nice to feel some of the live dynamic of a fight. Announcing crews are shut off from everything around them, when they should try to bring some of the feel of the event to home viewers. Haven’t you ever heard the ring announcer introducing celebrities in attendance and wished you could enjoy it? They never let you see that. Isn’t that generally more compelling than whatever the announcer is saying?
6. The Fallacy of Punch-Stat Power Punches: Why do we need to continue plundering down this road? Any non-jab is a power punch? It’s like a nail that starts off crooked- the best thing is to yank it out and start with a fresh nail. But instead, you just keep banging it into the wood. Why are we inundated with this statistic on telecasts when we know it’s not really an accurate reflection of what’s going on in the ring?
Counting every punch that isn’t a jab as a power shot is simply inaccurate. It would be like if in the NBA, every shot that wasn’t a lay-up or dunk was counted as a 3-point attempt. The idea of computing power punches is probably not doable. So why even do it? It’s an insult to the fans and the announcers don’t seem terribly sold on it either.
7. Fighters Slipping on Advertisements: Over the past 20 years or so, I’ve been stunned at the amount of times where action in the ring is affected by fighters slipping on newly-painted advertisements on the canvas. At some venues, they have those giant placards on the edge of the ring that we’ve all seen fighters slip and stumble over.
Is there another sport that you can think of where the athletes’ performances are ever compromised due to interference from ads? One would think in the high-stakes sport of boxing that this would never be a problem. Think again. With the technology available nowadays, why has the situation actually gotten worse? Is there no other way to brandish a logo without using slippery paint that the boxers will be stepping on. When a fight is actually decided because of this issue, then maybe something will be done about it. Why not do something about it now?
