Saturday’s night of fights on Showtime was a riveting evening of boxing. The Omar Figueroa vs. Nihito Arakawa fight was an unforgettable war. The Soto-Karass vs. Berto fight featured a veteran springing an upset over a former world champion in an exciting shootout. The Keith Thurman-Diego Chaves fight was also highly-watchable. What a night!
Not so great, I’m afraid, was the announcing of Al Bernstein, Paulie Malignaggi, and Mauro Ranallo. The funny thing is that they are good at what they do. I’m not even sure what happened was their fault. I kinda have a feeling it’s not.
At various times during the evening, the action was in the corner between rounds. From time to time, there is a heightened reason to show a trainer and his fighter talking in the corner. Not all the time–just some of the time. Over the years, things have happened in the corner that were interesting, funny, informative, or just unforgettable.
Remember Angelo Dundee telling Sugar Ray Leonard he was blowing it in the Tommy Hearns fight? Or when Emanuel Steward tore into Lennox Lewis imploring him to put an end to Mike Tyson’s misery? Good thing those things happened in the past. In today’s age, we probably wouldn’t have heard it because the announcers won’t ever come up for air.
A lot of rounds go by without much drama. The conversation in the corner isn’t going to be compelling, so the announcers can feel free to yack it up. But Saturday’s action had specific rounds where the story was in the corner. When Figueroa’s hands were bothering him, you could see him talking about it in the corner, but couldn’t hear a thing because Showtime’s announcers were framing a replay or plugging a fight that is happening in two months. Absurd.
Again, this is nothing against the announcers themselves or their abilities. They are at the mercy of the production staff to a certain extent. Al Bernstein has been one of the better announcers in the sport for the past quarter-century. Paulie Malignaggi is one of best young guys in the business–a very sharp and astute observer. Mauro Ranallo is pretty good too. Even if his voice is what you’d expect to hear if you asked someone to try to sound like an announcer. But despite the affect on his voice, he’s coming along well in the sport of boxing. It’s a bang-up crew.
There just seems to be a vibe on Showtime to cram, cram, and cram. Sometimes, the description of the action suffers. When Andre Berto jacked up his shoulder, why are they plugging the Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez PPV? Take us into the corner! When he was talking to Virgil Hunter about his injury, there were times the cameras actually showed us the action in the corner of Soto-Karass. Terrible.
Boxing coverage is never perfect. It would just be nice if Showtime would realize that there are going to be times where the story is in one of the corners. And when it is, focus on it and stay out of the way. No setting up inconsequential replays. No Ray Donovan plugs. No Mayweather PPV promos. It’s not a magic formula, guys. There were a handful of times on Saturday where it seemed like a no-brainer and we still didn’t get to see what we needed to see.
Saturday’s night of fights was compelling and still thoroughly enjoyable regardless of what the announcers did or didn’t do. It is kind of a jerky thing to groan about this instead of extolling the virtues of the warriors who showed their mettle on Saturday night. Maybe so, but this is important.
Showtime is taking a big step up in their boxing coverage. They will be covering some potentially-historic fights in the near future. I think it’s important for them to give fans the best viewing experience possible. There are plenty of times for plugs and promos along the way. It’s not that hard to tell when a pivotal or at least revealing moment is taking place in the corner between a boxer and his trainer. Let’s try to cover those moments. Part of great announcing and coverage is knowing when to stay out of the way.
