First,
I have been watching hbo boxing for my whole life and have watched each and every one multiple times.
I think it is the most brilliant and beautiful show on the planet.

HOWEVER:
I recently have been getting agitated with the trend ( last 8 months)
of how all three of them have been agreeing on early parts of the fights and being so off base about what is going on.

Many ppl here stated this in the opinion of having Mayweather up 4-1 or 5-0 in the first 5 and they were just riding the Hatton train
like he was winning every early round. Its been more in other fights however that have been on in 07.

2007*
1. Emanuel Steward has lost all of my respect and interest. He is not unbearable yet as much as below.

Max Kellerman has zero insight into live boxing and is just simply a boxing historian.
He has nothing to offer right now and can only draw parallels to old fights not styles. He needs to adjust his brain and forget about sighting old fights and learn how to put his mind in the present.
He is a good speaker but needs to develop much more of an eye.

Lampley is absolutely the most brilliant sports commentator i have ever watch and is one of the best at what he does in any field. he should be very proud.

Very good observations Adam,

My only disagreement is with Lampley. When a fight IS exciting, he is a pleasure to listen to. When a fight isn't exciting he cheerleads and brings out the pop-poms for the fighter that HBO has under contract, while ignoring the work of the opponent. They all do that. Merchant somewhat less than the others. who at least speaks his own mind. A mind that may be drunk and senile some of the time, but other times Larry does well. Max as you said is too much boxing historian and is much too biased in favor of slick boxers over brawlers. African-American boxers are noted in very high esteem to Max, while Latin-American and Latino fighters are often criticized by him.

HBO is too in love with punch stats. I have said for years this needs to go! The software has a less than 70% accuracy rate and is just too guys pushing buttons. HBO just wants the viewer to follow the Pied Piper (their broadcast team) toward whatever direction the wind blows. This wasn't the case 10 years ago, but certainly holds true now.

At least when Showtime got off the Tyson bandwagon they showed some better fights with more objective broadcasting. However, it should be noted that they seem to be undeservedly in bed with Gary Shaw in promoting a lot of cracker jack belts. (Tarver-Santiago was an absolute disgrace to the network.)

I miss HBO when Lou Dibella was head boxing coordinator and when HBO Boxing After Dark showcased some of the greatest fights in recent memory. Now, for the most part, B.A.D is nothing more than showcasing a rising star against a C-grade opponent for an undeserved $50 PPV payday.

Jack

I like Max....He knows the game.

many people do, but thats not what makes a good commentator. I always thought that the best FIGHT (not what surrounds the fight) commentator was Big George.

I liked George...but RJJ to me was the best. I like both alot better then either Manny or Lennox

Merchant is the only decent guy, because he barely speaks.

Lampley is horrible. he never calls play by play....only adding his own in-accurate boring insight.

Steward knows next to nothing about what he is watching.

I prefer Albert and Bernstein's low key approach on Showtime.

maybe i've just been a fan for too long.....and little stupid comments annoy me.

just call the fight is what I say......I don't need announcers to make the fight more exciting to me.

but I do prefer sound coming from my TV, like the audience re-action...so I'm not just gonna turn the sound off.

Roy Jones Jr is the best analyst I have ever heard. He knew what was gonna happen, 3 rounds before it happened. He would always laugh when crazy things happened in the ring....as a fan would at home.

Such as Norman Stone calling the referee all kinds of bad names during the Ruiz-Golota fight.....Roy was laughing right along with me.

Manny just makes sh@t up. Lennox can barely speak English.....but I liked his call on the Maskaev-rahman (2), when he called the knockout. He must have not drugged up before that telecast....or the PPV lasted too long.

Lampley sucks. He is a biased homer he is enraging to listen to.

Al Bernstein is the best in the biz BY FAR.

I like Bernstein.

I think Roy is actually one of the best.

I did like Big George, even though he was biased if he didn't like a guy, and he would up jumping fences.

I love Teddy Atlas, although I know a lot of guys don't like him.

Larry's fine as a side show. I like him better in Steve Kim's one on one interviews.

i do like Max Kellerman, especially in studio.

Manny is horrific, IMO. Lennox blows too. Terrible.

lampley is the best play by play guy in the business. no doubt about it.

I like steward, but sometimes he just comes across as a used car salesman when talking about a fighter he trains or has an interest in.

and is it me, or did larry merchant seem especially "out of it" during the broadcast this past weekend?? he seemed slower and slurred his speech a little more than usual. Ive always thought that larry hit the booze before some of the fights, but maybe the man is just getting old.

Two things i found really odd this weekend. When Cherry knocked out Ferguson I was getting up to get something to eat. Lampley was so nonchalant about the call that I didnt know what happened. I figured maybe it was a flash knockdown or something, but nope the dude got his bell rung. Another weird thing was during the Ponce De Leon fight. At the beginning of one of the rounds, there was like 2 minutes of broadcast silence. Nothing said at all. Then Merchant broke the silence with some comment.

The thing that really bothers me about Manny is that whenever anything happens that was not expected he is sayin, "I knew that was going to happen, like I said earlier, blah blah. The man is never wrong. That is what made the Pavik victory even sweeter.

Other than that, I like all the guys. I actually think that Max knows whats going on in there. He is the anti-Larry. Larry loves the dramatic fighters whereas max prefers the boxers and the science of the sport. My wife makes fun of Max and his overexcitement and bug eyes. LOL

max does have a crazy set of eyes. ive also noticed that when someone is talking next to him moves his head like a damn bobblehead.

LOL. I'm gunna get me a bobblehead max to put in my truck. That guy is awesome.

x2

The bias that the HBO idiots show [Kellerman and Lewis excluded] is just shameful. Steward needs to be put out to pasture - as a commentator and a trainer....

I really don't pay attention to Steward anymore...he's full of himself and full of SHIT...the guy's pretty much an overrated, dumbfaced scrub.

LOL I remember that... I actually thought for a minute that they were experiencing technical difficulties or something and their mics weren't working. Very strange.