"Ben, the reason why I did watch it [the rebroadcast] was because of what people were telling me about the broadcasting. It was interesting, disappointing, and enlightening all at the same time...a lot of announcers who are fans should take heed to that and realize you have an obligation and a profession to report it right and get it right," stated world-class trainer Virgiil Hunter, who shared his thoughts on the job that HBO blow-by-blow commentator Jim Lampley did in calling Andre Ward's victory over Sergey Kovalev. Check out what he had to say!
BT: In a recent interview, while speaking about Dre's victory over Kovalev, Sergio Mora called out Jim Lampley for being too biased and opinionated in both his blow-by-blow announcing and his post-fight comments. I don't know if you had a chance to watch the rebroadcast of the fight yet, but do you think Sergio has a point? Do you feel like Jim Lampley's commentary has become too biased towards certain fighters?
VH: Well, you know, Ben, the reason why I did watch it [the rebroadcast] was because of what people were telling me about the broadcasting. It was interesting, disappointing, and enlightening all at the same time. I take a quote from an interview by Don Dunphy, considered the greatest announcer in boxing history. During most of his broadcasting era, people didn't have pay-per-view; it was radio. Years ago, someone asked him what made him such a great announcer. His answer was he never became a fan. He said he knew some boxers more than others, but when it came to the professionalism of calling a fight, he couldn't be biased; he couldn't favor one fighter. He said that's one thing he never allowed to happen because if you become a fan in that profession, then you're only looking at who you're a fan of. You're not going to give the other person the benefit of the doubt. He said it's the ultimate disrespect to the profession because you have to be able to see it both ways, and when you're a fan, it's impossible for you to see it both ways. I think that a lot of announcers who are fans should take heed to that and realize you have an obligation and a profession to report it right and get it right.
Now, I'll give you a great example. When Kovalev missed a right hand by a mile, in Lampley's opinion, it was a big right hand that shook Andre. When the broadcast team showed him that he actually missed it by a big margin, and in boxing, we're talking about a game of inches, right there, that should have let him know, "Maybe I'm not watching the fight the way I should be watching it. Maybe I'm not observing it the way I should be observing it." Because after all, you're sitting right there, but the judges are sitting right there also, so how can you go and ridicule and put down the judges when all of them get it identically right, but at the same time, you got the fight right in front of you and you miss a call that missed by a foot just about and in you're opinion, it turned into a right hand that shook him? That right there should say just commentate the fight. You shouldn't have any opinions on the fight, you should commentate the fight, because you're not going to get it right. After watching it and hearing it, it's a situation where careers can be damaged if you're not careful, and these kids have to go through enough without having this up against them. It's just really unfair and it's not being responsible. It's not being fair.
Even Larry Merchant, who was sitting 8 rows back, he came out of his lane and wanted to be a judge; he came out of his lane and wanted to say it was home cooking and things like that. Well we know Andre never got home cooking from nobody. We know his gold medal didn't turn into him being "All-American boy"; we know that, so that was irresponsible. But when you're enamored with the fighter and you're enamored with how this fighter might go about his craft and you start giving this fighter these tags, "the sinisiter smile," "the meanest man in boxing," you're only going to watch that guy. You're not going to watch the complete fight. You're only going to watch him. It's very irresponsible if you ask me.
BT: There were actually quite a few times during the broadcast when both Max and Roy corrected some of Jim's calls or pointed out punches that Dre was landing that he didn't call at all.
VH: Right. I'm disappointed. I'm not disappointed in Max Kellerman. I'm not disappointed in Roy. I'm just disappointed in how...if there is a school for judges, there's gotta be a school for everybody else involved in the sport. If you're going to comment on the sport, if you have a mic, if you have a position in this sport where you can make or break careers and it's based on your personal opinion, then that's very serious. It ought to be some sort of insurance, be it by re-educating, be it by test runs or anything to make sure that you don't make these mistakes and then try to sway the public. Lampley is a nice man, I do know him, so I didn't even want to get that deep with it even though I know exactly what you're talking about. I just think he owes it to the fighters, he owes it to the fans, he owes it to the network and himself to really get himself checked and be honest with himself; "Am I capable of doing this, and if I am, am I biased in the way I call fights." I think if he would allow somebody to sit down with him and pick out fights where, not just me, but other people have felt that he was biased, and not just this fight, but other fights, if he's honest with himself and if he's intending on continuing to grow in his profession, then he would take it upon himself to subject himself to that. But if he thinks he knows it all and his word is the rule, the golden rule, then get ready for some more of this!
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE FROM WORLD-CLASS TRAINER VIRGIL HUNTER
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