Time for my rant!

First topic message reminder :

The sky commentry team is absoloutely shocking i know it has been said many times on these boards but tonight topped it for me Halling and Watt completely ignoring groves hitting froch and crediting froch even when he hadnt connected with groves. I had froch up by 1 round before the stoppage but the way they were talking you would get the impression froch was winning every round.....pure disgrace!

Nothing worse than puting down a boxing bet and realising after that McCrory has tipped your fighter.

Woodhall is OK until a Brit is fighting. Not sure if anyone caught him doing the Hatton comeback on Primetime, if so you will know exactly what I am talking about. Richie Woodhall had Danny Williams six rounds up against Vitali at the time of the stoppage. Halling is indeed good at American Football, mate is a big fan and he loves the bloke.

Bernstein is different gravy and would have the gravitas to intervene and stop Watt sounding like a broken record.

Reg G had no problem keeping Jim in check.

What did Ian Darke do that was so terrible? I miss him and his ability to commentate without sounding like a berk/suck up/man on drugs.

Need to get some decent unbiased pundits together like Irelands RTE service....

Halling should be fired or sent back to NFL (why did they change it in the first place?). If you are going to have the Watt playing a blinder in the free role then he needs someone with him that can occasionally keep him in check. Halling just sensationilises the Watts idiosyncrasies. Amazing how they were incapable of viewing the fight on a stand alone basis.

Was Malignaggi even at the fight? Possibly he was rendered speechless by the sh1te the other two were talking or hasnt got to grips with Jim Watt Bingo yet.

Andre Ward is apparently looking for a full time commentary position. But all fights must be moved to Oakland for the deal to work.

I had to mute the sound after the fight, Nick Halling was making sure he was securely lodged in the backside of Froch, screaming "Who thinks he's finished now!?". The guy is clueless, bring back Ian Darke.

Ian Darke was the best of the lot. Not sure why he is no longer doing the boxing, but whatever it costs or whatever bridges had to be rebuilt would be worth the effort.

Darke works for BT Sport.

He liked saying 'Barn Stormer'.........always enjoyed that.

Chris Eubank in the world of commentary would be a thing of beauty....

Darke, easily the pick of the recent bunch... And by a distance. The Eurosport guy whose name escapes me, knows his stuff, but fails to mask his boredom in dull fights. Bernstein would be a colourful and knowledgable addition, presuming his Tyson fury brown-nosing is a contractual requirement and not a life choice.

Bernstein knows his stuff,the head of Sky sports must know nowt about boxing to keep this lot in a job they're absolutely garbage.

Would suspect Bernstein would not want the Sky gig as it would require locating to the UK permanently. Five do not show enough boxing for him to need to do so, can treat his occasional trips to the UK as nicely paid holidays. Steve Holdsworth is the guy on Eurosport. I like him, does not try and tell you you’re watching something you’re not and works on the theory if you’re watching an eliminator for the French Super bantam weight title on a Tuesday night you’re a pretty keen fan.

Wonder if anyone from sky reads what we all think lol

Always liked Tony Bellew when he chats about boxing, certainly very passionate and arguably better talking about boxing than actually boxing....

Steve Holdsworth on EuroSport made watching utter dross highly entertaining due to his undisguised disgust at the carp he was having to endure. Informative, intelligent and blessed with a wicked sense of humour...no wonder SKY don't want him.

Still wish Adam Smith would f**k off and they could bring back Paul Dempsey. I'd even put up with that silly haircut of his if it meant never having to see the insipid Smith in front of camera again.

I quite like Alex Arthur when he is on, does not tend to sugar coat things. Would have loved to see Arthur on the commentary team for Audley Haye. Suspect he would have gone off message slightly.

Rowley wrote:I quite like Alex Arthur when he is on, does not tend to sugar coat things. Would have loved to see Arthur on the commentary team for Audley Haye. Suspect he would have gone off message slightly.

Same with Jamie Moore. He is excellent and should replace McCrory who is a f*ckwit.

Moore is articulate, interesting and relatively original most of the time.

Listening to Nigel Benn screaming that someone should have/has had the "granny smashed out of them" would be amusing.

However anyone who uses the term "the sport of boxing" needs to be slapped. Floyd's been doing it for years and now Amir Khan is doing it. The word "boxing" will suffice.

I really don't know what has happened, some people are incapable of speaking the language of English

Can't believe this dissing of poor old glen. The man has experienced the highs and lows of the sport of boxing. The highs of being gifted a world title against a Rank novice. The lows offering him a unique understanding of what it feels like to be starched out regularly. The man sparred with Tyson. What more do people want from their pundits? Why break the mould with insightful analysis that would simply look out of place amongst your peer?

The milky of boy.

milkyboy wrote:Why break the mould with insightful analysis that would simply look out of place amongst your peer?

It was when he picked Michael Grant to beat Lennox Lewis after Grant looked impressive running through a swimming pool that did it for me.

Definite f*ckwit.

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Why break the mould with insightful analysis that would simply look out of place amongst your peer?

It was when he picked Michael Grant to beat Lennox Lewis after Grant looked impressive running through a swimming pool that did it for me.

Definite f*ckwit.

To be fair, I tried it myself and nearly drowned...not as easy as it looks

The 667 of DAVE

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

Rowley wrote:I quite like Alex Arthur when he is on, does not tend to sugar coat things. Would have loved to see Arthur on the commentary team for Audley Haye. Suspect he would have gone off message slightly.

Same with Jamie Moore.  He is excellent and should replace McCrory who is a f*ckwit.

Moore is articulate, interesting and relatively original most of the time.

Here here, Moore's excellent (forgot about him).

DAVE667 wrote:Listening to Nigel Benn screaming that someone should have/has had the "granny smashed out of them" would be amusing.

However anyone who uses the term "the sport of boxing" needs to be slapped. Floyd's been doing it for years and now Amir Khan is doing it. The word "boxing" will suffice.

I really don't know what has happened, some people are incapable of speaking the language of English

Ha-ha I thought I was the only one that hated that. Floyd says it in almost every sentence.

DAVE667 wrote:Anyone who uses the term "the sport of boxing" needs to be slapped. Floyd's been doing it for years and now Amir Khan is doing it. The word "boxing" will suffice.

I really don't know what has happened, some people are incapable of speaking the language of English

This winds me up as well. I don't get it at all. Floyd is full of little soundbites and phrases like this. Sometimes he can string an entire interview together just by uttering cliches and other related Floydisms......"the sport of boxing"......"all roads lead to"......."hard work, dedication"......"Pay per view numbers blah blah blah". Ar$ehole.

You's sound like a bunch of football fans discussing the ineptitude of michael owen or john motsen. Why does it matter? Personally, love all the commentators/analysts despite their faults. Boxing wouldnt be the same without mccrory and watt etc. They're part of the institution. That said, I love hearing the ambitious active fighters commenting too. For me its a good balance between new and old and provides welcome variety to the familiar names. I'm pretty sure most other sports follow this format too; a common core with guest analysts.

3fingers wrote:You's sound like a bunch of football fans discussing the ineptitude of michael owen or john motsen.  Why does it matter? Personally, love all the commentators/analysts despite their faults. Boxing wouldnt be the same without mccrory and watt etc. They're part of the institution. That said, I love hearing the ambitious active fighters commenting too. For me its a good balance between new and old and provides welcome variety to the familiar names. I'm pretty sure most other sports follow this format too; a common core with guest analysts.

But surely a measure of impartiality is not too much to ask for. Halling and Watt do not seem to have this quality.

The bias has never really bothered me. It is what it is.

3fingers wrote:The bias has never really bothered me. It is what it is.

Point being, it bothers some people. Who's to say that your low expectations are something to be admired? Some of us might want more.

If an ex-world champion and seasoned broadcaster can't A/ Keep his bias in check or B/ Accurately convey what is happening in the ring then there's a very real possibility that he should be replaced by someone who can. Even when presented with slow motion replays of the action which clearly showed Froch's shots being caught on gloves and arms by Groves, Watt would have us believe they were quality scoring shots. Even if we accept Watt gets caught up the excitement of the fight, there's no excuse for ignoring the evidence subsequently presented to him.

3fingers wrote:You's sound like a bunch of football fans discussing the ineptitude of michael owen or john motsen.  Why does it matter? Personally, love all the commentators/analysts despite their faults. Boxing wouldnt be the same without mccrory and watt etc. They're part of the institution. That said, I love hearing the ambitious active fighters commenting too. For me its a good balance between new and old and provides welcome variety to the familiar names. I'm pretty sure most other sports follow this format too; a common core with guest analysts.

everything is awesome!

superflyweight wrote:

3fingers wrote:You's sound like a bunch of football fans discussing the ineptitude of michael owen or john motsen.  Why does it matter? Personally, love all the commentators/analysts despite their faults. Boxing wouldnt be the same without mccrory and watt etc. They're part of the institution. That said, I love hearing the ambitious active fighters commenting too. For me its a good balance between new and old and provides welcome variety to the familiar names. I'm pretty sure most other sports follow this format too; a common core with guest analysts.

everything is awesome!

Everything is cool!

DAVE667 wrote:

3fingers wrote:The bias has never really bothered me. It is what it is.

Point being, it bothers some people. Who's to say that your low expectations are something to be admired? Some of us might want more.

Point being, it bothers some people but not me. it is what it is. Most certainly not saying that attitude should be admired. 

'Biasedness' and its opposite 'antibiasistism' is all part of sports commentary, and its not unique to boxing. Propaganda to hypnotise the ignorant. Why do you want more? You're fortunate. You know enough about boxing to be able analyse a fight and tell if someone is talking cr@p.

But thats why we precisely should be bothered because people do not follow boxing in the same way all of us do so people watching it saturday probebly thought froch was battering groves round after round thanks to halling(god help us) and jim 'arum punches' watt

I don't think anyone has mentioned Ed Robinson and Spencer Oliver, I haven't had sky sports subs for a while now but always thought they come across well.

I liked the guy who self immolated everytime a jab landed. Commentated for prime time with Wayne "mmrrr bert uhhh" Mclullugh or however it's spelt

I thought ed robinson was an improvement on the usual, but didn't cover himself in glory with his amir khan interview between rounds of the froch groves fight

That interview was terrible he is normally good though

Who? Ed or Amir?

Ed, amie never comes accross well