New sky commentary team and fight thoughts

Thought the new commentary team was so much better last night than that clown Halling.

Adam Smith gets a lot of stick, but he is passionate and knowledgable about boxing, Froch I thought was good, and Malignaggi is extremely knowledgable.

As for the fight, Thought Brook did well, jabbed well, and hit GGG with some good shots, but the natural size and strength just showed in the end, like nearly all predicted. I hope Brook goes back to 147, all this talk about him being capable of MW, all spill from Hearn I'd say, 147 is still a weight he's comfortable and natural at. Would still love the Khan fight, think he beats Garcia, and against Spence is the best fight in the division. Hopefully he can fight at least one of them, and not go back to the Bizier/Jo Jo Dan sort of fights.

Kudos to him for taking such a fight.

There seemed to be a distinct lack of buzz from the team maybe the presenter didn't have enough charisma maybe McRory was missed I don't know what it was but something was lacking

The fight was good I didn't like the stoppage I wanted to see a big present but those injuries can be nasty see Matthysse see Abraham didn't bother Salido though

Smith talks too much and he spends too many of his lines on stuff that is not relevant...I'm more interested in fight analysis than if a guy has a sweet gran or Whether his trainers love him....

I'm interested in the fight.........Not a fan of Froch who is self conscious and gets stuck between slight criticism and flag waving...To me he says what he thinks SKY wants to here..

Nelson is useless......

However I think Robinson is great...Paulie and Fearon were superb...

Macklin is good too...

Froch was a good co-commentator for me , I wouldn't mind seeing less of Nelson don't mind him brought on for the odd bit of analysis but as a presenter or co-presenter not for me. Only saw second half so didn't see Fearon God forbid he's joining the team. That girl Charlie would be OK for the job but she's with Boxnation. Smith wasn't as irritating as I thought he'd be quite like Moore Macklin for analysis Glenn does add charisma and distinctive voice what else I'm sure I'll think o fsomething

True about Froch truss the man is so up himself it's laughable.

Just before the Callum Smith fight he was asked to talk about Callum and Froch took the opportunity to talk about how he outboxed Callum in sparing.

Great career but never number 1 loves himself

Fearon was not on truss. It was Dave Caldwell.

Rowley long time

How are you

I'm well mate, hope you're keeping well.

Are we gonna have a serious discussion on Carl Froch's new nose anytime soon?

Im on the fence. Paulie is a great addition to the team, knows boxing inside and out, and provides good concise analysis. Macklin was decent but I wouldn't be bothered if he wasn't on again. Agree about Froch, somehow always manages to make something about himself in one way or another, complete ego maniac.

Nelsons just part of the furniture and doesn't offer that much. The new female presenter, at the risk of sounding sexist it's just not for me. As much as she might know her boxing, or not, she's clearly there to appeal to the casuals. No coincidence she's a pretty blonde and not a 12 stone ex super heavyweight womens world champion boxer.

Apologies to Caldwell. ..

I like him...Him and Paulie were good together.....Smith was superfluous...

Excellent commentary on the IBF Fly..

Not real improvement for me. Smith may as well be Halling. He is filling the same sort of gushing role. Maybe he does it better than Halling, buts it more or less the same same playlist. Froch is useless and only there because he want to be on t.v and to talk about himself. Malignaggi is decent for the more technical analysis. I forgot Macklin was there.

While Froch was an ok co-commentator I'm not saying I'd like to see him fill that roll on a permanent basis. But as a fill in till they find the right man for the job then passable. It's going to be difficult finding the right duo

For me, Sky need to reign in the hyperbole of main commentator. Smith and Halling would probably be ok but I think its a Sky/Matchroom executive decision for them to be tasked with selling the fight rather than just focusing on commentating on the action.

Usually having an ex fighters on board is to try and provide some technical insight intot he action so in the case of Froch and Macklin I think they fail at that. Malignaggi does it well enough.

What they are missing then is a just a good general boxing commentator with a talent presenting the fight and the action in a way that accessable to the average fan without being overly hyperbolic (Smith) or overly boxing technical (Malignaggi). A Teddy Atlas kind of figure. Ed Robinson is pretty good at this and generally doesnt let himself get caught up in the hysterics. Maybe they could give him a crack on the mic.

Ed Robinson would be as good as any for the time being in the absence of an obvious first choice. You want someone neutral well spoken sensible wholesome etc. and if they boxed then people take them seriously. Robinson can be a bit snide himself but hey aren't they all like when he thought Carl was ducking DeGale though by and large he's fairly neutral and unbiased and it's never a presenter's place to make a fighter squirm so I think he could fit the roll

If you're of the opinion though that a boxing presenter doesn't need to have boxed just needs to be an enthusiast and good presenting skills then as I say why not bring back that girl Charlie don't know how she's doing but hope she's getting better

Herman Jaeger wrote:If you're of the opinion though that a boxing presenter doesn't need to have boxed just needs to be an enthusiast and good presenting skills then as I say why not bring back that girl Charlie don't know how she's doing but hope she's getting better

She's on the mend (but she's a BoxNation presenter).

That's good to hear, I imagine she has a contract with BN so is unavailable pity she has the likeability factor. Robinson is neither likeable or dislikeable but he can have the job as main presenter as far as I'm concerned. Has the necessary gravitas too for want of a better word

Smith's a pain in the arse. There was a bit in between fights where the camera was at the commentary table. I think Malignaggi and Macklin were in the shot and talking. Smith was obviously raging that he wasn't in the shot and on screen so he stuck his head in from the side as if to say "I'm top dog here, put the camera on me"

His whole delivery is hammy and over the top. I suspect if you were ever to spend any time in his company he'd be reminding you every 30 seconds that he's the head of boxing at Sky Sports...

Smith doesn't even particularly like boxing does he? Fish out of water isn't he

Nelson uses his role just to show off his new suits lame sense of humour too. Didnt mind Dave Caldwell in that he didn't irritate me likewise Paulie

Who else Bellew he's quite a good talker and articulate but you feel he could go beserk at any moment. Perhaps they can use him just if they've got a late night show and he's the only guest. Nicky Piper looks like a fat lesbian but doesn't irritate me. Jamie Moore who obviously was t there Saturday  is one of the few who is reasonably good. Don't mind Spencer Oliver for a pop on every now and then. Have I covered everyone who's ever appeared never had a go at this before but that's my two cents

Boxing fans are very hard to please when it comes to commentators. I don't mind Smith and he is certainly much better than Halling, has he been given the boot now? I really hope so, he ruined fights for me. He comes across as they pulled someone's Dad out the crowd who's son likes watching the odd fight.

Would love Ian Dark to come back, reminds me of my youth staying up late to watch Lewis and big US fights.

I know a few on here don't like David Haye but I don't mind him making the odd guest appearance. Who else is there

You're looking for a bit of screen presence, likeability and boxing knowledge a combination clearly a fair bit harder to find than you'd think

To be fair to Smith, I think he is a genuine boxing enthusiast who was by many accounts instrumental in keeping boxing on Sky when they were close to canning it altogether. As a result I find his gushing more genuine than Halling who was more of a mercenary and and sports all rounder. The script is largely the same though, and indicative of where Sky see their target audience.

I recently read Jamie Moore's autobiography, for what it is worth Smith comes across as a genuinely good guy. He seems to genuinely care about fighters and tries to help them look after themselves in retirement. He also seems to have done a lot to help out when Moore was shot.

I think his heart is in the right place. His problem is as head of boxing that the fights that would keep the hardcore fans happy almost certainly do not deliver the viewing figures a commercial entity require. He has a limited budget, spending thousands to show a Gonzales fight at 4 in the morning just is not good business.

melv500 wrote:Boxing fans are very hard to please when it comes to commentators. I don't mind Smith and he is certainly much better than Halling, has he been given the boot now? I really hope so, he ruined fights for me. He comes across as they pulled someone's Dad out the crowd who's son likes watching the odd fight.

Would love Ian Dark to come back, reminds me of my youth staying up late to watch Lewis and big US fights.

Ian Darke for me as well, unfortunately moved to BT sports, Halling is an idiot, i find Adam Smith quite smarmy and completely out of place, in think Eddie Hearn gives him his place (cause he has to) but if Smith wasn't in the job he was i get the feeling Hearn would be takin the pi55 out of him as he's a bit of a nerd.

That's nice to hear about Smith, Jeff.

Can't say he overly bothers me guess he fills the role of non-macho presenter which is probably an essential part of the package. I think he thinks his voice is sexy though perhaps he should try to keep it a bit more natural didn't know he had helped save boxing on Sky that probably safeguards his place you would think

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:True about Froch truss the man is so up himself it's laughable.

Just before the Callum Smith fight he was asked to talk about Callum and Froch took the opportunity to talk about how he outboxed Callum in sparing.

Great career but never number 1 loves himself

You know all about loving yourself onetwo, no doubt