I'm in the minority here but my favourite HBO combination has always been: Jim Lampley Larry Merchant Emmanuel Stewart (whose mid-fight analysis is very underrated) Fuck Jones, Foreman and Lewis. Kellerman is so-so
Jim, Larry and George will always be #1 in my books, followed closely by Jim, Larry and Roy. Glad RJ is back in the role.
George was good entertainment. rarely provided any true insight but you listened to hear the next bizarre statement..."Oscar's intimidating him with his shoulders!" Lampley is way past prime. He's a cheerleader more than anything. Jones is clearly the best...Manny started off as decent but became a shill for the most part. Seems there's a conflict of interest for him to take over training duties for guys fights he has called. I find that odd. That alone calls his impartiality into question. Whoever mentioned Manny's mid-fight commentary as underrated I'm curious as to know precisely what that means. He switches sides so often during fights its difficult to know exactly what he thinks. He's properly positioned to state his typical "the fight went just like I thought it would." Merchant...well...there's nothing to really bitch about with Larry these days...he's mostly silent during fights now.
That'll be me. Hopkins-Hoya and Hatton-Mayweather spring to mind but there are many other such examples. He's usually the first to realize when a fighter is taking over a fight and that the opponent is in danger of being knocked out. While Lamps and Co are busy talking shit or just calling punches, he's the one to say something to the effect of.. "he's in trouble now, his opponent has to just continue what he's doing and a KO is coming soon"... I'll think of other examples. He has keen insight. Roy Jones is good, but I get the impression that he just likes the sound of his own voice. He also states the OBVIOUS too much. Funny you should criticize Stewart for "the fight went just like I thought it would."..because to me that exactly what Jones does all the time after the fact.
Manny: "Big right hand coming up" {guy lands a left hook} Manny "I said...I said...thats what I said...it happened, I was just saying that was about to happen"
Roy always says that because he'd consistently said it all night. Manny says throws a bit of everything in the air and hopes for the best. Again, that's the problem with Manny...he typically stays on the same point until it's obvious the tide has gone the other way.
I totally agree. Manny usually sees it way before anyone else, and it makes sense when you view it the way that he does. George was also pretty good in that sense.
I think you could also find plenty of examples where Manny says something after a round or two along the lines of "if this keeps up, I can possibly even see so and so winning" and then of course things don't end up going anything like that...and it becomes a completely meaningless statement.
At 0:35 Lampley: "What a battle" Jones: "mwhahahahahahaha" Wow Larry was talking a lot faster then. <iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cfIxfgGtjjU" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>
Exactly... Manny Covers ALL BASES During Fights, which Lays the Groundwork for him to Always Appear to B "Right"...When U Predict EVERYTHING, Sure U're Gonna End Up Being Right...But even a Broken Clock is Right TWICE a Day... Manny's Basically a Fence Rider... REED:mj:
Manny gets the occasional call right. Its worth pointing out that Roy does a bit of fence riding too. The Ruelas fight was a good example...he had Gatti going out several times, then when Ruelas went down, he was sure Ruelas wasn't coming back. ::