I thought Albert was decent and not needing of a replacement. Has anyone heard Johnson call a boxing match before? He may have the tendency to over do the play by play, since he normally calls basketball and football.
I cant lie, I'll probably miss Albert. He's been the voice of Showtime boxing since it started. Call me crazy... but I actually miss the old Showtime crew of Albert, and Czyz. I DO NOT miss Pacheco though, he was terrible. Al Bernstein is way past his commentating prime, and he gets duller and duller every year. BTW - as I watching old fights, I think maybe THE best commentating team ever was the old CBS team of Tim Ryan as blow-by-blow, with Angelo Dundee and Gil Clancy as the analyists. Tim Ryan was excellent, and Dundee and Clancy gave great insight, and provided good humor as well. Of course, both are too old and senile now to work commentary.
Between reading this yesterday and glancing at Showtime's 1st Q schedule, I have a very hard time accepting their insistence that their boxing budget wouldn't change from '08. I'm not really a big fan of Gus Johnson. He's alright, but more of a talking head than anything else. I thought he absolutely sucked when calling Elite XC events on CBS. Come to think of it, the only medium in which I think he's decent is college basketball.
Albert had had too many plastic surgeries. He was starting to look like an action figure made by Mattel. But I did enjoy his upbeat presence and I think he had a good rapor with his partner (can't remember his name - the bald guy who knows a lot about boxing). If this new guy is mouthy it's not going to mesh well with the other guy.
Albert is solid. Johnson is okay and harmless. Far better than the worst, but not as good as the best. I would prefer that the replacement be a pure boxing guy and not a pure announcer, though. Better yet, don't get a replacement.
I cant say why Albert was good. WHen he showed emotion, he sounded weird. When a fight got dull, he was dull too. Still, I always enjoyed him. I don't think they should have changed him, but hopefully it works. I like Bernstein. Sure, he seems to enjoy dull fights too much, but when things get exciting and he actually gets excited, you know that shit isn't fake. He really seems to enjoy being there and I think that rubs off. Did you know he started out as a comedian?
