Joe Tessitore: Collapsing at MSG Before Crawford-Khan, Ripping Out His Own IV & Why Bud Waited

Joe Tessitore sits down with Andre Ward, his broadcast partner of thousands of hours and, as Dre puts it, a mentor and a brother.

The career is all here. Local news in Hartford, the ESPN call in late 2001 that put him next to Teddy Atlas on Friday Night Fights, the Emanuel Augustus fights he still calls flashes of genius, and why he never negotiates his own deals. He talks about getting pulled off Monday Night Football in the New York Post and not attaching emotion to a corporation, what actually separates a professional from a talent, and the Mike McQuade introduction that made a whole production room sit up straight.

And then April 20, 2019. Madison Square Garden, Crawford vs. Khan, and Tessitore collapsing on air from the top of the building. The EKG, the ambulance, the son riding with him, and the moment he told the doctor to take the IV out, handed his kid a wad of cash for an Uber, and walked back into the Garden sweating through his shirt with the hospital band still on to call Bud Crawford’s fight. Ninety minutes after the main event, one person was still waiting outside the green room to make sure he was okay. It was the champion.

Follow Andre Ward – https://www.instagram.com/andresogward/

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00:00 – Intro: Meeting a broadcasting legend
04:38 – Origin story: his mother’s journey from Italy
11:08 – Young Joe: quiet childhood, his sister’s death
11:56 – His father and alcoholism
15:01 – Forgiveness and looking forward, not back
18:11 – Big Italian family, horse racing, cards
20:30 – “I loathe mediocrity”
21:42 – Chasing “magis” — the pursuit of more
26:28 – Saint Joseph and fatherhood as identity
29:52 – The football injury that changed everything
32:25 – Discovering “the voice”
35:19 – Survivor’s guilt and his sister’s death
39:37 – Business degree over communications
44:16 – Getting removed from Monday Night Football
45:57 – The 2002 ESPN call and boxing roots
51:13 – Uncle Mike the baker: talent vs. opportunity
1:04:45 – Crawford vs. Khan: the medical episode begins
1:09:25 – Hospital, IV, and walking out of the ER
1:14:28 – Calling his son John’s fake field goal
1:26:38 – Stripped down: “Who is Joe Tessitore?”

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