Thread: What is HBO's agenda?

The commentary on HBO is clearly becoming more and more of a farce; what I wonder, in the case of last night, is why?

All three men calling the action were flat out delusional from start to finish. They were hugging Floyds nuts so shamefully the entire 12 rounds, Cotto would've had to take his head off in order to get his just dues. I remember in the 4th or 5th round Merchant informing us that "this fight is going exactly the way people expected, Floyd is in complete control" or something along those lines, it was freaking outrageous! In the closing moments Emmanuel Steward(clearly butthurt that Cotto fired him) comes up with "Floyd could've stopped him if he'd wanted to". WHAT? Because he wobbled him with 50 seconds left? Pure lunacy.

What good do these ass clowns feel it does to be so partisan and misleading, do they think that the average fan doesn't like competitive fights? Better make it sound like Floyd is dominating instead of calling that action as it happens, in order to......... I just can't fill in a blank here Does it take away the luster of a Pacquiao bout to comment that Floyd was in a real fight last night? There was no enthusiasm whatsoever for any of Cottos damn fine work the entire 12 rounds, and it really put a damper on what a great fight it was for me.

Yeah the boxnation commentary was equally as shit. Just couldnt seem to remove their lips from Floyds ass.

I think Larry Merchant though does it in order to discredit Floyd, similar to a few posters on here. "Oh well just like I thought, Floyd is dominating Cotto (when really he should be fighting..*insert flavour of the month here*) "

Even though it was a very competitive fight. :/ Who knows why they do it..

The sad thing is I felt Merchant was by far the most objective, his snide little remarks aren't nearly as bad as Lampleys utter lies. That guy goes way out of the realm of in order to paint a false picture of the entire fight! It sucks because for people who aren't versed in the sport it really does sway their eyes from what is actually going on. Lampley has a good announcing voice and he's colorful, if he wasn't an absolute PAWN he'd be a great commentator.

Lampley is a shill and a company man thru and thru pushing a product. He literally calls invisible punches, spins objective comments and lives nestled inside of this little world that is HBO boxing where Unicorns roam in grassy fields and there are water falls made of dark chocolate. No excuses...the product speaks for itself, and if it didn't his carnival barking arse would just cut someone off and make that shit up regardless.

I liked Andre Wards commentary in there. In fact I always enjoy it when a well spoken champ is doing the comentating, like Roy Jones or hell Tarver,god I hated that man but now I like him.

Al Bernstein is a true gentleman who always give both boxers utter and total respect and my personal favourite has always been Howard Cosell.

I like Tarver and Bernstein as well as far as the dialogue, but neither are really animated enough to add color to fights much of the time imo. Even Teddy Atlas is very good on occasion because he is emotionally invested without having a dog in the fight, he loses his shit any time there is an upset or turn of events in a fight and it's fun. Take last night, any true boxing fan should have been very impressed and excited by the success Cotto was having by the mid rounds. Having to be told that this was in fact not happening by those douchebags is just appalling.

Originally Posted by Althugz

Yeah the boxnation commentary was equally as shit. Just couldnt seem to remove their lips from Floyds ass.

I think Larry Merchant though does it in order to discredit Floyd, similar to a few posters on here. "Oh well just like I thought, Floyd is dominating Cotto (when really he should be fighting..*insert flavour of the month here*) "

Even though it was a very competitive fight. :/ Who knows why they do it..

I felt like throwing up on a number of occasions. Commentators should not be rimming fighters during a live broadcast. What happened to just reporting what is actually going on instead of being a biased cunt? It was appalling commentary. Possibly the worst I have ever had to endure.

Originally Posted by Gandalf

Originally Posted by Althugz

Yeah the boxnation commentary was equally as shit. Just couldnt seem to remove their lips from Floyds ass.

I think Larry Merchant though does it in order to discredit Floyd, similar to a few posters on here. "Oh well just like I thought, Floyd is dominating Cotto (when really he should be fighting..*insert flavour of the month here*) "

Even though it was a very competitive fight. :/ Who knows why they do it..

I felt like throwing up on a number of occasions. Commentators should not be rimming fighters during a live broadcast. What happened to just reporting what is actually going on instead of being a biased cunt? It was appalling commentary. Possibly the worst I have ever had to endure.

It was pretty damn bad..luckily we only heard bits of it because we had a party of five and were providing our own commentary amongst each other. I just remember how surreal it was us discussing how unconfortable Cotto was making Floyd, only to then hear the commentators claim Floyd was invinsible and was eating the punches for breakfast with maple syrup on top. :/

Incidentally I just watched the HBO version and didn't think it was as bad? I think some of you complaining about the HBO version would have brought up your lunch if you had to endure the Boxnation shite. My only gripe with HBO was that they were talking about irrelevant things while Cotto was doing some of his best work. But I thought Lampley gave good enough props to Cotto and his work whilst I didn't agree with a lot of Stewards words for Cotto. I think when Cotto was having his best round in the 8th I think it was, Emmanuel was banging on about how he was using the wrong tactics?? Bizzare..

Totally, I was seeing Cotto digging to the ribs and all they could say was that none of it was landing? Are you shitting me? Then Floyd makes a move and suddenly he is levitating over water, not just on it. And it kept repeating and repeating. It kind of spoiled my live viewing if anything. It was a great fight and that shit just gets in the way of the whole experience. It spoils the party.

I saw the fight in a bar and could not hear the commentators, I saw it as a VERY close fight, an exciting fight, and to an extent it reminded me of the great Hagler-Duran match where those guys fought hard but were respectful of each other before, during, and after the fight (amazing for Floyd really). The only thing I really didn't like was Justin fucking Beiber being in Floyd's entourage.....the fuck Money?!?!?

Other than that it was a great fight, both fighters showed big heart, they both gave 100%, and Floyd really earned my respect in the way he fought and manner he approached the fight....maybe he feels sometimes like he has to play a certain character but this time it wasn't a movie and didn't seem like Floyd was reading a script he carried himself like a true champion and as a boxing fan I like that.

Miguel Cotto is always going to be one of my favorite fighters, he has great heart and is always in exciting matches. I always knew he would challenge Floyd and he did not disappoint! He'll win a title back and up next for him I wouldn't mind seeing Cotto-Pacquiao II (won't happen though), Cotto-Martinez, Cotto-Alvarez, Cotto-Kirkland....all very winnable fights for Miguel.


As for HBO....I'm just worn out from sports "journalism" altogether there's always an angle, there's always someone playing Devil's Advocate....it's tiring, it's boring....I can't even watch ESPN anymore and like it, it's just too up it's own ass

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Can't be much else

Originally Posted by p4pking

The commentary on HBO is clearly becoming more and more of a farce; what I wonder, in the case of last night, is why?

All three men calling the action were flat out delusional from start to finish. They were hugging Floyds nuts so shamefully the entire 12 rounds, Cotto would've had to take his head off in order to get his just dues. I remember in the 4th or 5th round Merchant informing us that "this fight is going exactly the way people expected, Floyd is in complete control" or something along those lines, it was freaking outrageous! In the closing moments Emmanuel Steward(clearly butthurt that Cotto fired him) comes up with "Floyd could've stopped him if he'd wanted to". WHAT? Because he wobbled him with 50 seconds left? Pure lunacy.

What good do these ass clowns feel it does to be so partisan and misleading, do they think that the average fan doesn't like competitive fights? Better make it sound like Floyd is dominating instead of calling that action as it happens, in order to......... I just can't fill in a blank here Does it take away the luster of a Pacquiao bout to comment that Floyd was in a real fight last night? There was no enthusiasm whatsoever for any of Cottos damn fine work the entire 12 rounds, and it really put a damper on what a great fight it was for me.

That part really was the cherry on top of the venomous, bias, unfair cake.

Yeah Floyd's just such a nice guy that he didn't try to stop Cotto...

You think he didn't test the waters and wouldn't have finished Cotto if he could have ?

Cotto was exhausted and got rocked with a crisp couple of uppercuts but he was in no way out on his feet as Stewart would have us all believe.