Thoughts on tonight's HBO/ Showrime commentating

[beenKOed]

I like Mauro Ranallo, he always has his facts right but the big thing for me is his honesty, he doesn't try to slant the fight one way or the other. The big surprise for me was Pauli, he was good, held his own with Mauro, reported only what he saw and has better analogies than Teddy. I think Pauli could work well with anyone.

[global]

Monster truck style announcing from the Showtime guy is spot on, and does feel like it cheapens the experience. I didn't see the PPV card so I can't comment on that but from what I'm reading here it seems Roy has improved as a commentator.

The big surprise to me was Paulie, I don't remember him once trying to inject his own boxing career into the broadcast. You can tell he loves watching boxing, he was giving genuine props to fighters without seeming to favor a type of style, made jokes when appropriate and gave decent insight about what he was seeing. He also seemed to have a good grasp of when to talk and when to let others say their share, as someone else already said he could probably work with any broadcast team and fit in, hopefully we will see him in this role more often.

[captainanddew]

2 thoughts:

1-Paulie M was good as an analyst
2-the MMA guy is not an analyst. He was not replacing Farhood. Farhood does not do the job that the MMA guy was doing.

You have the guy calling the fight (blow by blow announcer) and the analysts. Farhood is an analyst. He doesn't call the fight.

I prefer the MMA guy over Gus Johnson.

[shza]

2 thoughts:

1-Paulie M was good as an analyst
2-the MMA guy is not an analyst. He was not replacing Farhood. Farhood does not do the job that the MMA guy was doing.

You have the guy calling the fight (blow by blow announcer) and the analysts. Farhood is an analyst. He doesn't call the fight.

I prefer the MMA guy over Gus Johnson.

I know what you're saying about Farhood, but Showtime has done plenty of shows where they've paired Bernstein with Farhood (before and after the terrible Gus Johnson era -- and I do agree with you that Johnson is even worse than the MMA guy. He's about as bad as it gets.)