Sometimes HBO is right and sometimes the announcing is good. Lately, I haven't been too happy with it. To be specific, I thought Lederman's Calzaghe/Hopkins card was crap. I had it for Joe by a round, but clearly Howard is losing his vision. When in doubt, he always gives a close round to the busier fighter, even if they guy isn't landing (see ODLH/Mayweather and Taylor/Hopkins). He does it constantly. He's lost his ability to tell the difference between aggression and effective aggression.

I'm not sure if they are biased, but they are hype builders who jump on and off bandwagons as quickly as you can say "Juan Diaz." And yeah, the get parroted alot around this forum. I've probably done it a few timesa accidently. Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they will make a comment that is very accurate and it will stick in your mind. If I'm drinking during the fight, when I post the next day, I've probably repeated something from Kellerman or Merchant without realizing it. It's bound to happen from time to time, but that's why I watch fights more than once and I'm not afraid to admit when I saw it wrong the first time and/or let the announcers or the crowd of people and/or atmosphere of the moment influence my judgement.

If I have a strong rooting interest in the fight and the HBO announcers are calling it the way I want it go, I'm more inclined to be influenced by the hype. When I first saw Cal/Hop, I saw it as close but clearly for Joe, but upon further review, I understood why some people had it for Hopkins. Again, that's why I watch a second or third time. Like I posted last week, I saw Hopkins/Calzaghe much differently sober and with the volume off, but I didn't post until after I has watched a second time.