For diehard boxing fans: Does the quality of the ring announcer have any impact on the quality of the event?

Question

Does a good announcer (not commentator) add something to the boxing event? Does a bad one take away from the event? What are some of your pet peeves about today's announcers? Who are some of your favorites?

Answer 1

I don't really think that it takes away from the fight itself, but it can be a bit annoying at times.  The worst I've ever seen was the announcer in Mexico for the Maskaev-Peter fight; the guy had NO CLUE as to what he was doing.  I don't like when they don't read off a guys record, and I don't like it when there is a guy who has a terrible record and they say something like "He is a veteran of 45 fights."  If the fighter has a record of 5-40, then read it off that way- he is obviously not ashamed of having a losing record if he's still fighting and we shouldn't be ashamed either.  And yes, I hate it when they read off a split decision or majority decision, and read off the two winning scores first- its just dumb and it takes away from the suspense of a fight, especially when it was a really close fight (and most split and majority decisions are close fights).

As for some of my favorites: Obviously Michael Buffer, Jimmy Lennon, Jr., Lupe Contreras, Joe Antonachi, M. Mark Biero, and there may be a few others, but thats pretty much it.

Answer 2

chris:

for me personally, no it doesn't, however, if someone is attending a big fight for the first time, then it's possible that some (most?) of them would like to see michael buffer or jimmy lennon jr say their respective catchphrases.

a bad announcer could be annoying if he shouts too loud or is too nervous and muddles up his intro......but a good night of boxing would easily make me forget it.

i like buffer, i have to say.

EDIT:

it does spoil it when a ring announcer reads a split decision in the wrong order, or in the old days read the fighters name after a score, even with a unanimous decision (frazier - ali for example).

when barry mc guigan won the 126 pound belt from pedroza, i don't think the m c even read out the scores he was that exited.......it didn't bother me at the time as i was 15 and only getting into the fight game (as a fan), but watching a repeat years later i could look back with hind sight and say he could have done a slightly better job.

Answer 3

h**l YEAH IF THEY CAN SELL TICKETS BY ANNOUNCING THEY ARE SPECIAL...LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!

Answer 4

Chris, to be honest I rarely am paying attention when the prefight stuff is going on. So I really don't care who's the ring announcer.