It is not often that a pay per view boxing match lives up to its hype or the $55 cost (note to my editor, is this tax deductible?), but the Mayweather-De La Hoya fight did.
OK, I had a few friends over and they took care of the food and the beer — so my cable investment was made less painful.
There was plenty of action with Floyd Mayweather Jr. coming on in the late rounds with some flashy combinations that impressed the judges whilethe early rounds went to Oscar De La Hoya who used his trade mark body blows.
In the end Mayweather was able to win a spilt decision and remain undefeated.
Once again Jim Lampley is the best boxing announcer since Howard Cosell and post-fight interviewer Larry Merchant seemed as always to get the best out of both fighters.
Recently, Merchant’s job at HBO has been rumored to be in jeopardy along with fellow HBO pundit Max Kellerman. I can’t stand Kellerman who is a shameless self promoter. He may know boxing, but his personality off-putting, at best.
The replay on HBO this Saturday at 10 p.m.
The royal treatment …
NBC did the Kentucky Derby right with plenty of quality coverage. Tom Hammond continues to prove he is the best in the business when it comes to horse racing.
Producer Sam Flood and director David Michaels (Al’s brother) had all the right shots to capture the excitement of Street Sense with jubilant jockey Calvin Borel high-fiving everyone but the Queen.
By the way, I will never again say the Queen has bad taste in hats. As the band played “My Old Kentucky Home,” Michaels found a number of hats that actually made the Queen’s look stylish.”
The low point of the show was the audio of the call of the race. For some reason we could not hear the actual call of the race clearly. Then some post-race comments were also lost.
ESPN scored high on its pre-race show with plenty of good features. Also in their first year as the home of the radio broadcast, they had a strong performance and a huge upgrade over Westwood One.
» Versus had the best hockey game of the weekend with Ottawa besting New Jersey in a thriller, 3-2, and advancing to the Eastern Conference finals.
Over all, not a bad weekend on the airwaves.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on www.examiner.com.
