Pacquiao VS Mayweather Next – Watch Boxing Online

Jim Lampley is the best blow-by-blow broadcaster in boxing, and arguably the best play-by-play man in any sport. A bizarre stretch during Saturday night’s Manny Pacquaio-Joshua Clottey (Pacman next!) fight showed that even the best broadcasters have bad moments.

In what may have been an attempt to inject some excitement into a fight that was something of a disappointment, or what may have simply been a brief mental meltdown, Lampley started screaming “bang!” at the top of his lungs while Pacquaio landed punches late in the eighth round.

Here’s a transcript of Lampley’s blow-by-blow at the end of the eighth:

Share “There you go. Four-punch, five-punch, six-punch combination. Body shot, body shot, bang, bang, bang. Bang! Bang! Bang! Try and stop it! Bang! Bang! Here I come. Bang! You want to throw some time? Bang! This is the Manny Pacquaio who has dominated boxing for the past three years. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! You want to throw back? Bang!”

If you’re scoring at home, that was 16 bangs in 22 seconds.

A minute later, at the start of the ninth round, Lampley seemed to realize he had gone too far. As he recited the CompuBox stats showing how many punches Pacquaio had thrown in the eighth, Lampley sheepishly said, “It was a huge number — bang, bang, bang, as I pointed out.”

Midway through the 10th round, Lampley had a wry tone in his voice when he said, “Manny Pacquaio continues to bang away at Joshua Clottey (Pacman next!)’s guard,” emphasizing “bang” as if to demonstrate that he knew the audience was laughing at his eighth round “bangs,” and that Lampley himself was in on the joke.

Lampley is at his best when simultaneously calling live action and putting that action into the larger context of a fighter’s career, as he did so brilliantly during Oscar De La Hoya’s win over Fernando Vargas. Lampley’s “bang bang bang” call on Saturday night was the exact opposite of that: Just noise, not substance.