Wimbledon men’s final: Andy Murray v Roger Federer.
Live at Wimbledon Radio have Marcus Buckland presenting alongside Peter Flemming with Rob Nothman on Murray Mound (it will always be Henman Hill to me).
Philip Studd, Barry Millms and Wayne Ferreira (14:00 commentary)
BBC radio 5live: Claire Balding presenting live from Wimbledon.
Jonathan Overend, Alistair Eykyn with Pat Cash, Richard Krajicek and Miles Maclagan (14:00 commentary)*
*this commentary is also being carried on BBC Scotland MW/digital radio with Geoff Webster presenting.
Commentators + Reporters - Jonathan Overend, Alastair Eykyn, Clare Balding, David Law, Russell Fuller, Iain Carter, Vassos Alexander, Nick Lester, Guy McCrea, Alison Mitchell, Dot Davis, Helen Skelton + Delyth Lloyd
Summarisers - Pat Cash, Richard Krajicek, Goran Ivanisevic, Nick Bolletieri, David Felgate, Mark Woodforde, Jeff Tarango, Jeremy Bates, Miles MacLagen, Frew McMillan, Mark Philipoussis, Neil Harman, Tracy Austin, Jana Novotna, Barbara Schett + Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Think that's everyone, Annabel Croft was a big miss I think as they struggled for a lead female summariser.
Commentators + Reporters - Jonathan Overend, Alastair Eykyn, Clare Balding, David Law, Russell Fuller, Iain Carter, Vassos Alexander, Nick Lester, Guy McCrea, Alison Mitchell, Dot Davis, Helen Skelton + Della Floyd (sp?)
Random question: if Live@Wimbledon were to broadcast on Digital 1 (DAB) for the two weeks as a temporary station would that be a breach of BBC Radio's contract with the club?
Random question: if Live@Wimbledon were to broadcast on Digital 1 (DAB) for the two weeks as a temporary station would that be a breach of BBC Radio's contract with the club?
I can't see why it wouldn't be in breach. 5live have the rights to broadcast the event on national radio in the UK. lL@W only have a temporary local licence within the wimbledon area. would make a bit of a mockery of 5live's contract if L@W could go up against them on DAB. i don't know for sure but that is my guess.
5 Live Baseball with Nat Coombs (in London) and Josh Chetwynd (in Tucson, Arizona)
Baseball: American League
Texas Rangers @ Chicago White Sox - Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson (commentary provided by 670 The Score - "The White Sox radio network")
5LSE did full commentary on this game. They'll be no live MLB game this Thursday but from 1am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning 5LSE will have live coverage of the 83rd All-Star Game from Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Mike Carlson will be presenting from London with Josh due to be in Kansas to do some interviews ahead of the midsummer classic (I'm not sure if he'll actually be at the stadium for the game though). I assume they'll be taking ESPN Radio's US national radio coverage of the game with Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton commentating as they have done for this fixture in both of the past two years since their coverage began.
Formula 1: Monaco Grand Prix
Circuit de Monte Carlo - Graham Courtney
Saturday 2nd June
Horse Racing: The Derby
Epsom Downs - Rupert Bell
Monday 11th to Sunday 17th June
Tennis: AEGON Championships
Queen's Club - Dave Luddy
Thursday 14th to Sunday 17th June
Golf: US Open
Olympic Club, San Francisco, California - Bob Bubka
Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd June
Horse Racing: Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse - Rupert Bell
Sunday 24th June
Formula 1: European Grand Prix
Valencia Street Circuit - Graham Courtney
Monday 25th June to Sunday 8th July
Tennis: Wimbledon Championships 2012
Centre Court, All England Club - Dave Luddy
Sunday 8th July
Formula 1: British Grand Prix
Silverstone Circuit - Ian Danter (who also covered qualifying on the Saturday)
Additionally, Jack Bannister has reported on all of England's test and limited overs cricket matches played against the West Indies and Australia this summer. talkSPORT (and, I believe, Talking Rugby) didn't provide reports on any of the summer internationals in rugby union or on the Canadian Grand Prix in mid-June. Ian Abrahams reported from "Murray mountain" during today's Wimbledon men's singles final in supplement to Dave Luddy's hourly updates on the match itself.
Some of you might be interested to hear that long-time IRN, Today FM and Talking Rugby reporter Russell Hargreaves presented talkSPORT's sports-based overnight show Extra Time yesterday (Saturday night/Sunday morning). He's a regular sports newsreader on the programme, but it's the first time I've heard of him hosting a radio show. I've always thought he's a very slick broadcaster and he sounded pretty good as a presenter from what I heard of the show.
talkSPORT's team for the Haye v Chisora fight is...
Mark Saggers will present from Upton Park with commentary from Ronald McIntosh and Richie Woodhall.
thanks 4-4-2, as usual you come up trumps.
interesting info, so, basically, its the primetime commentary team. Ron and Richy have both been involved in 5live's coverage of boxing in the past and, I believe will be involved in the BBC's olympic boxing coverage. this gives me more confidence in the coverage I have to admit. do you know about timings etc yet?
thanks 4-4-2, as usual you come up trumps.
interesting info, so, basically, its the primetime commentary team. Ron and Richy have both been involved in 5live's coverage of boxing in the past and, I believe will be involved in the BBC's olympic boxing coverage. this gives me more confidence in the coverage I have to admit. do you know about timings etc yet?
talkSPORT's Boxing Special is listed for 9pm-midnight on Saturday night. Bell time at Upton Park will be no later than 10pm so I am sure they will have ample time for build-up, the fight itself and reaction.
While talkSPORT have brought in a couple of decent names - I'm particularly pleased about Richie Woodhall, who I always enjoy listening to on BBC TV and Radio 5 Live's boxing coverage and rate as one of the best sports analysts around - I'm a little disappointed that in-house guys with a background in covering the sport appear to have been overlooked.
Ron McIntosh has been a decent enough boxing commentator on the rare occasions 5 Live have used him in this role, but if his appearance is to be a one-off I'd again have to question why they'd go with someone from a rival station rather than a candidate who works for them week in, week out.
And after his work on the Rugby World Cup, I'm not sure how great Mark Saggers will prove as a boxing anchorman. I don't believe he's covered the sport before - for me Dom McGuinness would have been a much better choice and I hope he's at least used in a reporting capacity.
Steve, I enjoyed reading your posts about talkSPORT's boxing coverage from around the turn of the millennium over the weekend. Although I am a self professed talkSPORT anorak, my memory of listening to some of their fights at the time is somewhat hazy and I'd be keen to read more on what you remember about what they did at the time - which fights they covered, who was involved in their coverage etc.
talkSPORT's Boxing Special is listed for 9pm-midnight on Saturday night. Bell time at Upton Park will be no later than 10pm so I am sure they will have ample time for build-up, the fight itself and reaction.
While talkSPORT have made a couple of good signings - I'm particularly pleased about Richie Woodhall, who I always enjoy listening to on BBC TV and Radio 5 Live's boxing coverage and rate as one of the best sports analysts around - I'm a little disappointed that in-house guys with a background in covering the sport appear to have been overlooked.
Ron McIntosh has been a decent enough boxing commentator on the rare occasions 5 Live have used him in this role, but if his appearance is to be a one-off I'd again have to question why they'd go with someone from a rival station rather than a candidate who works for them week in, week out.
And after his work on the Rugby World Cup, I'm not sure how great Mark Saggers will prove as a boxing anchorman. I don't believe he's covered the sport before - for me Dom McGuinness would have been a much better choice and I hope he's at least used in a reporting capacity.
Steve, I enjoyed reading your posts about talkSPORT's boxing coverage from around the turn of the millennium over the weekend. Although I am a self-professed talkSPORT anorak, my memory of listening to some of the fights at the time is somewhat hazy and I'd be keen read more on what you remember about what they did at the time - which fights they covered, who was involved in their coverage etc.
theres a challenge diff! I'll put something together-- I actually remember quite a bit re commentators/coverage but want to double check google for the fight details (year etc) to try and give a clear picture.
re Saturday, I think MacIntosh's involvement with r5l is pretty minimal these days. he used to be used pretty regularly as a roving reporter type role, commentating on the ringwalks etc and covering a fight when Mike Costello was otherwise engaged. recently though he they used Darren Fletcher to commentate on the Froch fight in May which was an interesting move. I note that Fletcher is down to cover the boxing for 5live at the olympics so maybe this was just a warm-up for him or perhaps the start of more for him covering the sport. he did a good job to be fair and was actually better than MacIntosh.
i wonder if a factor in who they brought in to cover it might have been influenced by the nature of the fight? i.e i guess a lot of people wouldn't want to be associated with it. I agree with your commentsj re using a in-house commentator though but MacIntosh will do a decent enough job.
that is actually shaping up as quite a good team. McKenzi was great when he used to work on 5live, and I've always enjoyed listening to Davies on TS in the past. i may not like the fight they are covering, but credit to ts for getting a good team in to cover it.
Mainly for the benefit of the Difference who has asked me to compile some of what I remember about TS’s boxing coverage during the late days of Talk Radio and the early days of Talksport. I’ve googled to check details of the specific fights (i.e. when they took place etc) but the TS info is from memory so may not be 100 % accurate. This is not an exhaustive list and if anyone else has other details I’d be interested to hear them. you should probably read my post in conjunction with those I posted over the weekend-- as I've tried not to repeat myself too much.
As far as I know, Talk Radio as it was then first became interested in boxing when they brought exclusive rights to the Lennox Lewis v Evander Holyfield fight on 13March 1999.
On that night, there commentary team included Mile Harrison presenting (though a nagging voice in my head is making me think it may have been Marcus Buckland) with Frank Bruno in the studio. The fight commentator was Jim Rosenthal but I’m afraid I can’t recall who was summarising.
Following the controversial draw, the two met again on 13 November 1999. Gary Newbon presented Talksport’s exclusive coverage from LA. The coverage also took in fights from a British bill which I remember featured a cracking fight between Paul Ingle and Manuel Medina with commentary from Graham Beacroft and Patrick Mullings.
The main fight in LA was called by Reg Gutterridge
And Steve Collins. This was the single worst boxing radio commentary I’ve ever heard with Gutteridge chattering away seemingly forgetting that being a radio commentator meant the listeners couldn’t see the fight. Occasionally he’d remember and mention that Lewis had landed a punch then go back to chatting to Steve. Makes me angry just thinking about it 13 years later.
Talksport then started covering domestic boxing fights usually with the commentary team of Beacroft/Mullings. Among fighters they covered were Danny Williams at the beginning of his career, Julius Frances Dean Pithie etc. in terms of big fights, they covered 2 more Lewis fights.
On 29 April 2000, they covered Lewis’s second round demolition of Michael Grant. Gary newbon again presented and commentary was provided by Bob Sheridan and Steve Collins. On the undercard, Paul Ingle featured in another cracking fight this time knocking out Junior Jones. TS unfortunately lost their line just as the fight was starting and someone back in TS towers has to off-tube for a round.
On 15 July 2000, TS were again following Lennox Lewis in his fight with South African fighter Francois Botha which again ended in a second round stoppage. This was to be the last fight featuring Lennox Lewis they would have.
Talksport also covered Mike Tyson’s 2 fights in the UK. They covered his knock-out of Julius Frances in January 2000, with Graham Beacroft commentating, probably alongside Steve Collins.
In June of the same year they covered the 38 second knock-out Tyson inflicted on Lou Savarese, the fight after which Tyson ranted that he wanted Lewis’s heart and to eat his children.
Talksport seemed to loos interest completely in boxing not long after this fight. They had some domestic fights on their schedule but decided to pull them in favor of James H Reeve and never went back to boxing in a big way after that. Since then, they have had reports on fights, including Graham Beacroft reporting off-tube on Lewis v Tyson in June 2002. They also had a phone in in on the Sunday morning in the slot that Fisherman’s Blues would usually fill with Beaky and Collins presenting.
Some of you might be interested to hear that long-time IRN, Today FM and Talking Rugby reporter Russell Hargreaves presented talkSPORT's sports-based overnight show Extra Time yesterday (Saturday night/Sunday morning). He's a regular sports newsreader on the programme, but it's the first time I've heard of him hosting a radio show. I've always thought he's a very slick broadcaster and he sounded pretty good as a presenter from what I heard of the show.
Russell has sounded good presenting. It's the American chap who is awful.
Where's Mike Bovill went, he has vanished, do you know The Diff?
As far as I know, Talk Radio as it was then first became interested in boxing when they brought exclusive rights to the Lennox Lewis v Evander Holyfield fight on 13March 1999.
On that night, there commentary team included Mile Harrison presenting (though a nagging voice in my head is making me think it may have been Marcus Buckland) with Frank Bruno in the studio. The fight commentator was Jim Rosenthal but I’m afraid I can’t recall who was summarising.
He appears to not be presenting Extra Time over the weekend - doesn't mean that wasn't always the plan. Maybe he was just to do it for a few weeks?
He's still at talkSPORT - but if he's not presenting Extra Time, would he go back to hosting Full Contact?
In all the pre-publicity about the 24 hour sport it was clearly stated Mike Mon-Thurs, Matt Forde on Fri and Sat/sun for Bovill (his picture even on the Extra time website page and twitter)
I found Steve's comprehensive post about talkSPORT's boxing coverage from the late 1990s and early 2000s a very interesting and enjoyable read. Thanks very much for posting all of the information and recollections of their coverage Steve, and for reminding me what an exciting fighter Paul Ingle was.
The one fight from that era I particularly remember listening to was that Mike Tyson v Julius Francis fight, which if I remember rightly was Mike's first fight on British soil since his release from jail and received heavy publicity. I distinctly remember Colonel Bob Sheridan being involved in their (lengthy) build-up - I think I nodded off before the fight actually got under way - but he may have just be providing punditry prior to the bout before covering it for US TV or radio. Someone may know.
Getting back to the present day, I'm very pleased with talkSPORT's choice of ringside pundits for the Haye v Chisora fight. Duke McKenzie is, along with Richie Woodhall, perhaps my favourite boxing expert and always made a good impression on ITV and 5 Live's coverage. I guess he and Richie were Moz Dee's go-to guys for boxing punditry when he was at Radio 5 Live so it's not a surprise that they are involved. Pleased to hear Chris Davies has been given the call to work on this fight. After my moans about talkSPORT's not giving opportunities to in-house guys with boxing commentary experience, it's good to see them using at least one of the station's boxing regulars. Chris has been providing boxing analysis for numerous talkSPORT shows for over ten years now so it is nice to hear his service has been recognised.
In all the pre-publicity about the 24 hour sport it was clearly stated Mike Mon-Thurs, Matt Forde on Fri and Sat/sun for Bovill (his picture even on the Extra time website page and twitter)
Russell Hargreaves has only presented one edition of Extra Time to the best of my knowledge, although is a regular sports newsreader/contributor to the show, but in both capacities he has sounded very good. Hopefully he'll get the opportunity to present the show again.
As for Mike Bovill, he was listed to host the programme on the Monday morning just gone but it was Jonny Gould and John Kreger instead. That could just have been nothing more than incorrect EPG listing though.
I'm not aware of any definitive reason as to why Mike hasn't presented an edition of Extra Time since just prior to Euro 2012, but I do have a couple of theories as to what may have happened.
Mike has a young family so perhaps, after trying out the overnight role for a few months, he has decided working those hours isn't for him. If this is the case then hopefully he'll return to his role as the host of Full Contact come the start of the new rugby union season as he was excellent on that programme.
Alternatively, if you remember he spent an extended period of six to seven weeks working in New Zealand on talkSPORT's Rugby World Cup coverage last autumn, so perhaps he's saved up his annual leave and is taking an extended period off before the football season (and his match reporting duties) resumes.
My other perhaps more out-there theory is that he might be in position to replace Mike Graham as the permanent host of the weeknight version of Extra Time, and so has been moved from the weekend editions of the show in order for them to restructure what they do on those nights. I believe MG initially joined talkSPORT in late July in 2008, so as people have speculated over on the talkSPORT Chat thread, it might be a case of Graham working out his contract before moving onto pastures new before Bovill takes over the nights he is hosting at the moment. But I must make it clear that this is pure speculation on my part and I could be well off the mark!
I found Steve's comprehensive post about talkSPORT's boxing coverage from the late 1990s and early 2000s a very interesting and enjoyable read. Thanks very much for posting all of the information and recollections of their coverage Steve, and for reminding me what an exciting fighter Paul Ingle was.
The one fight from that era I particularly remember listening to was that Mike Tyson v Julius Francis fight, which if I remember rightly was Mike's first fight on British soil since his release from jail and received heavy publicity. I distinctly remember Colonel Bob Sheridan being involved in their (lengthy) build-up - I think I nodded off before the fight actually got under way - but he may have just be providing punditry prior to the bout before covering it for US TV or radio. Someone may know.
Getting back to the present day, I'm very pleased with talkSPORT's choice of ringside pundits for the Haye v Chisora fight. Duke McKenzie is, along with Richie Woodhall, perhaps my favourite boxing expert and always made a good impression on ITV and 5 Live's coverage. I guess he and Richie were Moz Dee's go-to guys for boxing punditry when he was at Radio 5 Live so it's not a surprise that they are involved. Pleased to hear Chris Davies has been given the call to work on this fight. After my moans about talkSPORT's not giving opportunities to in-house guys with boxing commentary experience, it's good to see them using at least one of the station's boxing regulars. Chris has been providing boxing analysis for numerous talkSPORT shows for over ten years now so it is nice to hear his service has been recognised.
thanks Difference, i thought i was the only person interested in this kind of thing so these threads on DS have been quite reasuring lol.
re the Mike Tyson fight, your recollection re it being Tyson's first fight in the UK following his rape conviction are spot on. It did indeed gain a lot of negative publicity. the fight was definetely commentated on by Beaky, I can't remember Sherridan being involved but it was a long time ago so i could just have forgotten. he certainly worked on their coverage of Tyson's fight in June of that year as a commentator alongside Collins.
a minor point but I think you meant Gareth A Davies and not Chris Davies. easy mistake to make as Chris is on now with Danny Kelly. listened to an interesting interview re the olympics just after 8 PM.
5 Live Baseball with Mike Carlson (in London) and Josh Chetwynd (in Tucson, Arizona)
Baseball: 83rd All-Star Game
National League @ American League - Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton (commentary provided by ESPN Radio)
Marc Kestecher was ESPN Radio's on-site host, with John Rooney and Peter Pascarelli being their on-field interviewers at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Back to the regular season and 5LSE will be broadcasting a Sunday night game this evening. They'll be covering Philadelphia Phillies @ Colorado Rockies from 8pm.
Comments
Jason Bourne presenting BBC Radio Leicester Sport.
t20 Northern Group, Trent Bridge
Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire - Charles Dagnall, Andy Gibbs and Paul Jones (14:40 commentary)
Men's Singles Final, Wimbledon
Andy Murray v Rodger Federer - Chris Jones
Live at Wimbledon Radio have Marcus Buckland presenting alongside Peter Flemming with Rob Nothman on Murray Mound (it will always be Henman Hill to me).
Philip Studd, Barry Millms and Wayne Ferreira (14:00 commentary)
BBC radio 5live: Claire Balding presenting live from Wimbledon.
Jonathan Overend, Alistair Eykyn with Pat Cash, Richard Krajicek and Miles Maclagan (14:00 commentary)*
*this commentary is also being carried on BBC Scotland MW/digital radio with Geoff Webster presenting.
Thought I'd list the BBC radio team in one post
5 Live + Sports Extra - Wimbledon 2012
Hosts - Richard Bacon, Shelagh Fogarty, Eleanor Oldroyd + Clare Balding
Commentators + Reporters - Jonathan Overend, Alastair Eykyn, Clare Balding, David Law, Russell Fuller, Iain Carter, Vassos Alexander, Nick Lester, Guy McCrea, Alison Mitchell, Dot Davis, Helen Skelton + Delyth Lloyd
Summarisers - Pat Cash, Richard Krajicek, Goran Ivanisevic, Nick Bolletieri, David Felgate, Mark Woodforde, Jeff Tarango, Jeremy Bates, Miles MacLagen, Frew McMillan, Mark Philipoussis, Neil Harman, Tracy Austin, Jana Novotna, Barbara Schett + Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Think that's everyone, Annabel Croft was a big miss I think as they struggled for a lead female summariser.
Delyth Lloyd (BBC Radio Manchester reporter).
https://twitter.com/DelythLloyd1
Random question: if Live@Wimbledon were to broadcast on Digital 1 (DAB) for the two weeks as a temporary station would that be a breach of BBC Radio's contract with the club?
I can't see why it wouldn't be in breach. 5live have the rights to broadcast the event on national radio in the UK. lL@W only have a temporary local licence within the wimbledon area. would make a bit of a mockery of 5live's contract if L@W could go up against them on DAB. i don't know for sure but that is my guess.
5 Live Baseball with Nat Coombs (in London) and Josh Chetwynd (in Tucson, Arizona)
Baseball: American League
Texas Rangers @ Chicago White Sox - Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson (commentary provided by 670 The Score - "The White Sox radio network")
5LSE did full commentary on this game. They'll be no live MLB game this Thursday but from 1am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning 5LSE will have live coverage of the 83rd All-Star Game from Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Mike Carlson will be presenting from London with Josh due to be in Kansas to do some interviews ahead of the midsummer classic (I'm not sure if he'll actually be at the stadium for the game though). I assume they'll be taking ESPN Radio's US national radio coverage of the game with Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton commentating as they have done for this fixture in both of the past two years since their coverage began.
Sunday 27th May
Formula 1: Monaco Grand Prix
Circuit de Monte Carlo - Graham Courtney
Saturday 2nd June
Horse Racing: The Derby
Epsom Downs - Rupert Bell
Monday 11th to Sunday 17th June
Tennis: AEGON Championships
Queen's Club - Dave Luddy
Thursday 14th to Sunday 17th June
Golf: US Open
Olympic Club, San Francisco, California - Bob Bubka
Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd June
Horse Racing: Royal Ascot
Ascot Racecourse - Rupert Bell
Sunday 24th June
Formula 1: European Grand Prix
Valencia Street Circuit - Graham Courtney
Monday 25th June to Sunday 8th July
Tennis: Wimbledon Championships 2012
Centre Court, All England Club - Dave Luddy
Sunday 8th July
Formula 1: British Grand Prix
Silverstone Circuit - Ian Danter (who also covered qualifying on the Saturday)
Additionally, Jack Bannister has reported on all of England's test and limited overs cricket matches played against the West Indies and Australia this summer. talkSPORT (and, I believe, Talking Rugby) didn't provide reports on any of the summer internationals in rugby union or on the Canadian Grand Prix in mid-June. Ian Abrahams reported from "Murray mountain" during today's Wimbledon men's singles final in supplement to Dave Luddy's hourly updates on the match itself.
Some of you might be interested to hear that long-time IRN, Today FM and Talking Rugby reporter Russell Hargreaves presented talkSPORT's sports-based overnight show Extra Time yesterday (Saturday night/Sunday morning). He's a regular sports newsreader on the programme, but it's the first time I've heard of him hosting a radio show. I've always thought he's a very slick broadcaster and he sounded pretty good as a presenter from what I heard of the show.
Mark Saggers will present from Upton Park with commentary from Ronald McIntosh and Richie Woodhall.
thanks 4-4-2, as usual you come up trumps.
interesting info, so, basically, its the primetime commentary team. Ron and Richy have both been involved in 5live's coverage of boxing in the past and, I believe will be involved in the BBC's olympic boxing coverage. this gives me more confidence in the coverage I have to admit. do you know about timings etc yet?
talkSPORT's Boxing Special is listed for 9pm-midnight on Saturday night. Bell time at Upton Park will be no later than 10pm so I am sure they will have ample time for build-up, the fight itself and reaction.
While talkSPORT have brought in a couple of decent names - I'm particularly pleased about Richie Woodhall, who I always enjoy listening to on BBC TV and Radio 5 Live's boxing coverage and rate as one of the best sports analysts around - I'm a little disappointed that in-house guys with a background in covering the sport appear to have been overlooked.
Ron McIntosh has been a decent enough boxing commentator on the rare occasions 5 Live have used him in this role, but if his appearance is to be a one-off I'd again have to question why they'd go with someone from a rival station rather than a candidate who works for them week in, week out.
And after his work on the Rugby World Cup, I'm not sure how great Mark Saggers will prove as a boxing anchorman. I don't believe he's covered the sport before - for me Dom McGuinness would have been a much better choice and I hope he's at least used in a reporting capacity.
Steve, I enjoyed reading your posts about talkSPORT's boxing coverage from around the turn of the millennium over the weekend. Although I am a self professed talkSPORT anorak, my memory of listening to some of their fights at the time is somewhat hazy and I'd be keen to read more on what you remember about what they did at the time - which fights they covered, who was involved in their coverage etc.
theres a challenge diff! I'll put something together-- I actually remember quite a bit re commentators/coverage but want to double check google for the fight details (year etc) to try and give a clear picture.
re Saturday, I think MacIntosh's involvement with r5l is pretty minimal these days. he used to be used pretty regularly as a roving reporter type role, commentating on the ringwalks etc and covering a fight when Mike Costello was otherwise engaged. recently though he they used Darren Fletcher to commentate on the Froch fight in May which was an interesting move. I note that Fletcher is down to cover the boxing for 5live at the olympics so maybe this was just a warm-up for him or perhaps the start of more for him covering the sport. he did a good job to be fair and was actually better than MacIntosh.
i wonder if a factor in who they brought in to cover it might have been influenced by the nature of the fight? i.e i guess a lot of people wouldn't want to be associated with it. I agree with your commentsj re using a in-house commentator though but MacIntosh will do a decent enough job.
Duke McKenzie and Gareth A Davies with ringside punditry.
As far as I know, Talk Radio as it was then first became interested in boxing when they brought exclusive rights to the Lennox Lewis v Evander Holyfield fight on 13March 1999.
On that night, there commentary team included Mile Harrison presenting (though a nagging voice in my head is making me think it may have been Marcus Buckland) with Frank Bruno in the studio. The fight commentator was Jim Rosenthal but I’m afraid I can’t recall who was summarising.
Following the controversial draw, the two met again on 13 November 1999. Gary Newbon presented Talksport’s exclusive coverage from LA. The coverage also took in fights from a British bill which I remember featured a cracking fight between Paul Ingle and Manuel Medina with commentary from Graham Beacroft and Patrick Mullings.
The main fight in LA was called by Reg Gutterridge
And Steve Collins. This was the single worst boxing radio commentary I’ve ever heard with Gutteridge chattering away seemingly forgetting that being a radio commentator meant the listeners couldn’t see the fight. Occasionally he’d remember and mention that Lewis had landed a punch then go back to chatting to Steve. Makes me angry just thinking about it 13 years later.
Talksport then started covering domestic boxing fights usually with the commentary team of Beacroft/Mullings. Among fighters they covered were Danny Williams at the beginning of his career, Julius Frances Dean Pithie etc. in terms of big fights, they covered 2 more Lewis fights.
On 29 April 2000, they covered Lewis’s second round demolition of Michael Grant. Gary newbon again presented and commentary was provided by Bob Sheridan and Steve Collins. On the undercard, Paul Ingle featured in another cracking fight this time knocking out Junior Jones. TS unfortunately lost their line just as the fight was starting and someone back in TS towers has to off-tube for a round.
On 15 July 2000, TS were again following Lennox Lewis in his fight with South African fighter Francois Botha which again ended in a second round stoppage. This was to be the last fight featuring Lennox Lewis they would have.
Talksport also covered Mike Tyson’s 2 fights in the UK. They covered his knock-out of Julius Frances in January 2000, with Graham Beacroft commentating, probably alongside Steve Collins.
In June of the same year they covered the 38 second knock-out Tyson inflicted on Lou Savarese, the fight after which Tyson ranted that he wanted Lewis’s heart and to eat his children.
Talksport seemed to loos interest completely in boxing not long after this fight. They had some domestic fights on their schedule but decided to pull them in favor of James H Reeve and never went back to boxing in a big way after that. Since then, they have had reports on fights, including Graham Beacroft reporting off-tube on Lewis v Tyson in June 2002. They also had a phone in in on the Sunday morning in the slot that Fisherman’s Blues would usually fill with Beaky and Collins presenting.
Russell has sounded good presenting. It's the American chap who is awful.
Where's Mike Bovill went, he has vanished, do you know The Diff?
It was Chris Eubank. I recall the commentary was criticised for containing too much cheerleading for Lewis. dsweetenham posted this link last year.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/talk-are-not-just-hot-air-1091006.html
He appears to not be presenting Extra Time over the weekend - doesn't mean that wasn't always the plan. Maybe he was just to do it for a few weeks?
He's still at talkSPORT - but if he's not presenting Extra Time, would he go back to hosting Full Contact?
In all the pre-publicity about the 24 hour sport it was clearly stated Mike Mon-Thurs, Matt Forde on Fri and Sat/sun for Bovill (his picture even on the Extra time website page and twitter)
The one fight from that era I particularly remember listening to was that Mike Tyson v Julius Francis fight, which if I remember rightly was Mike's first fight on British soil since his release from jail and received heavy publicity. I distinctly remember Colonel Bob Sheridan being involved in their (lengthy) build-up - I think I nodded off before the fight actually got under way - but he may have just be providing punditry prior to the bout before covering it for US TV or radio. Someone may know.
Getting back to the present day, I'm very pleased with talkSPORT's choice of ringside pundits for the Haye v Chisora fight. Duke McKenzie is, along with Richie Woodhall, perhaps my favourite boxing expert and always made a good impression on ITV and 5 Live's coverage. I guess he and Richie were Moz Dee's go-to guys for boxing punditry when he was at Radio 5 Live so it's not a surprise that they are involved. Pleased to hear Chris Davies has been given the call to work on this fight. After my moans about talkSPORT's not giving opportunities to in-house guys with boxing commentary experience, it's good to see them using at least one of the station's boxing regulars. Chris has been providing boxing analysis for numerous talkSPORT shows for over ten years now so it is nice to hear his service has been recognised.
Russell Hargreaves has only presented one edition of Extra Time to the best of my knowledge, although is a regular sports newsreader/contributor to the show, but in both capacities he has sounded very good. Hopefully he'll get the opportunity to present the show again.
As for Mike Bovill, he was listed to host the programme on the Monday morning just gone but it was Jonny Gould and John Kreger instead. That could just have been nothing more than incorrect EPG listing though.
I'm not aware of any definitive reason as to why Mike hasn't presented an edition of Extra Time since just prior to Euro 2012, but I do have a couple of theories as to what may have happened.
Mike has a young family so perhaps, after trying out the overnight role for a few months, he has decided working those hours isn't for him. If this is the case then hopefully he'll return to his role as the host of Full Contact come the start of the new rugby union season as he was excellent on that programme.
Alternatively, if you remember he spent an extended period of six to seven weeks working in New Zealand on talkSPORT's Rugby World Cup coverage last autumn, so perhaps he's saved up his annual leave and is taking an extended period off before the football season (and his match reporting duties) resumes.
My other perhaps more out-there theory is that he might be in position to replace Mike Graham as the permanent host of the weeknight version of Extra Time, and so has been moved from the weekend editions of the show in order for them to restructure what they do on those nights. I believe MG initially joined talkSPORT in late July in 2008, so as people have speculated over on the talkSPORT Chat thread, it might be a case of Graham working out his contract before moving onto pastures new before Bovill takes over the nights he is hosting at the moment. But I must make it clear that this is pure speculation on my part and I could be well off the mark!
thanks Difference, i thought i was the only person interested in this kind of thing so these threads on DS have been quite reasuring lol.
re the Mike Tyson fight, your recollection re it being Tyson's first fight in the UK following his rape conviction are spot on. It did indeed gain a lot of negative publicity. the fight was definetely commentated on by Beaky, I can't remember Sherridan being involved but it was a long time ago so i could just have forgotten. he certainly worked on their coverage of Tyson's fight in June of that year as a commentator alongside Collins.
a minor point but I think you meant Gareth A Davies and not Chris Davies. easy mistake to make as Chris is on now with Danny Kelly. listened to an interesting interview re the olympics just after 8 PM.
Thanks for the theories...
Russell has presented 2 Extra Times... Saturday night/Sunday morning past 2 weeks.
5 Live Baseball with Mike Carlson (in London) and Josh Chetwynd (in Tucson, Arizona)
Baseball: 83rd All-Star Game
National League @ American League - Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton (commentary provided by ESPN Radio)
Marc Kestecher was ESPN Radio's on-site host, with John Rooney and Peter Pascarelli being their on-field interviewers at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Back to the regular season and 5LSE will be broadcasting a Sunday night game this evening. They'll be covering Philadelphia Phillies @ Colorado Rockies from 8pm.