Jim Lampley recalls his mother making him watch her favorite boxer, the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson, in a televised championship bout in 1955. Lampley was a precocious 5-year-old.
In 1964, a teenaged Lampley saved up car-washing money and was in the building in Miami Beach to witness 22-year old Cassius Clay upset Sonny Liston to become World Heavyweight Champion.
By 1986, Lampley was ringside in upstate New York broadcasting young Mike Tyson’s destruction of veteran Jesse Ferguson.
Four years after that, Lampley was ringside calling Buster Douglas’ incredible upset of the seemingly invincible “Iron Mike.” There, the broadcaster dropped one of his most memorable lines as viewers all over the world were still trying to process what they had just witnessed: “Say it now, gentlemen: James ‘Buster’ Douglas, undisputed champion of the world.”
Lampley has spent a lifetime around the sweet science and its various champions, characters and controversies.
And so, it makes perfect sense that Lampley, 74, will be back where he belongs Saturday night after a five-year hiatus from the sport: ringside in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena, where he and Lance Pugmire will co-host a live viewer chat during the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez/Jermell Charlo bout for the site PPV.com.
A former Del Mar resident, Lampley had a 30-year run as the lead broadcaster for HBO Boxing, an iconic stretch that ended when the network stopped carrying fights in December 2018. He has since relocated to Chapel Hill, N.C., where he teaches a course on media in American culture at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina.
Like a savvy veteran pugilist who forever has that dangerous jab, Lampley still gets fired up talking about the sport and can’t hide his excitement over being back around it.
“As much as I have enjoyed other assignments, there has never been a match for my passion for the sport of boxing,” Lampley said. “There’s just something about that sensory experience that comes with being ringside at a big fight. The tension. The energy. The feeling that you may see something you have never quite seen before: it’s what makes the sport so timeless.”
Alvarez/Charlo has the potential for fireworks.
Alvarez, the reigning undisputed super middleweight champion, is favored over Charlo, the current undisputed junior middleweight champ, but Charlo has a 73 inch reach, a nasty left jab and a devastating overhand right that times well off of that jab.
At 33, Alvarez is among the best pound-for-pound boxers ever and perhaps, the greatest Mexican boxer to lace ‘em up.
Alvarez, who lives and trains part-time in San Diego, has shown few signs of falling off due to a disciplined lifestyle and consistent training routine.
His counterpunching remains as dangerous as ever and his left hook is always a looming threat.
“From what I’ve seen, Canelo still has that burning desire to be the best,” Lampley said. “That’s what has always separated the truly great fighters — that deep down passion to be on top. He could walk away at any time and champion his success. He’s earned the respect of everyone associated with the sport. But I get the sense that he wants more.”
That “more” could come in the form of a matchup with the man most experts consider to be the current pound-for-pound king: Terence Crawford, who is 40-0 with 31 KOs and captured multiple belts in three weight classes.
“Crawford has what some of the all-time greats had, that mean streak,” Lampley said. “Sugar Ray Leonard had that. Sugar Ray Robinson had that. It would be a heck of a fight given Canelo’s consistency and the fact that he would enter such a fight as the bigger man with massive motivation. If you don’t think being recognized as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world matters to Canelo, you haven’t been paying attention. It would be a massive fight.”
And Lampley plans on being there. As always.
