On Friday evening, I had the pleasure of speaking with veteran boxing commentator Rich Marotta, who is soon to be honored by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters (SCSB). On January 25, 2011 he will officially be inducted into the SCSB Hall of Fame. In addition to this upcoming award, he has received four Emmy Awards, ten Golden Mikes and the Sam Taub Award for Boxing Broadcaster of the Year for 2007.
LS: Congratulations for the honor of being elected to the Sportscaster?s Hall of Fame. Do you have your speech ready?
RL: My speech? No, but everybody?s reminding me who I should thank. (laughs) My mother, my kids, my wife?
LS: (laughs) Absolutely. You can?t forget them.
RL: I?d better not forget anybody.
LS: What or who inspired you to want to be a boxing commentator?
RL: Well, as far as inspiration to become a boxing commentator, I don?t think it worked that way. I wanted to be a sports commentator throughout the time that I was in college. I was determined to basically take the first opportunity that came along to kind of get me on that path. As it turned out, when I got out of college, I was able to get a job at a radio station called KVOR ? The Voice of the Rockies, in Colorado Springs. I was able to go there and learn the craft professionally. I was on the radio every morning from Monday through Saturday. I was doing sports. I was doing news. Then I was also, as far as doing things outside of the studio, I was doing high school football play-by-play. I was doing Air Force Academy, college football color. I was doing Air Force Academy basketball, and also Colorado College hockey. I mean, I was all over the place. I worked like crazy. I made a hundred and fifty bucks a week, and they couldn?t give me enough work. It was about the time that I started LA Raiders football, at around 1982, that I started telling people that if the opportunity came up I would love to do some boxing. I planted that seed in other people?s minds, and I got the opportunity to start doing some boxing in the early 80s.
LS: That was a good time to get into boxing. There was a lot of good stuff going on back then.
RL: Yeah. When I was at KNX radio, which was in Los Angeles, I would go to all the fights locally because I loved boxing so much. But the station would send me to cover the big fights that were going on in Las Vegas. Of course, when they were going on then at the outdoor arenas, at Caesar?s Palace, they were great, great events. You know, Thomas Hearns against Ray Leonard, and the Roberto Duran fights, and the Marvin Hagler fights, and the Larry Holmes against Gerry Cooney fight? So I was on the scene of those, you know? Those really excited me. The just really got my juices flowing. It was really then that I decided that I wanted to plant the idea in others, and was really dying to become a boxing commentator.
LS: Can you name some of the most memorable fights you covered?
RL: Well, I didn?t get started on a regular basis until the early 90s. Probably the biggest fights that I had the opportunity to do were fights that I was doing on International television. I think the first big fight that I ever did myself was for foreign boxing. It was pay-per-view. It was the Thomas Hearns against Virgil Hill, light heavyweight championship fight. That?s kind of like the first big, pay-per-view fight that I got an opportunity to do. And then, in the 90s, I was able to do a lot of these international telecasts for Bob Arum?s Top Rank. Probably, the most exciting moment that I had in a very big fight was the opportunity to do George Foreman against Michael Morer in Las Vegas, which I think was the single most electrifying moment that I?ve ever experienced in boxing ? when Foreman knocked out Michael Morer. Morer actually landed directly in front of me, maybe 6 feet from my head. I think that was probably the single biggest moment that I?ve ever had. And then, you know, I just got to do a lot of championship fights along the way. You know, for foreign boxing with Marco Antonio Barrera fights, Juan Manuel Marquez fights, Genaro Hernandez fights, Mark ?Too Sharp? Johnson fights? Those were all foreign boxing promotions. And then I was also fortunate enough to continue to do those international fights, so that when HBO or Showtime would telecast from here in the United States, I was doing the foreign telecasts. The Erik Morales fights, the Manny Pacquiao fights? I?ve done so many of those. I think the first (Pacquiao fight) I ever did, actually, was the fight when he won a title here against the guy named Ledwaba in the early 2000s. And I got to do those fights between Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao. The Barrera ? Morales fights, the Juan Manuel Marquez fights? All these big fights that Top Rank was promoting. Along the way, I got to do some fights that other promoters were doing too, like Don King. I got to do some of his pay-per-view events. But most of the work that I did for international telecasts were basically for Bob Arum. My regular broadcasts were pretty much for foreign boxing on Fox Sports Net, and then when Fox Sports Net did what they called the Sunday Night Fights, myself, Barry Tompkins and Shawn O?Grady were doing fights on Sunday nights. So I?ve kind of been with mostly the same partners. I was with Tom Kelly on a lot of those foreign boxing fights, and I?ve been with Barry Tompkins on the Fox Sports Net fights, starting with the Sunday Night Fights back in the late 90s, and we?re still working on these fights that we do on Top Rank Live.
LS: Are there any boxers that you feel are particularly good ambassadors for the sport today?
RL: Yeah. I think that most of the best ambassadors for the sport are the non-American fighters. Certainly Pacquiao? He?s a worldwide phenomenon. He?s up there in Muhammad Ali territory as far as being a worldwide ambassador for the sport. But you know, on your regular week to week, day to day kind of ambassadors for the sport, I think a lot of these Mexican fighters that I?ve dealt with down through the years have been very friendly, and exceedingly accessible, like Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez. They?ve been terrific individuals. I think some of the fighters who have come from Africa have just been fantastic, just on the basis of the fact that they?re just so polite to everybody. You don?t get that sense of trash-talking that you get from a lot of the American fighters. I think that in recent years, one great ambassador that was taken away from us in terms of his work both in and out of the ring was Diego Corrales, who was probably one of my favorite fighters to watch because his fights were always so ridiculously exciting. You know, I did this boxing show on radio for over 10 years called Neutral Corner out in Las Angeles. Diego Corrales was a frequent guest, and he liked to come on, and he liked to talk to the fans. He was wonderful with them. He would come on, and he would always answer whatever questions, even if people were critical of him. He would stay on for as long as you wanted him. In fact, Lorne, whenever I would have Diego Corrales on the show, he always wanted to stay on for the whole show. He would help me co-host the show after I was done with him. I still had other guest to get to, and he would come on, and he would stay on with me. He would interview some of the other fighters, trainers or referees, whoever we had on. So I think he was quite an ambassador because of the fact that he was so accessible. I really loved him for that, and I really miss him. He was just like a personal favorite of mine. He was really good to me, and all the fans, and to the sport of boxing. There are a lot of good ambassadors. I?m not a big fan of trash-talking, and I think that?s kind of an American disease, with the exception of a few. There have been a few foreigners out there, you know, David Haye right now, Prince Naseem Hamed before? So not all foreign fighters are wonderful, personal, accessible guys with fans, and etc, but I think a lot of the times they basically make the best ambassadors.
End of Part One
In the second part of the interview, Marotta talks more about Pacquiao, Mayweather, Juan Ma Lopez, Donaire. and more.
