Gus Johnson to Remain in Boxing and MMA with Showtime Sports

by Scott Christ on May 10, 2011 9:18 PM EDT in Boxing News Analysis

Gus Johnson in his natural habitat. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Those hoping that Gus Johnson's fruitless negotiation to remain with CBS Sports would also eliminate him from boxing and mixed martial arts broadcasts on the network will be disappointed to learn that Johnson will still be calling boxing and MMA for Showtime, and will be in the booth on Saturday night for the Ward vs Abraham show.

From MMAFighting.com:

Sources told MMAFighting.com that Johnson's contract with CBS was for basketball and football, and that his deal to call fights (both MMA and boxing) for Showtime was a separate contract. That contract is still in effect, and Johnson will call Saturday night's Andre Ward-Arthur Abraham boxing match for Showtime. Although Showtime hasn't yet announced who will broadcast its next MMA show (a June 18 Strikeforce card), Johnson is expected to call that event as well.

Two things about this are bad news for me:

I think Gus Johnson is a bad boxing commentator.
I rejoiced ever so slightly on tomorrow's podcast that he was gone, which was recorded earlier today. Oh well.

I don't know that Gus Johnson is ever going to become a popular combat sports broadcaster. I don't know that he can. He has no reason to change his tried and true style, which will net him a big contract at Fox reportedly, because the majority of his viewers are familiar with him through March Madness and NFL commentary, where he is very popular. But in combat sports he simply hasn't meshed with the product, and fans tend to question whether or not he's fit for the broadcasts when there are so many good boxing commentators without that high profile job. I suppose you can argue that Johnson's visibility lends credibility to Showtime's combat products, but it just seems to me that in these bubbles, Johnson is wildly unpopular with fans of both boxing and MMA, and those are the people watching boxing and MMA.

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Bad news indeed.

Johnson is, to me, a terrible boxing commentator.

by Don From Prov on May 10, 2011 9:40 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

His ineptitude is balanced out by the “so bad it’s hilarious” factor he brings to the table, so I’m really not bothered by this. They’ve got Bernstein holding things down superbly so I spose they want to keep an equilibrium going. After all, the last thing anyone wants is an all around outstanding commentary team in boxing. That would be horrible.

by The Twillness on May 10, 2011 10:17 PM EDT reply actions

My love of all things Gus Johnson blinds me from hating his boxing commentary, which may objectively be bad. And I thought his Froch-Taylor call was awesome. And he shows genuine passion for the sport, which is more than can be said about Jim “BANG BANG BANG” Lampley or Drunk Larry.

Then again, I reiterate that I am a Gus fan for his NCAA and NFL awesomeness, so perhaps I’m just blinded from the truth.

by OmarLittle on May 11, 2011 12:26 AM EDT reply actions

That was good to listen to i have to admit.Not sure if i have heard ot before cos we had the Brit commentary.
Also i find it quite impressive how Froch remained so clam in that last rd considering he needed the KO…Either he could feel Taylor wilting and knew he would get him or he thought he was ahead on the scorecards.
He certainly didn’t leave much room/time for error.

by Matt Mosley on May 11, 2011 8:33 AM EDT up reply actions

Certainly was one of Froch’s finest moments. That, and whenever he met his wife

by OmarLittle on May 11, 2011 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

gus is awful roaring nuts and guts during the juanma fight and claiming manny was throwing superman punches against mosley, believing the ibo belt matters.lampley and larry are actually fans of the sport i remember hearing lampley on a podcast talk in great detail about non hbo fights,foreign fights and oldschool fighters and larry even drunk knows more then gus

by pong102 on May 11, 2011 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Perhaps I was a bit unfair to Lampley. Still, it’s hard to watch an HBO broadcast and not get the feeling that both Lampley and Merchant (particularly Merchant) are disinterested.

Also, I imagine Gus will get more knowledgeable of the sport over time. At least we can hope

by OmarLittle on May 11, 2011 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions