Boxing
Hall of Famer returns for The Ring III card
(Ring Magazine)Berlanga vs Sheeraz - July 12 DAZN PPV - Buy now
One of boxing’s most iconic voices, Jim Lampley, will return to call the Ring III card in New York this weekend.
He will do the blow-by-blow for the card featuring Hamzah Sheeraz vs Edgar Berlanga and Shakur Stevenson vs William Zepeda at the Louis Armstrong Stadium after proving to the world he still has the chops earlier this year.
Lampley made a surprise comeback to the commentary table after a seven-year absence to dust off his old headphones at the first Ring show, a triple-header featuring Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez in Times Square.
The first fight that the American called was Mike Tyson vs Jesse Ferguson in 1986. The next year, he was working with HBO and became the voice of a generation of Iconic fights.
The list includes Mike Tyson vs Buster Douglas, the Arturo Gatti vs Micky Ward trilogy and George Foreman vs Michael Moorer, where the iconic ‘it happened’ line took place.
After HBO halted their coverage of live boxing in 2018, Lampley found himself without any commentary duties and no one knocking down the door to get him back where he belonged.
Lampley explained to DAZN News: “After HBO boxing evaporated in 2018, I assumed, maybe stupidly, that one of these streaming services, one of the outfits that was purveying boxing matches to the public, would hire me to do blow by blow.”
During his hiatus, Lampley had been offering insights on the live chat of PPV.com boxing broadcasts and has recently released a memoir titled ‘It happened’ after his most unforgettable moment.
Lampley was at the David Benavidez vs David Morrell fight when Turki Alalshikh extended the invitation on social media for the commentary icon to have a position on his next show.
The Hall of Fame inductee admitted that he had partially lost hope of reigniting his commentary career.
Lampley told The Ring: “I'd be lying to you if I told you that a part of me didn't give up. I've spent years waiting for the phone to ring. I ultimately came to the conclusion that this was it, and it's not going to happen and that my arc was over. But I was always eager, anxious, and determined to watch fights and pay attention to them. A part of me was always expecting that this would happen.”
The legendary voice of boxing is now back and will take his seat to call a stacked card in New York this weekend.
Watch The Ring 3 live from New York exclusively on DAZN PPV, Saturday, July 12 . Buy the PPV now here
