A Tribute: Colonel Bob Sheridan, 1944-2023
THE proprietor of just one of the most recognisable voices in boxing history, Colonel Bob Sheridan, has handed absent at the age of 79.
Identified for contacting some of the greatest fights the activity has observed, maybe most famously 1974’s Rumble in the Jungle featuring Muhammad Ali knocking out George Foreman, Sheridan was a larger sized-than-daily life character who is assumed to have identified as about 10,000 fights on television and radio.
It has been noted that the to start with title fight he supplied commentary for was the bout for the vacant WBA heavyweight title amongst Jimmy Ellis and Jerry Quarry in 1968. 6 many years later on, his commentary adorned the well known Ali-Foreman showdown. By then, Sheridan – who had acquired a placement with burgeoning promoter Don King – was a effectively-recognized voice to combat fans.
Chatting to Boxing Information last calendar year, Sheridan remembered that popular night time. “We have been going on the air at 3 o’clock in the early morning in Zaire time,” Sheridan stated. “I initially arrived at the arena an hour before that, at two o’clock. I had two equipment gun guards, these were being military fellas, so I felt like Lord Muck arriving at the arena. The night right before we’d experienced the weigh-in, so I believed I had a pretty superior strategy about what to assume. But as I get there, I see the put start to swell with individuals. It was not lit like ordinary arenas, the colours were all vibrant, it was an unbelievable scene.”
Yet the sheer dimension of the function produced it a tricky assignment for the Colonel. Positioned even more away from the ring than he was used to and with the broadcaster insisting on several analysts – which includes David Frost, Jim Brown, Jimmy Ellis and Joe Frazier – Sheridan was out of his consolation zone.
“I had another circumstance that I wasn’t utilised to and that was for the digital camera angles and the volume of television talent we experienced, they sat our desk back again absent from the apron of the ring, about five or 6 ft, so they could get cameras in there to get images of us. That makes a huge big difference since I just can’t hear the referee, the timekeepers. So when the knockdown came, I could not hear the count. The audio from the crowd was deafening. And I experienced all these people today with me I never need anybody performing color commentary with me, I’d qualified for this my full existence. It was a overall distraction.”
If Ali-Foreman was not the highlight of his occupation, what was? “It’s a question I get a good deal and it’s the exact same respond to all the time,” Sheridan reported. “Larry Holmes versus Kenny Norton for the WBC heavyweight championship of the environment. It was dead even heading into the 15th spherical and Larry somehow eked it out, it was these a close spherical. That battle stands out in thoughts.”
Bob Sheridan interviews Muhammad Ali
Sheridan would be ringside for Ali-Frazier III, he was there through Mike Tyson’s profession, he explained Sugar Ray Leonard on some of his best nights and ongoing working well into the up coming century. He basically adored lifetime but Sheridan – who graduated from Lexington Significant College and later went to the University of Miami – experienced various heart attacks. In 2010 it was reported that he’d survived 4. A single of which arrived on the eve of the infamous Evander Holyfield-Tyson rematch in 1997 when he insisted on acquiring driving the mic, with a physician by his aspect, irrespective.
“It was very little to do with me being brave or bold,” Sheridan mirrored with a chuckle. “If I did not broadcast that combat then I wasn’t going to get paid. I now realized I was heading to get a whole lot of revenue for that combat and I was not likely to pass up it about a tiny coronary heart assault. They’d cleaned out my pipes subsequent the coronary heart attack too, so I could breathe all over again. It was virtually like I was on a euphoric superior.
“That evening they wanted to get me out of there as quickly as probable so my producer Marty Cohen said we ought to document the shut early, so the moment the fight was more than, I could get out of there and go back to clinic – for the reason that I had to have a different operation that night.
“So, my close experienced to be generic. I mentioned, ‘Well, how about that for a night time of boxing. You know when Mike Tyson’s concerned, it’s going to be remarkable, it’s likely to be abnormal and this lived up to all the things that we did count on and what we didn’t count on. Excellent evening all people!’”
If you’ve at any time read the commentary of Colonel Bob Sheridan it is not difficult to recall his voice. Cartoonish in its enthusiasm, with an Irish twang that is a nod to his roots, Sheridan saw his function only as a optimistic one particular. He was there, he normally stated, to showcase the sport in a superior mild. For that reason, he under no circumstances found it hard to get function from promoters who only ever want the blue sky to be documented.
“I am a little bit of liar, you know,” reported Sheridan. “I can get a boring fight and turn it into just one of the finest fights you’ve at any time read in your daily life. Soon after all, I’m not a journalist, I’m a sports activities entertainer, I really do not want folks shutting off the Tv set established or the radio. As extensive as you get the gist of the fight proper, it under no circumstances hurts to make persons who are viewing or listening a little bit enthusiastic.”
Sheridan was perpetually enthusiastic, it seemed.
“We drank, we experienced fun, we lived, we laughed, we gambled, we labored challenging, we lived each individual working day like it was our previous,” he said final calendar year, considerably poignantly. “I thank God every single working day for dwelling the daily life I have lived.”
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THE proprietor of just one of the most recognisable voices in boxing history, Colonel Bob Sheridan, has handed absent at the age of 79.
Identified for contacting some of the greatest fights the activity has observed, maybe most famously 1974’s Rumble in the Jungle featuring Muhammad Ali knocking out George Foreman, Sheridan was a larger sized-than-daily life character who is assumed to have identified as about 10,000 fights on television and radio.
It has been noted that the to start with title fight he supplied commentary for was the bout for the vacant WBA heavyweight title amongst Jimmy Ellis and Jerry Quarry in 1968. 6 many years later on, his commentary adorned the well known Ali-Foreman showdown. By then, Sheridan – who had acquired a placement with burgeoning promoter Don King – was a effectively-recognized voice to combat fans.
Chatting to Boxing Information last calendar year, Sheridan remembered that popular night time. “We have been going on the air at 3 o’clock in the early morning in Zaire time,” Sheridan stated. “I initially arrived at the arena an hour before that, at two o’clock. I had two equipment gun guards, these were being military fellas, so I felt like Lord Muck arriving at the arena. The night right before we’d experienced the weigh-in, so I believed I had a pretty superior strategy about what to assume. But as I get there, I see the put start to swell with individuals. It was not lit like ordinary arenas, the colours were all vibrant, it was an unbelievable scene.”
Yet the sheer dimension of the function produced it a tricky assignment for the Colonel. Positioned even more away from the ring than he was used to and with the broadcaster insisting on several analysts – which includes David Frost, Jim Brown, Jimmy Ellis and Joe Frazier – Sheridan was out of his consolation zone.
“I had another circumstance that I wasn’t utilised to and that was for the digital camera angles and the volume of television talent we experienced, they sat our desk back again absent from the apron of the ring, about five or 6 ft, so they could get cameras in there to get images of us. That makes a huge big difference since I just can’t hear the referee, the timekeepers. So when the knockdown came, I could not hear the count. The audio from the crowd was deafening. And I experienced all these people today with me I never need anybody performing color commentary with me, I’d qualified for this my full existence. It was a overall distraction.”
If Ali-Foreman was not the highlight of his occupation, what was? “It’s a question I get a good deal and it’s the exact same respond to all the time,” Sheridan reported. “Larry Holmes versus Kenny Norton for the WBC heavyweight championship of the environment. It was dead even heading into the 15th spherical and Larry somehow eked it out, it was these a close spherical. That battle stands out in thoughts.”
Bob Sheridan interviews Muhammad Ali
Sheridan would be ringside for Ali-Frazier III, he was there through Mike Tyson’s profession, he explained Sugar Ray Leonard on some of his best nights and ongoing working well into the up coming century. He basically adored lifetime but Sheridan – who graduated from Lexington Significant College and later went to the University of Miami – experienced various heart attacks. In 2010 it was reported that he’d survived 4. A single of which arrived on the eve of the infamous Evander Holyfield-Tyson rematch in 1997 when he insisted on acquiring driving the mic, with a physician by his aspect, irrespective.
“It was very little to do with me being brave or bold,” Sheridan mirrored with a chuckle. “If I did not broadcast that combat then I wasn’t going to get paid. I now realized I was heading to get a whole lot of revenue for that combat and I was not likely to pass up it about a tiny coronary heart assault. They’d cleaned out my pipes subsequent the coronary heart attack too, so I could breathe all over again. It was virtually like I was on a euphoric superior.
“That evening they wanted to get me out of there as quickly as probable so my producer Marty Cohen said we ought to document the shut early, so the moment the fight was more than, I could get out of there and go back to clinic – for the reason that I had to have a different operation that night.
“So, my close experienced to be generic. I mentioned, ‘Well, how about that for a night time of boxing. You know when Mike Tyson’s concerned, it’s going to be remarkable, it’s likely to be abnormal and this lived up to all the things that we did count on and what we didn’t count on. Excellent evening all people!’”
If you’ve at any time read the commentary of Colonel Bob Sheridan it is not difficult to recall his voice. Cartoonish in its enthusiasm, with an Irish twang that is a nod to his roots, Sheridan saw his function only as a optimistic one particular. He was there, he normally stated, to showcase the sport in a superior mild. For that reason, he under no circumstances found it hard to get function from promoters who only ever want the blue sky to be documented.
“I am a little bit of liar, you know,” reported Sheridan. “I can get a boring fight and turn it into just one of the finest fights you’ve at any time read in your daily life. Soon after all, I’m not a journalist, I’m a sports activities entertainer, I really do not want folks shutting off the Tv set established or the radio. As extensive as you get the gist of the fight proper, it under no circumstances hurts to make persons who are viewing or listening a little bit enthusiastic.”
Sheridan was perpetually enthusiastic, it seemed.
“We drank, we experienced fun, we lived, we laughed, we gambled, we labored challenging, we lived each individual working day like it was our previous,” he said final calendar year, considerably poignantly. “I thank God every single working day for dwelling the daily life I have lived.”
