Exclusive: Harold Lederman Tells It Like It Is!

The HBO “unofficial” judge does not hold back in new Q&A

HBO’s “unofficial judge” Harold Lederman has secured his place as an “official icon” in boxing.
The fan favorite “unofficial” ringside scorer will be receiving the Sam Taub Award for “Excellence in Broadcast Journalism” tomorrow night at the annual Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) awards dinner in New York City. Lederman had previously received the organization’s Marvin Kohn “Good Guy” award in 2005.

Lederman has been part of the HBO family for over two decades, but before this long-running stint, he traveled the globe as a ringside boxing judge. His knowledge of the sport is astounding. Think about all those HBO broadcasts and PPV fights he’s been part of and you’ve got a walking history lesson right in front of you!

The colorful announcer is recognized around the world: Who hasn’t heard his famous, “Okay, Jim! I gotta tell ya…” as he scores the rounds, adding his insight to the broadcasts. His knowledge and passion for boxing is evident to anyone who’s had the chance to meet him. And he’s always got a big grin and a happy handshake for everyone he meets.

The Bronx native and I first met over a decade ago when he came out to the West Coast for the yearly World Boxing Hall of Fame Banquets; Lederman is also a WBHF inductee. With his far-from-shy personality, boisterous laugh, and dry sense of humor, he and I hit if off immediately. Through the years, I’ve also had the chance to get to know his wife, Eileen. Married since 1963, the couple have two daughters, Iris and Julie, one grandson, and two granddaughters.

Their daughter Julie is currently working as a boxing judge (just like Pops) and the whole Lederman family is very supportive of the sport. “Harold is 200% about boxing!” his bubbly wife tells me over a phone chat. “He’s a natural at it and it’s a good fit.” Boxing and Lederman have indeed been a very good fit.

Even though I’ve known Harold for years, this was our very first on-record interview together. It was a great opportunity to ask Harold everything boxing fans might ask him themselves. Lederman quickly dubbed it my “8,000 Questions Interview.” But I counted, Harold, and there’s “only 19” questions for you! Hey, after all these years, I had a lot of questions stored up. And some of Lederman’s answers may shock you.

And did I mention he’s very funny? Harold claims he left the “dirty stuff” out of this interview. Well, he still doesn’t mince words in our following Q & A session. Lederman is a straight shooter, never one to hold back. He’ll tell you exactly what he’s thinking in that distinctive voice of his.

What’s really unique about Harold Lederman is that he knows his stuff, not only about classic fights from the ’50s and his childhood, but he’s also got a pulse on the new, up-and-coming boxers who just may be the next superstars. The veteran judge has had the best seat in the house for years, and now he answers all your questions.

Brace yourself, folks, the always-entertaining Lederman lets loose in this new interview! You want honest opinions? You won’t be disappointed.

Hear his critical assessment of the upcoming Chagaev-Klitschko matchup, why he wants to whack the referees, who he thinks Ricky Hatton will face next, the reason he still keeps his “day job,” what he really calls his HBO mates, and why boxing has gotten worse!

Michele Chong: HI HAROLD. FIRST QUESTION: I GOTTA ASK YA, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE KLITSCHKO-CHAGAEV BOUT ON JUNE 20TH?

Harold Lederman: The inactivity will kill Ruslan Chagaev. He is only about six foot one, and he will have a terrible time dealing with the long left jab of Wladimir Klitschko. Even though he was able to get inside on the jab of Nikolai Valuev, Chagaev will find that Wladimir is much sharper, jabs much harder, and has a hard right hand. If the southpaw Chagaev were in perfect shape, he might stand a chance because he punches hard. But with his constant injuries and long periods of inactivity, he will become another knockout victim of the hard-hitting Wladimir. The only question I have is whether Emanuel (Steward) will let Klitschko throw his right hand and expose his jaw, or do we have a twelve round clinic of Wladimir left jabbing Chagaev all night?

MC: HAROLD, TELL ME HOW YOU FIRST BECOME INTERESTED IN THE SPORT?

HL: I got interested in boxing at a very young age when my father would take me to the fights every Friday night during the summer months at Long Beach (Long Island) Stadium, which was an outdoor stadium run by Irving Cohen and Teddy Brenner in the summer resort town of Long Beach. Everyone fought there, and you can find Long Beach on the record of such famous names as Sandy Saddler and Roland LaStarza. Veteran Las Vegas boxing judge Bill Graham likes to tell me he fought four times in Long Beach in the forties.

MC: DID YOU EVER GET IN THE RING YOURSELF?

HL: I never fought. My sister could kick the crap out of me. What kind of question is that? Do I look punchy?

MC: YOUR FIRST HBO TELECAST WAS THE 1986 TREVOR BERBICK-PINKLON THOMAS BOUT. MEMORIES OF YOUR INAUGURAL BROADCAST?

HL: The first fight I ever worked for HBO was in March 1986. Trevor Berbick was a 7 to 1 underdog against defending WBC heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas. Before I left to work the fight in Las Vegas, I said to my wife Eileen that Pinklon would probably belt out Berbick in the first round and that my career on HBO would be over right there. What I didn’t realize was that Berbick had hired ledgendary trainer Eddie Futch to train him for this fight. It was the only time that Futch ever trained Berbick. As fate would have it, Futch did an amazing job and Berbick went on to take the title by unanimous decision. HBO liked how I called the fight, and I have been there ever since. Many times after that night, whenever I ran into Futch, I would tell him that my entire career on HBO was because of him. Eddie always got a big kick out of that!

MC: WHAT TYPE OF FIGHTS ARE THE MOST CHALLENGING TO SCORE?

HL: The most challenging fights to score are where you get both fighters holding all night and not throwing any punches, until the referee breaks them up and then they go right back into a clinch. It’s always tough to determine who is doing more in a fight like this. It’s always difficult if one fighter had his back on the ropes and the guy who is coming forward is blocking your vision with his back. Also, I hate referees who stand still and watch the fight, right in front of me, instead of circlng like they are supposed to. Makes me want to whack the referee in the ankle so he moves.

MC: DURING YOUR TWO DECADES WITH HBO, WHAT ARE THREE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE FIGHTS?

HL: The three most memorable fights are:
1) April 6, 1987, Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler: It was a great fight that not too many people thought the comebacking Leonard could win, but Sugar Ray boxed a masterful fight and befuddled Hagler with his hand speed and movement. A true classic that the whole world was watching.
2) Nov. 13, 1992, Riddick Bowe vs. Evander Holyfield: An unbelievable back and fourth battle with a tenth round that was too good to even describe! Bowe, with his tremendous uppercuts on the inside, wins the heavyweight title over the smaller but quicker Holyfield in an incredible war.
3) May 15, 2004, Antonio Tarver vs. Roy Jones Jr.: Who would have expected this? I honestly thought that Roy could go on forever, or at least until he decided to retire. But Tarver, after his famous “Got any excuses tonight, Roy?” starched Jones and left everybody stunned.

MC: HOW HAS BOXING CHANGED THROUGH THE YEARS? BETTER OR WORSE?

HL: Boxing has gotten worse. I loved the old days when you had boxing in the small clubs all over the place and the best place to be was with Flash outside the Felt Forum on fight night. Does anybody remember buying a cheap ticket to the old Garden on 49th Street and Eighth, giving the usher five bucks to get into the ringside seats, and then giving the ringside usher five or ten bucks for two seats in the sixth row? How about all those shows at Sunnyside, and the trips to Philly to the Blue or The Arena for a Peltz show? Oh man, could it get any better? Life was good.

MC: YOUR TOP 3 FAVORITE FIGHTERS OF ALL TIME AND WHY?

HL: My top three favorite fighters of all time are:
1) “Bad” Bennie Briscoe: Bennie was Philadelphia. When Bennie fought, you had to be there. I would drive three hours down to Philly and three hours home the same night just to see Bennie and his shaved head throw the vicious Philadelphia left hook to the gut of his opponents. Jay Seidman, who does the programs for all the big fights now, was the guy charged with sweeping out the press room at at the Spectrum during the Briscoe era, and Jay never succeeded in keeping me from mooching a free meal before Bad Bennie went on. Can we ever forget the night Bennie belted out Rafael Gutierrez in two, Cyclone Hart in one, and made Marvin Hagler run and jab to win a decision over an old Briscoe who would have put Hagler in the second row if Marvin would have dared to take one step forward against the vicious Philadelphia left hooker in front of 15,000 Briscoe enthusiasts at the Spectrum. There will never be another Briscoe. Truly the meanest man I ever saw in a boxing ring. Bennie was pure vicious, and he truly is Philadelphia boxing to all the aficionados. It was truly something special to be there when Bennie climbed in the ring.

2) Muhammad Ali: I was there when Sonny Banks knocked him down in his first trip to the Garden, I was there when he knocked out Zora Foley and Oscar Bonavena, and I was the judge for the third Norton fight. Ali could do it all. Hand speed, punch, charisma, incredible ring generalship. He had the fans in the palms of his hands. There will never be another Ali.

3) Sugar Ray Leonard: Ahh, that smile. The Sugar Man was one of the greatest. He could crack, remember the Hearns, Dave Green and Wilfred Benitez kayoes? His charisma was the equal of Ali, and as a welterweight, Ray probably could have held his own with Ray Robinson or any other great 147 pounder. I’m in awe of Leonard to this day.

MC: WHO DO YOU SEE AS THE FUTURE STARS IN BOXING?

HL: I think Amir Khan will win the Junior Welterweight title and then go on to defeat Ricky Hatton in a huge fight in Manchester, England. I like Middleweights Danny Jacobs and Matvey Korobov. I think Urbano Antillon will be a star at lightweight. I like Deontay Wilder who can really punch. I think England’s Frankie Gavin will be a big star in two years. Watch out for Tampa, Florida’s Keith Thurman. Don Elbaum’s Israeli, Ran Nakash, is exciting. “Vicious” Victor Ortiz has star written all over him, and we will know a lot more about him after his June 27th showdown vs. Marcos Maidana at the Staples Center on HBO Boxing After Dark.

MC: HAROLD, PLEASE USE ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE YOUR HBO COLLEAGUES:

HL: JIM LAMPLEY–Tarheel, LARRY MERCHANT–Broadway, EMANUEL STEWARD–Bimstein, LENNOX LEWIS–Definitely, MAX KELLERMAN–Band of brothers, BOB PAPA–Plaxico, AND ROSS GREENBURG–Docu.

MC: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE FIGHT CITIES? DESCRIBE THE FANS, CITY SITES, AND THE LOCALS.

HL: My favorite cities that I’ve traveled to are:
1) Nashville, TN–I love this city for the great used book stores (McKay’s and The Rhino), the great barbeque, plus the hospitality and a chance to visit with two of my favorite boxing people, Carla and Dave Hudson, who live there. Dave is a well respected and outstanding Tennessee boxing judge, a real expert on the sport, as well as being a law professor at Vanderbilt. The Hudsons spare no expense in showing you a good time. Can’t beat the Grand Ole Opry!

2) El Paso, TX–Texas draws all the great fight fans from over the border from Juarez and points south. Oscar De La Hoya once drew about 50,000 people to see him fight Patrick Charpentier on HBO in the windy Sun Bowl. And can we ever forget the wild crowd who packed the place with no air conditioning to see Erik Morales win his first world title and send Daniel Zaragoza into retirement? How about the magnificent Mexican food, the Machaca breakfast, and the State Line Barbeque in this old cowboy town? It has the flavor of the Southwest. The old cowboy charm in El Paso is the greatest, and it’s a change of pace for us city slickers, plus the cheap jeans for sale on El Paso Street. I also like to see one of my favorite people, our good buddy Steve Kaplowitz of KROD Radio, who always puts us on the air live every time we go there.

3) Houston, TX–Another place where the fans turn out in droves, especially for Juan “The Baby Bull” Diaz. It doesn’t get better than the Toyota Center when Diaz is fighting. You always get a huge crowd at the fights in Houston. They love their boxing. I love the Barbeque and Mexican Food in Houston. It’s second to none. And great hospitality from another of my boxing crowd, Martha and Ken Garcia, who always seem to go out of there way for me whenever I’m in town. They are two of the most knowledgeable boxing fans known to man and two of the most generous people who ever lived.

MC: WHAT ARE SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM GOALS IN THE BOXING WORLD?

HL: My short term goals in boxing would be to win the heavyweight championship, and my long term goal is to lose thirty pounds and win the light heavyweight championship! Only kidding. In the short term, I would like to go to more club shows, but my schedule in the pharmacy prevents me from going on the road as much as I used to. It’s a tough economy, and I hate to miss work with all the bills still coming in. In the long term, I might consider a book entitled, “Who cares about what Harold thinks anyway?”

MC: CAN YOU TELL ME A MEMORABLE COMMENT A FIGHTER HAS SAID TO YOU? (And Harold, please keep it “clean”!)

HL: I once went to Mexicali, Mexico to judge a fight. It was 126 degrees and no air conditioning in the arena–the hottest place I’ve ever been in and 3,000 feet below sea level. Birthplace to Gaspar “Indian” Ortega. One day I found out that Jose Luis Castillo came from Mexicalli and had many fights there. I got a hold of interpreter Ray Torres, went to Castillo, and asked him how he could fight and live in Mexicali? He said to me, “When the devil goes on vacation, he goes to Mexicali.” Brilliant.

MC: YOUR DAUGHTER JULIE IS A SUCCESSFUL BOXING JUDGE. ARE YOU SURPRISED SHE FOLLOWED YOU INTO THE SPORT?

HL: I am not surprised she became a boxing judge; I am very proud of her achievements. When she was a little kid, I used to take her to fights I judged all over the world. I took her to Argentina, Chile, Paris, Venezuela, and a lot of other places including all over the United States. Julie liked fights from an early age, and most of the fight people watched her grow up going to all the fights she went to. Julie was a very good student, so she never suffered missing a few days of school to go to a fight in some far off place. She learned the game at a very early age, and it shows in the work she does now at ringside. I can honestly say that I think she is one of the best judges out there, but because she’s related to me, I sometimes think she is discriminated against when it comes to working big fights. But, she does a nice job whenever she is asked to judge. She loves the boxing crowd, and loves to go to conventions. She just attended the NABF Convention in Cancun, Mexico where she is the New York delegate.

MC: YOU SPEND A LOT OF TIME TRAVELING FOR FIGHTS, BUT IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT YOU’RE ALSO A WORKING PHARMACIST. DO YOU GET RECOGNIZED AT THE PHARMACY?

HL: Just yesterday a fan came into Duane Reade Pharmacy in Manhattan to fill a prescription and recognized the name on my pharmacy name tag. Now I don’t spread it around that I’m Harold Lederman, HBO’s unofficial official. After all, I’ve got to take care of people’s lives, and I don’t have a lot of time to spend discussing boxing. But it’s always nice to know that people recognize an off camera, “not-so-seen” announcer, and take the time to tell me that they appreciate the work that I do outside of the pharmacy. I really think there are millions of boxing fans in the world, but not too many Harold Ledermans, so for sure people will recognize me from time to time.

MC: TELL ME SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOU THAT MAY SURPRISE YOUR FANS.

HL: I like to go to the movies–I have been a movie buff all my life. Also, I loved going to the Knicks when tickets were available at what I would consider a fair price, but that is long gone. In 2010, after being an original Jets season ticket holder, I am giving up my Jets Season tickets because they want a $30,000 personal seat license for my three seats, and they raised the prices from $80 per seat to $140 a seat! So, I guess I’ll be a bigger movie buff and start rooting for another football team.

MC: YOUR WIFE TELLS ME YOU HAVE AN AMAZING BOXING COLLECTION. WHAT’S YOUR ONE FAVORITE PIECE OF MEMORABILIA?

HL: My favorite piece of memorabilia is a picture that HBO photographer Ed Mulholland took from way above of Oscar De La Hoya walking out of the ring after one of his fights and sticking his right glove down to touch my outstretched fist. Mulholland caught the picture at the moment of impact. Of course I got it blown up to an 8×10 and framed the picture. It’s not every day that a fighter “slaps your glove” after a victory. Me and the “Golden Boy”–what a team!

MC: ARE YOU PLANNING TO ATTEND THE IBHOF’S CANASTOTA EVENTS THIS WEEK?

HL: I feel especially close to the Hall this year since they are inducting my friends Lennox Lewis and Larry Merchant and I would love to support them. But the weekend is tied up with the Boxing Writers Dinner and the Cotto fight, which leaves very little time to get up to Canastota. I have been there a number of times; I feel you need four days for Canastota, from Thursday to Sunday, so you can go to the Induction Dinner, the memorabilia show, and all the other events they have during the Induction weekend. It is a real fun weekend, and when you go there you see all the greats in boxing, and you get a chance to buy some real cool stuff as well as getting a chance to chat with the legends of the game.

MC: HAROLD, CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN ON YOUR AWARD. ANYONE YOU’D LIKE TO THANK THAT HAVE BEEN SUPPORTIVE DURING YOUR CAREER?

HL: Thank you and I want to thank all the members of the Boxing Writer Association of America for voting me the winner of the Sam Taub Award as Broadcaster of the Year! Also, to my longest and most respected boxing friends: Jeff Jowett, Jack Obermayer, Bruce Trampler, Bobby Yalen, Eric Armit, Claude Jackson, Spider Bynum, Bobby Goodman, Mark Berg, Kenneth Garcia, Dan Hanley, Don Koss, Steve Corbo, Greg Sirb, Dean Lohuis, Paco Valcarcel, Victor Valle, Jr., Larry Hazzard, Steve Weissfeld, Melvina Lathan, Elisa Harrison, Jason Gonzalez and, of course, Lee Samuels. I love them all and God bless them for their guidance and support all these years!

MC: THANKS AGAIN, HAROLD! HAVE FUN TOMORROW NIGHT.

HL: Thank you, Michele!

Arguably, there couldn’t be anyone more deserved of the BWAA’s 2009 “Excellence in Broadcast Journalism” than Harold Lederman. The veteran judge has completely dedicated himself to the sport he loves. And boxing fans all over the world have benefited from the man whose voice we all recognize.
Back to you, Harold!

Photos courtesy of Michele Chong and Harold Lederman