HBO's Harold Lederman on Ali, the Hall of Fame and Being Boxing's 1st TV Judge

Dear Executives:

Please excuse Harold Lederman from work on Saturday night’s Boxing After Dark show.

He’ll be unable to attend due to induction commitments.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Lederman

OK, after a three-decade run as HBO’s unofficial ringside scorer and a professional judging resume that stretches back to Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency, Harold Lederman probably needn’t lean on his wife of more than 50 years to elude the human resources police at the “Network of Champions.”

But if justification for an imminent absence were necessary, he’d be hard-pressed to do better.

The 76-year-old New York native will be attending a party to which he’d never expected an invite on Sunday—when he, Lupe Pintor, Hilario Zapata, Marc Ratner, Jerry Izenberg and Bob Sheridan are officially welcomed as the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s induction class of 2016.

The class also includes Hector Camacho, who died in 2012.

“I was more shocked than Pete Rose,” Lederman told Bleacher Report, recalling the message he received last December to let him know he was in.

“I was thrilled to death when they called me up. I knew my name was on the ballot this year for the first time, and I’m the first boxing judge to be inducted, so it’s a super big thrill for me.”

And it’s not the first time he’s blazed a trail with a scorecard.

Lederman joined HBO in 1986 when then-executive Ross Greenburg decided to take his advice and add a judge to the announce team, which no other outlet broadcasting boxing at that time had done.

His first fight with the network was a heavyweight title match between Pinklon Thomas and Trevor Berbick on March 22 of that year, and he concedes now that Thomas’ status as an overwhelming pre-fight favorite had him thinking the TV experiment wouldn’t last.

Joel Landau/Associated Press

“I said to my wife, ‘Pinklon Thomas is a 7-to-1 favorite. What’s gonna happen is I’m gonna go to Las Vegas, Thomas is going to belt this guy out in the first round and my career on HBO is gonna be abruptly over,’” Lederman said. “Little did I know that Trevor Berbick hired the very famous trainer, Eddie Futch, to train him, and that’s the only fight that Eddie Futch ever trained Trevor Berbick."

“So anyway, Trevor Berbick wound up winning the unanimous decision, HBO liked what I had to say, and they’ve been asking me back ever since. Every time I used to run into Eddie Futch, I would say, ‘Hey Eddie, you’re responsible for my career on HBO. If it wasn’t for you training Berbick, I would’ve never been on HBO.’ He used to get a big kick out of that.”

Bleacher Report chatted with Lederman, as he arrived for his induction weekend, to talk about his role as the first full-time TV fight judge, the relationships he has with his HBO colleagues and his memories of the late Muhammad Ali—whom he’d watched as a live fan, a TV viewer and a ringside judge.

Bleacher Report: Have you thought about what you’re going to say when your moment comes this weekend?

Harold Lederman: I’m gonna thank all the million-and-a-half people who helped me get into the Hall of Fame, and then I’m gonna tell one boxing story and then I’m gonna sit down, because I don’t want to bore people to death.

Bleacher Report: Did you think the TV judge’s role would ever evolve into what it’s become?

Lederman: When I started 30 years ago, no station was using an unofficial judge to keep score for the public. And now every single station that carries boxing is using an unofficial judge to keep score. I really started something. After I was on HBO for five years, 10 years, all of a sudden the stations started to say, "You know what, Lederman is a pretty good idea, let’s get ourselves a judge." So now, I really feel like I’m the innovator in unofficial judging.

Bleacher Report: You’ve seen all the fights on the network for a couple generations now. Which ones stand out for whatever reason—the scorecards, the night, the event?

Lederman: There’s no question the three Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward fights were absolutely sensational. Bar none. Those are just three great fights. The trilogy between Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield, the three of them were great fights. The fight Saturday night with Orlando Salido and Francisco Vargas was nothing short of sensational. There have been a number of really, really terrific fights on HBO that I saw. There have been a number of really good fighters that have fought on HBO that I really enjoyed being around. Riddick Bowe was a lot of fun to be around, and, without question, Michael Spinks, too.

Alex Menendez/Getty Images

Bleacher Report: Everyone knows the guys on the announce team on Saturday nights by name, but what are they actually like to work with?

Lederman: Jim Lampley’s got a really great sense of humor. I like working with him. In my mind, he’s the greatest blow-by-blow guy that ever lived. I think I’ve seen all the blow-by-blow guys. He’s better than all of them. He’s got a photographic memory, and he’s an amazing blow-by-blow guy. Roy [Jones Jr.] is a good boxing guy. He knows boxing as well as just about anybody you’ll ever meet. Max [Kellerman] is the future, without doubt. He replaced Larry Merchant because Larry retired, and Max is the future. Max has got another 40 years to go on HBO, as long as they keep carrying boxing.

Bleacher Report: Have there ever been nights when you’ve looked back at your scorecard or your performance and thought, “Man, I wish I had that one back. Maybe I didn’t get it right,”?

Lederman: No. Never. I’m always right (laughs). If I don’t agree with the judges, I say to myself, “They’re wrong, I’m right.” That’s how I feel about it. I also feel like your first score is your best score. If you’re scoring a fight, don’t go home and watch it on TV and say, “Well, I scored Round 7 differently on TV.” No. Your best score is your first score, all the time. I don’t know why but that’s just the way it is. If you score it again, deep down in your mind you’ll know how it came out and that influences your thinking.

Anonymous/Associated Press

Bleacher Report: Lampley has said in the past that there are certain fights that people always want to talk about when they see him. Is it the same for you, are there certain scorecards that fans want to pick your brain about more often than others?

Lederman: It happens all the time. The most notable one is the controversial heavyweight title fight that I judged, which was the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton at Yankee Stadium. It was a very close fight. Ali won a unanimous decision. The two judges each had it 8-7 Ali and the scoring referee was Arthur Mercante, who had it 8-6-1 for Ali. Very close. Very controversial. A lot of people who were sitting back from the ring thought that Norton won the fight. I thought that Ali outboxed him in eight of the rounds and that’s the way I scored it.

Bleacher Report: You had a chance to score a fight Ali was in, you saw him live as a fan and you interacted with him. Can you talk about some memories you have?

Lederman: I remember him so well as a fighter because of the fact that he passed away at 74 and I’m 76, so I lived through the Ali era. I love to say to myself I was there in the very beginning. Each and every time that Muhammad Ali fought in New York, I was at the fight.

Bleacher Report: Is he the best heavyweight ever, in your opinion? If not, who is?

Lederman: It’s hard to pick between Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis when he was young. Joe Louis, in the early 1940s, was a sensational fighter with a great left hook. It’s hard to say he wasn’t the greatest heavyweight of all time. Certainly Muhammad had tremendous foot speed, used the ring as good as anybody that ever lived, had a great jab and had a decent right hand that he could punch with. We saw that right hand in the George Foreman fight. Ali had a big heart and a tremendous amount of skill. Those two guys are probably 1-2. Jack Johnson, of course, was probably No. 3, and without question, ask any Italian in the world, and they’ll tell you that Rocky Marciano was No. 4. Marciano was certainly a huge hero in the Italian community, and he deserved it because he could fight. Of course, they might want him at No. 1 because he was 49-0. That’s not a bad record.