HBO Boxing Ringside Judge Harold Lederman Dies at Age 79

Longtime boxing judge and HBO television analyst Harold Lederman died from cancer Saturday at the age of 79.

Peter Nelson, executive vice president of HBO Sports, issued a statement about Lederman, via BoxingScene.com:

"Harold Lederman had a lifelong love affair with the sport of boxing. Over the past fifty years he was universally respected and celebrated by the many people who make the sport what it is. Harold was happiest when seated ringside, studying the action and scoring the fight. When he joined HBO Sports in 1986 he added a new and critical component to live boxing coverage."

Jim Lampley, who spent 30 years working with Lederman at HBO, also released a statement about his former colleague, via Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole:

"It was one of the greatest privileges of my broadcasting career to work with Harold Lederman, whose unique humanity and lifelong love of boxing brought joy to the hearts of millions of fans, show after show after show. They waited for his moments, they were thrilled by his insights, they gloried in imitating his voice. No one in the sport had more friends, because no one in the sport was more deserving of friends. As deeply saddened as I am by his passing, I am equally deeply joyful that he made it to the final bell on December 8. Nothing was more important to the legacy of HBO Boxing, so in that we can all take solace. Now his scorecard is complete."

Lederman gained national recognition in 1986 when he became a television analyst for World Championship Boxing on HBO, serving as an unofficial ringside judge. He remained with the network for 32 years until it dropped its boxing coverage at the end of 2018.

In addition to his television work, Lederman served as an official judge from 1967 to 1999. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016.