#2346 - Jim Lampley

Joe Rogan (0:01)

Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out!

Joe Rogan (0:03)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Jim Lampley (0:06)

Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day!

Joe Rogan (0:12)

Uh, really? That was your closest male friend?

Jim Lampley (0:15)

Unexpected. Unexpected. But over a period of time, we just got closer and closer and closer and, you know, very brotherly. And the last public appearance Emanuel ever made was my wedding in September of 2012 And that night, the wedding was at our house in Delmar, California. And that night, he, uh, his girlfriend came to me and said, we have to leave early. Emanuel's having stomach pains. He was in oncology by the next week. He was gone by three weeks later.

So, very touching to me and, you know, deeply symbolic of my love for him and thus the Cronk hat.

Joe Rogan (1:02)

Yeah. What a classic Jim. And he was one of the first guys to realize, like, if you crank the heat up, it actually gives guys better conditioning.

Jim Lampley (1:10)

He realized a lot of things.

Joe Rogan (1:11)

Yeah.

Jim Lampley (1:12)

Emanuel was a genius in a lot of ways. And there were a lot of, um, sort of time-oddered rules and techniques in boxing that he quietly upended.

Joe Rogan (1:26)

Yes.

Jim Lampley (1:26)

Emanuel, because he was more advanced in his point of view and thought process.

Joe Rogan (1:31)

And then everybody else sort of followed his lead.

Jim Lampley (1:33)

Once they understood what he was doing. If you saw the McCrory's and Tommy and those guys, why wouldn't you imitate, right?

Joe Rogan (1:41)

Right, right. Exactly. Yeah. No, he was...

Jim Lampley (1:43)

And he did it at both the amateur and pro level too, you know.

Joe Rogan (1:47)

And he was always fantastic too, as a commentator, because he would give insight that you're really not going to get from someone that's not like with these fighters day in, day out through an entire camp. He really understood things.

Jim Lampley (1:59)

But we need to consider the privilege I had, the expert commentators I work with, starting with Ray. That's one perspective. Then gravitating through George Foreman and Roy Jones, Emmanuel's in there. To me, he was the best. I agree with you. The public responded more to Roy and Ray.

Joe Rogan (2:25)

Of course. Famous guys.

Jim Lampley (2:27)

Because of their stardom, etc.

Joe Rogan (2:29)

And they were really good too.

Jim Lampley (2:31)

And they were good. But Emmanuel taught me more. Because he was totally well-rounded.

Joe Rogan (2:37)

Yeah.

Jim Lampley (2:38)

As a human being as well as a boxing trainer.

Joe Rogan (2:42)

I was very pleased to hear you back on the microphone for that Times Square event.

Jim Lampley (2:47)

Thank you.

Joe Rogan (2:47)

Because it had been so long.

Jim Lampley (2:49)

Six plus years.

Joe Rogan (2:50)

God. I was like, that's crazy. It didn't make any sense. You were the best in the business. HBO was the best in the business. And when they stepped away from boxing, I was really heartbroken.

Jim Lampley (3:01)

Well, if you look at what happened, we go from a situation where the television networks have the authority and the self-belief to choose the commentators the way they want to. Then you get into a more subdivided and widely disparate marketplace, and now the star promoters have a great deal more influence than you would have thought before. And now the star promoters start getting involved in influencing who's on the air. So, PBC, Mayweather was never a fan.

And we got along, but he was absolutely...

Joe Rogan (3:51)

Well, he was the famous thing with Larry.

Jim Lampley (3:53)

Well, and I guess he associated me with Larry, which makes all the sense in the world.

Joe Rogan (3:58)

Kind of, but you weren't nearly as critical.

Jim Lampley (4:01)

I was just a blow-by-blow guy. I'm not an expert commentator. So, I tried very hard, not always easy, but I tried very hard never to go over the line into doing what the experts were supposed to do.

Joe Rogan (4:15)

Right. No, you were excellent at that. It just didn't make any sense to me that, you know, and Kellerman, he's also excellent. That's another guy we should be proud of.

Jim Lampley (4:22)

And now he's back.

Joe Rogan (4:23)

Yes. It's nice. And Andre Ward is another excellent guy.

Jim Lampley (4:26)

Totally.

Joe Rogan (4:26)

It just, the good thing about boxing was that HBO was completely independent from these promoters.

Jim Lampley (4:34)

And the bad thing about boxing is that the fighters don't get paid as much on the undercard fights and don't get paid as much coming up, as is the case in the more broadly organized UFC universe. Right?