Cosell

The call from ringside, by the king of obnoxious sportscasting, Howard Cosell, marked the fight and the fighters for the ages.

During the US TV broadcast, commentator Howard Cosell summed up the performance: "George Foreman: Too big. Too strong. In perfect shape. The punches crisp from the very beginning."

A decided underdog, the unbeaten Foreman nonetheless dominated, knocking Frazier down six times and winning on a technical knockout in the second round amid Howard Cosell’s excited call: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

To paraphrase the late Howard Cosell, Bill “never played the game.”

If this movie had arrived before “Network” and all the media cynicism that’s since come to pass, it would have dropped jaws, too, especially when sportscaster Howard Cosell bleats, “We’re building up to what I think will be quite the climax.”