A Compelling Tale of the Tape

HBO, this buzz is for you.

Talk about generating interest in a week-old fight. No warped boxing publicist or network spinner could have dreamed this up.

Of course you start with a controversial decision, even though such things are commonplace in boxing.

Then you have your announcers take heat for saying that the eventual loser, who happens to be a cash cow for their network, was winning the fight easily.

For good measure, have the loser and his promoter threaten inquiries and lawsuits.

It all adds up to a hot topic for talk radio and newspaper columnists all week.

The end result is a guaranteed large audience for the replay of last weekend’s Shane Mosley-Oscar De La Hoya fight, which will be on HBO Saturday night at 6:45.

Usually, such replays are for sports fans who have the good sense not to spend $50 to watch a boxing match.

In this case, those who saw the fight live on HBO Pay Per View will want to see it again, and everyone else will want to see what all the commotion is about.

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Lampley’s View

Blow-by-blow announcer Jim Lampley, who sat in for vacationing Jim Rome on his national radio show Monday, interviewed Mosley, the winner, and his promoter, Gary Shaw.

Shaw told Lampley he had not seen the pay-per-view telecast but heard that Lampley and his broadcast partners, Larry Merchant and George Foreman, had been very pro-De La Hoya and their commentary had swayed the viewing audience into thinking De La Hoya had won the fight easily.

Shaw suggested Lampley watch the fight again -- with the sound muted.

Lampley did that Wednesday night.

“Call me stubborn, call me stupid, or give me credit for being consistent, but I scored the fight 115-113 De La Hoya,” he said Thursday.

“I’ll tell you something else. Bree Walker, who walked out of the arena agreeing with the judges that Mosley had won the fight, scored the fight with me and had it 115-113 De La Hoya.”

Lampley and Walker watched the fight together at their home in Rancho Santa Fe. For those who have heard that Lampley and Walker are divorced, it’s true.

“Call it divorce American style,” Lampley said. “We’re legally divorced but still a couple.”

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Merchant’s View

Lampley was on his way to LAX when he talked to The Times on Thursday. He was headed for Uncasville, Conn., where he and his partners will call a live fight between Chris Byrd and Fres Oquendo that will follow the replay of the Mosley-De La Hoya Las Vegas fight.

Mosley will be part of the telecast via satellite after the replay.

Merchant was already in Connecticut on Thursday, having traveled from his home in Santa Monica on Wednesday. He watched a tape of the fight for the first time Wednesday night in his hotel room.

“I still thought Oscar won the fight,” Merchant said. “My take on the broadcast is that I regret the viewer may have felt that Mosley didn’t have a chance to catch up at the end.

“Mosley charged down the stretch and the fight ended up close enough for disagreements among people with honest opinions.”

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Conflict of Interest?

De La Hoya, who is under contract to fight on HBO Pay Per View, has generated nearly 8.2 million buys, including 975,000 for the Mosley rematch . At $50 a pop, well, do the math. And HBO gets 7.5% of that.

Some boxing writers have charged the HBO announcers with a conflict of interest, saying they were pro-De La Hoya because of the money he generates for their employer.

Ross Greenburg, HBO Sports president, said, “That’s garbage. Our announcers are the most candid and independent announcers in boxing. They called the fight the way they saw it. There are no house fighters on HBO.”

Said Lampley: “How could our commentary influence the judges? They’re not listening to our telecast.”

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More Boxing

There will also be a live boxing show on Channel 9 Saturday at 8 p.m., featuring Oxnard’s Rolando Reyes against Mexico’s Omar Bernal from the Arrowhead Pond. The announcers will be Channel 9’s regular crew of Tom Kelly, Rich Marotta and Fernando Paramo.

Channel 9 recently won a local Emmy for its boxing coverage, with producer-director Susan Stratton accepting the trophy. She was a bit surprised, because the boxing faced some stiff competition -- mainly Channel 9’s Laker coverage, which Stratton also produces and directs.

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Trouble Here

ABC will televise Saturday’s UCLA-Oklahoma game to part of the nation; Michigan-Oregon goes to the rest of the country.

So if the UCLA-Oklahoma game turns into a blowout, as expected, will ABC switch over to Michigan-Oregon, which figures to be more competitive?

The answer: not in L.A. An ABC spokesman said L.A. will get UCLA-Oklahoma to the end, even if it is a bitter end for the Bruins.

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New NBA Commentator?

Although Grant Hill wants to continue his NBA career, he may be headed for the broadcast booth. ABC and ESPN are interested and, according to his agent, Lon Babby of Washington, he had an audition Monday at ESPN in Bristol, Conn.

However, Babby said no job with either ESPN or ABC has been offered.

Hill, now with the Orlando Magic, is considering sitting out this season to let his left ankle heal. He injured it during the 2000 playoffs and has had numerous operations.

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Short Waves

The entire “Dodger Dugout” pregame show on Channel 13 Sunday at 12:30 p.m. will be devoted to a profile of Roy Gleason, the former Garden Grove bonus baby who batted 1.000 (one for one) in his Dodger career. The piece will be narrated by Vin Scully. Gleason is being honored at Saturday night’s game.... Although the yellow first-and-10 line was missing from last Saturday’s UCLA-Illinois telecast, it will be there for the UCLA-Oklahoma game. ABC does not use it on all its college football telecasts.... On Sunday, ABC offers live coverage of the IRL Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway in Fontana starting at noon. Bob Jenkins will host the telecast, with Paul Page and Scott Goodyear describing the race.

Channel 9 will have taped Los Angeles Triathlon coverage Sunday at 2 p.m. ... Programming coincidence: Saturday is the 30th anniversary of Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs and both ESPN Classic and the Tennis Channel will look back at the match Saturday at 5 p.m. On ESPN Classic, it’s part of a 10-hour block devoted to women’s sports.... ESPN2 will have daily coverage of the WTA Tour championships Nov. 5-10 at Staples Center.... Game 3 of the WNBA finals Tuesday night got a 0.8 national rating on ESPN2, and a 1.5 in L.A. The 0.8 was ESPN2’s all-time high for a WNBA game.

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Radio Daze

Orange County’s KPLS (830) has been sold and will go to a Spanish format after FCC approval in three to six months. That means the Mighty Ducks are in the market for a new flagship station and USC will eventually have to find a new Orange County outlet.... KPLS, the Sparks’ flagship station, didn’t carry the WNBA finals because of ESPN radio’s exclusivity. But ESPN affiliate KSPN (710) didn’t carry the finals because of Angel broadcasts. One reader e-mailed, wondering what happened to the Sparks on KPLS. Must have been their one listener.