By Eric Rineer

I’ve got a tip for boxing fans the next time they watch an HBO fight: Turn the fight on mute and score the bout yourself. Just try it. I mean, choose a fight where you find yourself neutral toward both boxers. Then, unplug the sound.

The reason I’m telling you this is simple: For years, I’ve been a fan of HBO’s boxing shows. I love the matchups, and I love the specials the network runs on boxing. I respect the commentators for making it this far in the industry. To tell you the truth, I wish I was in their shoes. It would be a totally exhilarating experience.

However, in recent times, I feel that Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant have failed to call fights accurately. Lampley can be a lot of fun to listen to when fighters get into heated exchanges in the ring. The passion in his voice brings life to a fight. But, I’m telling you boxing fans, these two men are misleading you when it comes to certain outcomes.

Take the Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah fight, for example. I don’t know how many times Lampley referred to Mayweather as “dominant” while Zab scored. With the bout on mute, I’ve got Judah taking rounds one through four. There was only a brief discussion about the “knockdown” in round No. 2. I’m talking about when Floyd’s glove kept him up. That, very easily, could have been a two-point round for Judah. And, amazingly, one judge scored the second round for Floyd.

I don’t think anyone can dispute the fact that Judah took the 12th round convincingly. On my card that equals five rounds in favor of Judah. I think Floyd dominated rounds nine through 11. However, the remaining rounds, I believe, are toss-up rounds. Just turn the sound down, and watch without bias. Even just one more round for Judah makes it a draw.

The point I’m trying to make is that Lampley called it a “dominating” performance for Mayweather. I don’t know how that can be the case when Harold Ledderman of HBO only had Mayweather up by four points. That is a long cry from domination. If Ledderman chose to award two more rounds to Judah, then he would have had the bout even. That is how close the fight really was. There definitely were close rounds in the bout that could have been handed to Judah.

It happens time and time again: The HBO analysts do not call fights by a blow-by-blow account. Heck, I’ll go so far as to say that they ride a particular fighter to the end. It’s almost as if they’ve got the winner predetermined. The opponent’s performance is often largely ignored.

I would like to see Lampley and Merchant pay more attention to the fight itself. When they see a fighter land, tell the public about it. The Mayweather-Judah fight was only an example. I’ve got a lot of respect for Mayweather and think he is nothing short of great. I just feel that underdogs get the short end of the stick in most cases. I’ve seen so many times where a fighter is landing a terrific combination that gets unnoticed by the commentators. They are busy praising the guy who is getting nailed. It is very distractive and can easily persuade a person to buy into it.

Antonio Tarver once said to me that Merchant is a “mouth with a microphone.” Tarver told me to “print that.” I’m not going that far, but I echo Tarver’s frustration with the commentating. The boxing public is deserving of a punch-by-punch account -- Not a 12-round advertisement of the network’s fighter.

So, the next time you find yourself watching an HBO fight with your buddies, take a second glance at the tape when they go home -- with the sound down, of course. Is it really what you had it scored the first time around?