Michael Buffer On His Signature Phrase Lets Get Ready To Rumble How He Got His Start As A Ring Annou

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And now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready for Courtside Club.

And the crowd goes wild.

What's up, you guys? I'm Rachel Demita and welcome to the Courtside Club.

I'm so excited because I have a legend sitting with me today.

The most famous voice in sports. Some might also call you the James Bond.

Of announcing. Have you heard that before?

I'd think you're money-pending.

I heard that many years ago in Tokyo before a Mike Tyson fight.

Perfect.

And I had to get a translation, but I was pretty flattered. It was nice.

Well, the Michael Buffer, the James Bond of boxing announcing.

Welcome to the Courtside Club.

Thank you.

I was actually so excited to have you on today.

But also, I don't know if you knew this, I was quite terrified of you

when I was watching you.

When I was a kid.

Really?

Yes, because of the Ready to Rumble video game.

Oh, yeah, yeah. That was a good game.

So in that game.

On Dreamcast.

Oh, yeah.

That's almost a little before your time, though. That was out in the 90s.

I was a 90s kid.

I know, but pretty little in the 90s.

So I spent a lot of time on that game.

You were great in that game until that final level when you kind of transform into this like 10-foot boxing.

Do you know, I've never seen that.

Oh, my gosh.

I don't play video games.

And.

I have still in my possession an unopened Dreamcast system.

Stop.

And the games and cellophane.

There were only five or six games the first day it came out.

Yeah.

And that was going to be Dreamcast was going to be the format, the game.

And they were lined up like in those days, everybody would line up.

You had this.

You had to get this game.

And the video files were insane.

And our first day sales were.

Off the charts.

I mean, really mind blowing.

Oh, yeah.

I was I was pretty impressed.

I was one of those kids, though.

We stayed up all night with my best friends trying to beat that game.

My parents.

Really?

Yes.

I was obsessed with that game.

You know what the number one fighter was?

In that game?

Afro Thunder.

Oh, yeah.

People loved Afro Thunder.

He was so good.

And then at one point during the game, he went up like against himself or like his like brother.

You really did play.

No, I really did play.

Because you're telling me things I don't even know about.

No.

But you were quite terrifying.

No.

You were quite terrifying when you went from being announcer and then all of a sudden there's

this weird like noise that you hear and you drop off screen and then you come back as

this like ripped.

And I forget the actual name.

Well, that was the real me.

That part.

That was the real Michael Buffer.

They had to animate me down to be that slender guy.

I guess so.

You know, and the real me came out.

I'm back to being slender now.

So.

So, yeah.

So you obviously impacted the game of boxing so much, but also influenced my childhood

and impacted me because of that.

And I'm sorry at the same time.

But I knew the game was successful when we brought out the sequel and it included Michael

Jackson.

Oh, yeah.

And that was off the charts.

I was going to say Michael Jackson.

He loved the game.

Shaq was in there also.

Yeah.

Gamer nerd over here.

So now Shaq and I do commercials together.

Oh, that's so fun.

So most people know you for obviously your catchphrase that has taken a hold of the world.

Let's get ready to rumble.

How did that start?

That was not your first job was not announcing.

No.

Your backstory is quite interesting.

How did you get into announcing and how did that catchphrase come about?

I get out of the army when I was 23.

Young married guy, a couple of kids like most people that marry their high school sweethearts

from the 60s.

That marriage didn't last.

Thank God for my two sons, you know, of course.

And car salesman, unemployed car salesman again, you know, just knocking around.

And in my very late 20s, a friend of mine who was with a modeling agency, she said,

why don't you go in?

Because I thought about maybe doing voiceovers, not about modeling.

So I went in to see her agent and he said, what size do you wear?

Let me see your hands.

And.

How tall are you?

And every.

Yeah.

And then the very next day I was in a fashion show at a very high end store in Philadelphia.

And I haven't had a real job since.

So.

But that.

This is where James Bond started.

So that led to.

I was like older than almost all the guys.

I'm like 30 years old now and doing modeling jobs.

And he's these fantastically handsome young men.

20.

21, 22 years old.

And I'm getting a lot of jobs because I was kind of like a tweenie.

You know, I could do the Father's Day ads and they couldn't and that sort of thing.

Anyway.

And this is all in Philly?

All in Philly and New York and Baltimore.

And I started just getting work and started doing some commercials with speaking parts.

And, you know, years ago in the industry, models don't speak.

Models don't act.

Models are morons.

You know, it was just that.

That was just it.

A foregone conclusion for casting agents.

And anyway, I just started getting different parts.

And so we're watching the fights.

My oldest son is the biggest sports fan.

He's about 13 at the time.

Boxing had come to Atlantic City and they had fights all the time.

And so we're watching a Saturday afternoon fight.

And a ring announcer gave a split decision where he gave the first two scores.

And you knew who won the fight instead of giving it that.

Fighter A, Fighter B.

And then you turn the place into a cathedral and it goes quiet.

For the winner by split decision, pause, wait.

Everybody shuts up.

It's great.

Yeah.

And still the undisputed champion, whatever the response might be.

And my son was like, I hate when that.

Dad, you could do that.

You know, just assuming.

Oh, really?

I guess by seeing me do a few three or four commercials, local spots in Philly or something.

It's all part of the same thing.

And I thought, well.

You know, it beats trying to buy a ticket to the fights that just might be a way as a fan.

And I was a huge fan.

So I started to contact the local hotel casinos in Atlantic City, not knowing that the promoter hires the ring announcer, not the hotel.

And I got my foot in the door when the Playboy Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, before they folded, had a lot of fights.

And they liked this hokey letter that I sent to each hotel that said, you know, perhaps you could improve the image of the fights, you know.

And I sent a headshot.

But wait, you sent a letter, so they couldn't hear your voice in the letter.

No.

But I guess you were just creative with how you wrote it.

When I look at those old tapes, I don't like my voice either.

It's like, you know, that little bit of a Philadelphia accent.

And I always feel like I sound like I'm definitely from the East Coast.

But anyway, it's.

I just got my foot in the door.

I was horrible.

I mean, I really was bad.

It was dreadful.

Sweat and like, you know, my hands are going like this.

And, you know, you're in front of a thousand people in the middle of the ring.

But you hadn't done live work before.

No, I lied and said I did.

OK.

I mean, you know, I said.

That's what we all do.

I had experience, of course.

Let's not say I didn't lie.

I just sort of like exaggerated.

Fake it till you make it.

Yeah.

That's what we call it.

And.

I.

I had the recorded it.

I looked at it and I said, OK, I got to be better at this.

Do this better.

And I got another chance and improved.

And it became a full time job after about a year and a half.

Do you remember what that first fight was?

I don't remember what the main event was.

But I do remember one of the fighters had a great name and nickname.

He was.

I forget his last name, but he he was a Jewish fighter.

And he was a Jewish fighter.

And he was a Jewish fighter.

And his nickname was the Hebrew hitter.

OK.

Herb the Hebrew.

Herb the Hebrew hitter and whatever.

And I know someone I can call up and find out exactly who that was.

He's got the tape.

And I threatened to kill him if he doesn't destroy those tapes.

So where did the catchphrase, let's get right.

That is your phrase.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't even know if I can say it without getting.

Well, you can't.

And no, I'm just kidding.

OK.

So what what what happened was back in the 82, 83.

84, when I started, the ring announcers were in.

They were all like sort of like pals with the commissioners.

You had a guy in California, a guy in New York.

And they were all part of the local commission.

So they would introduce the entire boxing commission that this, you know, for the state.

Now, just imagine going to an NFL game and before the game, somebody introduces the entire front office of the NFL.

You know, you just kill the crowd.

Right.

So in boxing.

We're in that electronic era where the fighters come with the music and it's exciting and it's the main event and everybody and the fans are that's what they've been waiting for.

And then the ring announcer introduces this ballot sanctioned by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, boxing commissioner, chairman, four board members.

Oh, my God.

I mean, you're just three doctors, four doctors and timekeeper, three judges.

You see where I'm going?

You've wiped out.

You've wiped out all that atmosphere.

So I want to.

Because this is between the walkout and them fighting.

Fighters come into the ring.

The music stops.

And the ring announcer.

Yeah, I can't even imagine what that would be like if you had a whole stop.

Oh, it just kills the crowd.

Kills the crowd.

Yeah.

So I wanted that feeling you get at the Indy 500 when that little old lady.

Actually, I did the opening introduction for the Indy 500 once.

And then for that line, gentlemen, start your engines where everybody goes.

That's the line.

That's the.

That's the moment.

Yeah.

But they have at that time was like, oh, I guess she's probably my age now.

But a little old lady came out and she actually had it written down.

Gentlemen, start your engines and gentlemen, start your engine.

But still, everybody went crazy because it's what they want to hear.

It means the race is going to start.

So I wanted gentlemen, start your engines that that type of catchphrase.

Yeah.

And I tried.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts.

Nothing's happened.

Man, your battle's tonight.

I wasn't going to work.

And the greatest of all times, the greatest of all times, Muhammad Ali.

And you can see this on YouTube and everything where before the fight or weigh in and he

would just say, I'm so pretty.

I'm running up and down mounts.

I'm chopping wood.

Let's get, you know, I'm ready to rumble, rumble, young man, rumble.

So I started saying, let's get ready to rumble.

And it wasn't anything like you hear today.

It was, you know, I would say, let's get ready.

Let's get ready to rumble 10 rounds of boxing.

And I just, because I wasn't actually, I wasn't trying to bring attention to myself, but I

was trying to do something to let people know where we're going to, it's the main event.

Right.

And I stayed with it.

And I think that was a smart move.

And you trademarked that.

Yes.

Who advised you to do that?

Or was that just you being like, listen, I made this phrase and none of y'all are taking it.

That, that's the way I felt about it.

Okay.

Because it started.

And a car dealer is, let's get ready to rumble, knock out deals.

And, you know, like, and I'm thinking, wait a minute, they're, you know, they're using my phrase and it became popular and fans are enjoying.

So I started contacting attorneys that consider themselves to be, you know, IP, intellectual property attorneys.

It took four or five before I found one that knew what he was doing.

Cool.

And we got it trademarked.

Pretty smart business decision, I would say.

Yeah, I think so.

So your, your brother is also somebody who's very well known in this combat space.

He's like a superstar with the UFC.

Superstar.

Yeah.

But from my understanding, you guys met later in life.

Yeah.

I, I came, I'm a World War II baby, November 1944.

And dad was in the Navy and off on an aircraft carrier.

And I think they were probably about 19 when they met.

And like, I'm sure probably millions of couples during World War II.

I'm going off to war.

Let's get married.

And because, you know, in those days, you, you couldn't do what you really want to do.

And you had to get married.

So I was the result of that.

And so when I was 11 months old, I went to live with foster parents.

Well, my, my birth mother was a single mom and had to, you know, go to work.

So that's, that's, I was kind of really lucked out in the foster system.

I had the same parents for, until I went in the army at age 20.

So it was quite an experience.

But I, I grew up under their name.

I wasn't legally adopted and I grew up under the name Michael Huber, H-U-B-E-R.

And so when I went in the army, you know, in 1965, they have to make sure you're not a communist and, and a spy.

And they got to see that birth certificate.

No, no, your real name is Buffer.

I literally, you know, went to report and, you know, get on train to go to bootcamp.

And they said, oh, and by the way, you're, you're not Michael Huber anymore.

You're Michael Buffer.

I'm like, oh, okay.

I mean, I knew my real name and everything.

So, and that's, that's how that happened.

And I became Michael Buffer.

So then where does your brother come along in this mix?

Because when my birth father, they, you know,

and mom, they divorced and moved on.

And he went on with his life and got remarried and had a couple of young, young boys.

And we met in 1989.

And you were in your thirties at this point?

Forties.

Wow.

And so did you help your brother also get into this space?

Because it's kind of, it's kind of crazy.

Well, what happened was,

Bruce is the youngest of my two brothers, Bruce and Brian.

And Bruce is, he's a go-getter.

He's a hustler.

He's a businessman.

He's a fantastic poker, blackjack player.

And he's, and so I was at a point in the late eighties, early nineties,

where I needed somebody to start taking these phone calls.

I'm getting for, we want you to do a commercial.

We want you to open the game for the Cowboys.

We, you know, that all these other things.

You're too booked.

Yeah.

Everything besides boxing.

And you can't really take those calls yourself.

You know, you have an agent that has to take care of business because you can't,

you can't talk to a client and say, well, I'm worth this because it just doesn't work.

You need somebody else to, you know, be the bad guy.

Right.

And so we sort of like put our heads together and he liked the idea of, of being a, you know,

manager and agent, and we, we formed a company to take care of.

Take care of this.

And then, and he was always into martial arts.

So in, um, I guess it was like the middle nineties.

Uh, I had a contract with WCW wrestling and at a time, the WW, uh, F as it was known, then was huge superstars and all these like fantastic wrestlers and then WCW and Ted Turner, they were competing against each other and the WCW came up with it.

And, uh, it was, uh, it was an unbelievable contract for me to do their biggest events and it gave it that real official, uh, look to it, you know, where, uh, before in wrestling, you never had a ring announcer come out and say, uh, this contest sanctioned by the, uh, Georgia state athletic commission, Georgia state athletic commission.

What this must be real, you know, just had a, had a great touch.

Yeah.

So that became a really good deal.

And I had done some of these early UFC.

Events, but the contract I had with, uh, Turner and WCW, he said, listen, you know, this, this is sort of, we feel like it's competing with, with wrestling.

And, uh, and I, you know, said, okay.

And so Bruce kind of got his, you know, he said, could I do, you know, could I do that?

And he loves, and he's really, he's got a Brown belt or something.

He's really an MMA guy.

And, uh, like, yeah, you know, he got his foot in the door and it just took off for him.

It became really.

Great thing for Bruce Buffer, the voice of the Octagon.

Right.

Yeah.

But then you had to hire another agent.

Um, no, no.

I mean, we.

He stayed working as your agent.

Oh, he's a worker.

He's a workaholic.

I thank God because I'm lazy.

Yeah.

And it's, it worked out really well.

No, that's awesome.

I mean, I'm in the sports world and have been in the sports world and you see, you know,

athletes who grow up in an athletic family and then you, you know, you see brothers do

well together.

So I'm playing the NBA together or go in the NFL.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But to, to have a voice and just a presence and myself as a host, like that's not, that

is something you have to work for, but then you guys also had it, a little bit of it come

naturally with just your voice and being blessed with that.

So it's really cool to see both of you guys.

Yeah.

Excelling in this space.

Yeah, it is.

So here on Courtside Club, we like to take a halftime break.

I want to jump more into your story, but first I have a little game for you.

I'm going to put.

I'm going to put two people, places, or things into a ring and I want you to call the match.

Okay.

You ready for this?

Yeah.

You're going to excel at this.

Okay.

Okay.

We'll see about that.

So recently you actually were at the Superbowl and announced the Rams, Rams versus Chargers

in the ring.

Well, it was the Rams Bengals in the Superbowl, but you want to, you're going to have the

Rams versus Chargers?

Well, we already saw that outcome.

Unfortunately.

Yeah.

When you're from Ohio.

I'm from Ohio.

It was a little heartbreaking.

Yeah.

It was a great game.

It was.

Yeah.

Rams Chargers.

Who you got?

Okay.

What's really interesting about this matchup is the Chargers are in what probably now is

the hottest division in all of the NFL, all four teams.

Now that Russell's gone to the Broncos.

Mm-hmm.

All four teams.

All four teams could go to the Superbowl.

All four.

I don't think there's another division like that.

Then again, three of the four teams in the Rams division could all be Superbowl contenders

too.

So this is a matchup of two of the best teams in the NFL.

And you were asking me my opinion as to who would win.

Two great, a great quarterback and another guy with the potential to be one of the best

quarterbacks in Herbert.

Man, oh man.

I like how you're building the anticipation like you do at the end of fights.

Yeah.

I'm going to say, I think because the Rams defense would prevail just like it did through

the playoffs and in the Superbowl at the end of the game, in the last 15 minutes of that

game, the defense really came through, I think the Rams would have the edge in that game.

And they both play in the same stadium, so they're going to be in front of the LA fans.

Great game.

All right, we got the Rams.

Next up, I know that you grew up mostly on the East Coast, got your start there, but

now you were living on the West Coast.

So LA versus New York.

City versus city?

City versus city.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love LA.

Like the song says, I love LA.

Yeah.

New York is an exciting, fantastic city for me, but I just can't take it for more than

four or five days at the most.

What I mean when it comes to Broadway and the Yankees and the Mets are playing well and

just everything.

There's a lot of culture in New York, for sure.

Yeah.

But it's a whole different thing.

Blondes versus brunettes.

It's amazing.

A different fashion scene on each city.

But I like the way, you know, I live pretty far outside of the city, just on the fringe

of the county.

Yeah.

I like the atmosphere and where I live, you know, I've got trees and coyotes and rattlesnakes

and I'm in a canyon, so I'm going to stay with LA.

Take it to LA.

Yeah.

All right.

Next up, you're from Philly.

I got two very famous Philly guys for you.

Oh yeah?

We got Will Smith and Kevin Hart.

Head to head in the ring.

I have to say I'm pals with both.

You want to go to YouTube, you can find me with a great introduction of Kevin Hart at

an NBA All-Star game where they have a shootout.

Wait, stop.

The celebrity game?

Yeah.

Well, he has a three-shot shootout with the guy from Golden State.

Steph Curry?

No.

By Thompson?

The tall guy.

The nasty guy on defense.

Draymond Green?

Green.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

No, I was going to say, if you did the All-Star celebrity game, I was going to be very jealous,

because I played in it two years.

Oh, man.

Kevin Hart was in it before I was in it, 2018 and 17, and he had retired from the celebrity

game before that.

But anyway.

Okay.

So, Kevin Hart versus Will Smith?

Mm-hmm.

Will Smith played Ali and really bulked up.

Kevin Hart is a Philly guy.

He might be hard to hit, though, because he's so small.

Oh yeah.

He's dodging and running.

And he's athletic, and he's moving.

He's quick.

Yeah.

It's a tough one.

I hate the taller guy, in spite of the fact that he had an altercation at the Academy

Awards recently.

Right?

God.

I hate to even say this on the air, because I love both guys, and I'm pals with them both.

Yeah.

It's got to be Will.

Going with Will.

Going with Will.

Just based on size.

Size, for sure.

I mean, if you saw him in I Am Legend and some of those other movies, too, the guy's

jacked.

Jacked.

He's Will Smith, man.

Yeah.

He's Will Smith.

Yeah.

All right.

Next up, staying in Philly.

Eagles versus Sixers.

Eagles versus?

76ers.

Eagles.

Oh, that was quick.

Yeah.

Just based on Sixers still have ... They're like another guy away from being ... What

were they?

Number three seed this year in the East.

Yeah.

I guess when I think about the Sixers, I think back to when Iverson was there, because he

was my favorite player growing up.

Well, I think back to when Moses Malone and Faux-Fai-Faux.

Okay.

So, if we take it back, if we go OG Sixers versus-

Wow.

Prime Eagles?

Well, real OG Sixers is when they were called the Warriors and they had Will Chamberlain.

Wait a second.

I haven't heard of that one.

1997, or 1967, pardon me.

Great team.

Now, I'm going to say Eagles because I'm an Eagles freak, so it's just my heart.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'll take that.

Last but not least, this one might be tough, Tyson versus Ali.

Ali, yeah.

And I'll base that on a few different things.

One would be Ali, because my heart would say Ali, and I just said it instantly.

Right.

And Mike Tyson is one of the most devastating punchers in boxing history, heavyweight history.

But based on what boxers did when they fought Mike, would have to be my decision there,

too.

Like, if I wasn't totally in love with the whole history of Muhammad Ali and then would

be more objective, I would then have to look at fighter styles and what they've done.

What's really interesting about both fighters is, in their prime, they both lost, in Mike's

case, two years of his career.

In Ali's case, three and a half years of what would have been maybe the greatest fighter

in the ring in history in those three years.

But they were gone because of his stand on going into the draft during the Vietnam War.

So it's really interesting.

I'm going to say Ali with the edge.

And you know what?

I probably wouldn't even debate that either, because he loves Ali.

And you've stayed relatively close to Mike, have you not?

You went on his podcast.

Do you have any story?

He seems like the biggest character.

And I love what he's gotten into now.

Are there any stories that you might not have told before?

Sure, I'll tell you off the air.

But...

Damn it.

No, I'm just kidding.

The thing I love about Mike right now is he's so happy in his own skin.

And I mean, he's just, you know, with his wife and kids and his life and everything.

And he's just positive and just it's a great life story.

And there's a lot of tragedy there.

I think there's a lot of things in his life where he needed direction and he didn't get

it based on promoters pulling him here and there.

And just...

And where, you know, he was incarcerated.

He had $50 million in the bank and when he got out, he didn't.

And he, you know, just gave up on year after year of trying to fight, get that back through

lawsuits.

Just a lot of horrible things.

And now he's just he's glad he has no complaints about his life.

And I really love that.

I'm really happy for him.

He's unapologetically him.

Yes.

Yes.

And when I...

Obviously, I'm in the space where...

I watch a lot of YouTube and listen to podcasts.

And he's popping up on all these different platforms that I watch.

And you're right.

He has this joy about him.

And I'm not someone who watched a ton of Mike Tyson even when he was fighting.

But to see him there now, he always brings this great energy.

And even when he chatted with you, he was having the time of his life.

Yeah.

You know, and you guys got into the weeds about boxing a little more than we do on Courtside

Club.

But that was a really fun conversation.

Yeah.

It was very interesting.

Because Pott is legal in California and it's quite...

It's all over the place on his show and...

Wait.

But can I tell you, I was reading some of the comments and they were like, Buffer has

a contact high right now.

He's just like totally vibing out.

Oh, yeah.

For real.

It was crazy.

We have sparkling water on Courtside Club.

So keeping it clean here.

No.

Okay.

Let's go to the second half.

So speaking of social media, there is this new wave of celebrity influencer boxers that

are...

Honestly, I feel like bringing a lot more popularity to the sport.

How do you feel about it?

You know, about 20 years ago, we had a show on Fox and it was called Celebrity Boxing.

And we had The Fridge, the guy from the Chicago Bears, and Manute Ball, the seven foot five.

Oh, yeah.

Just...

Who was the skater that had the other skater kneecapped?

Oh.

The...

No.

Nancy Kerrigan.

What?

Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.

Yeah.

Tonya Harding.

The crew was jumping in, ladies and gentlemen.

They couldn't resist.

Wait.

The one who actually hurt...

It just was crazy.

Danny Bonaduce fighting the...

Greg from...

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

The Sid Carpenter.

I mean, the sitcom from the 60s, you had Greg, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

Oh, the Brady family.

The Brady Bunch.

Yeah, yeah, right?

The Brady Bunch, yeah.

Yeah.

And it was crazy.

But it was really fun, and the audience got into it and everything.

The ratings were great, so we did a couple of those.

But that was just celebrity versus celebrity.

Right.

Now you have these guys, Logan and Jake Paul, that are pretty studly athletes.

You think Yeah, YouTubers, and whatever, and of course, they made millions of dollars.

But they've made...

made themselves into especially jake uh pay-per-view boxing events and it's really amazing

and he's got one coming up against um tyson fury's brother and that's really going to be

interesting i mean you know i'm gonna watch there which fight did you announce for jake

i did the uh or a logan paul's kc ksi fight ksi fight in manchester and that was uh not they

it was still technically amateurs that wore headgear and that sort of thing uh sold out arena

it was amazing but when they called you for that did you did you feeling and i'm not sure if i want

to do this this is like a youtube youtubers boxing until until i threw a number at him and they said

okay and i said i'm i'm this is good yeah that worked out well but you're so you're impressed

by what they've done so far yeah i'm impressed i mean um do you think yeah at the end of the

action in the ring is pretty crazy do you think jake paul is legit because a lot of people will

fight against that and say oh these these fights are rigged or he's paying them to to take the far

oh he's not actually boxing real boxers do you agree with that no they're not rigged they're

they're they're professional they're licensed they're governed by whatever state commission

they're in and i mean it's yeah they're they're real fights um i don't know if

it's real competition so we have to see what happens when it's more of a like he obviously

hits pretty hard so we got to see what happens when he hits a guy and misses and right gets

countered by a you know a pro at a different level well i think i think tommy fury is the

first one who is a an alleged boxer everybody else have been like mma or ufc fighters or no

he hasn't been hasn't had a ufc fight right because he has a beef with

dana white who won't let him well that's anyway we could get an outside drama i have no idea

what's going on there but it's all part of the pr exactly all right people we're brought to you by

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1-800-522-4700 what fight to you was most memorable that you were in the ring for that

you got to call there's two different ways to to look at this um there are fights that are

fights and then there are just like other sports whether it's baseball or football you know a game

winning home run and a crummy game or but a great moment i mean a really great moment

is when george foreman and this is 25 years ago or is fighting michael moore for the wba

heavyweight championship and he's losing every minute of every round 45 year old guy against the

20-something undefeated heavyweight with the world title and in the 10th round he knocks michael

moore out wow i mean it's it's just it's literally unbelievable it's what dreams are made of and that

was it was i can just remember having tears in my eyes everything for me it was it went both ways

i knew michael moore for his whole career from late and an undefeated light heavyweight champion

and i knew his his family and i just so i i felt the heartbreak the the the thrill of victory the

agony of defeat right but for george 45 years old he wins the heavyweight championship of the world

you know and i mean it even immediately put sunglasses on because his eyes were so puffed

up from being uh punched so much in that fight and everything just that was a great moment but

um some great fights um one uh from short

everybody in this room doesn't even remember anything but it was in 1989 iran barkley a

so-so mid-range contender fighting tommy hearns for the middleweight world championship

is being murdered i mean just being beaten to death and knocks tommy hearns out i mean this is

out of rocky this is insane he's now the middleweight champion of the world so he's going to

fight this guy now that's like he's

uh people are writing him off as being a has-been some guy named roberto duran

who was the lightweight champ then the welder weight champ then the junior middleweight champ

now he's sort of like now he's taking a shot at becoming middleweight champion against this young

chiseled steel iran barkley in atlantic city it's in february 1989 a blizzard outside 18 inches of

snow that the whole island is shut down yeah it's still everybody packed the place and they fought

ever seen in my life uh so just a great fight so what you're saying is it's not always the knockouts

that are the fights because i feel like oh yeah with our generation the knockout fights are the

ones that everybody in with social media and whatnot those are the ones that are going viral

everybody wants to see that but you're saying the fight that you just talked about that was a split

decision they went yeah you know the full 10 went 12 rounds yeah championship fight um something

that threw a little bit of a wrench in your career that i heard you talk about a bit was

when you were diagnosed with throat cancer what what was that like because i could not even imagine

firstly just being any kind of cancer diagnosis is is a scary moment and then at the same time

that's something that's your whole livelihood is is obviously your voice um can you can you talk

about how you felt in that moment and and what you

did to kind of work through yeah um you know when i got the diagnosis uh you know it's cancer

and cancer usually only goes one way and that's downhill and of all things it was throat cancer

and uh my wife christine and i were engaged at that time making wedding plans and this came along

i was 60 63 i think at the time 64 and um i just assumed well you know i've had a good run

you know and let's just work with this and i had prepared for radiation chemo surgery

and christine just kept trying to contact like who's the best surgeon when we we knew where it

was it was

just i mean they're like tumors but they're like little mini tumors but they're like on the left

side of my throat attached to my tonsils um finally this uh somebody a good friend of ours

said listen there's this one doctor at usc dr dale rice he's the guy i mean you have to and you

know i mean i'm sure everybody's trying to make appointments with just the get a physical it's

oh well the doctor's free in five weeks you know and right you just so she calls i'm scheduled to

have surgery

on a uh that friday she makes a call on a monday that week and that doctor's son

was taking the place of the normal receptionist and it turned out he was a fight fan oh just this

is you know and he said oh oh yeah michael buffett can you come in tomorrow like brought

the x-rays i had and this guy said just looked at and he said go surgery and that'll be it

like like awesome like just like surgery that'll be it i you know i know what to do here and so

i canceled the uh surgery i was scheduled for and that was it that's a blessing it's been 14 years

now with uh uh cancer free that's awesome amazing just i mean it's like you know you get the right

guy at the right time and wow but i mean if i don't think if his uh son had been working the

phone the whole time i would have been like oh my god i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die

i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die

that day it might not have happened well that's what i think was the craziest part about that

story is he could have been in the restroom and somebody could have been filling in and answering

the phone for him you know it's like to have all the the timing lineup like it did it you know

you were meant to get that surgery at that time and be in the position that it yeah but i was

gonna say you you look great you seem super fit do you have a certain workout routine or

diet that you stick to to stay healthy yeah i've had a lot of back surgeries too so i

i can't i can't play golf or tennis or you know i i but um i do uh an elliptical workout for like

an hour hour and 15 minutes almost every day an hour and 15 that's longer than i work out yeah

well i'm a little i'm probably a little slower than you are so still i mean it's pretty impressive

and work up a sweat and that's like cardio and you know just uh 25 pound dumbbells and

that sort of thing my wife is

into yoga that just kind of freaks me out like honestly how do you do that it's working though

whatever you're doing i'm gonna i'm gonna keep working out and doing my 45 minute exercises but

when i when i start getting older i might pick up come on you know we were talking before i i've

seen you on it's on youtube folks you should see her and she's a gymnast she's great flying through

the air this this might be a question that hasn't gotten brought up in in other interviews but it is

something that's near and dear to my heart

and i saw by looking at your social media how much you and your wife care about animals yeah

and and the message that you promote about adopting pets and the senior pets that you do

have has that always been something that you cared about or was there some moment that kind of got you

into that space i you know i mean i had we had a family dog as a kid and i kind of just wish i knew

now what you know like you say that about everything in your life i wish i knew then

now um but um i just cats and dogs uh pets are just uh we're vegan too because of

yeah one of the reasons as well yeah oh great one of the reasons is because of the cruelty

to chickens and cattle and everything i mean that goes on to you know you have to take protein

supplements and it's worth it just anyway um so that's

why he looks great you guys he's also eating a vegan diet that's absolutely cool yeah my

cholesterol is like ridiculous yeah it makes a big difference and um when christine and i met i had a

a yorkie two cats and uh she had a couple of dogs and we just sort of like

you know that grew as a family then we rescued a couple more and you know you just

it they're just a part of our lives and she's a board member with the forgotten dog and uh

so it's just part of our lives and and yeah and my sons do the same thing they have

rescue dogs and well i love that all of my animals have been rescue animals and i volunteered at the

shelter for years and and just being able to to see them you see the animals once and how

they live when they're in shelters and i feel like that was all i needed to

to know how i how i could help out firstly and then if i were ever to

you know get a pet yeah i always try to post stuff that says rescue adopt

uh that your reward is unconditional love and it's really worth it and it's just and i think

it makes you a better person i think people that have pets i know big tough guys that have

dogs and they're just they become there's this one guy in georgia that has a farm with for pit

bulls and just anyone he tattoos and looks like you know just and he just babies all these dogs

and takes care of them like a hundred of them yeah yeah that's awesome well i love that you're still

using that famous voice of yours to also be a voice for everyone thank you very much thank you

all right so we are nearing the end of the game i have some buzzer beaters for you to close it out

so we alluded to this earlier but i want to know

the best could be fight game that you have ever been courtside for this is a buzzer beater i'm

sorry i have to no we're just kidding we'll give you a little time wow all right i'll just take

one recently the really exciting it may not be the best fight i ever sat at ringside but

anthony joshua versus vladimir klitschko the drama of the young fighter versus the older fighter

and both fighters

knock down and this and that and and joshua prevails uh like in the 11th round or whatever

with a knockout win just a great fight and worth going to youtube for anybody out there you want to

watch that good one yeah we love youtube who was one person dead or alive that you would love to

sit courtside with or ringside yeah uh you know even though i've been with him many times and have

known him uh for most of uh my my life and uh and while he was here with us but i i would still

want to uh i just even get choked up just even thinking about it i'd love to be with ali again

when he was ali you know i mean you know in his later years he was still inside that that person

that we saw

one of the things that I, I always, uh, used to get a kick out of was, um, because you could

barely hear his voice. So I'd have to go down like this. And, uh, he would, in his whispering

voice, he would say, I'm still prettier than you. And it just, it just, it just, he was the

greatest and will always be the greatest. And so if there's anybody I could sit next to again,

it would be Muhammad Ali. That's awesome. And what is one event in history,

sporting or otherwise, that you would have loved to have been courtside for?

Wow. Uh, I don't know if this is in, in your memory, but, um, I can remember watching on a

black and white TV, the, uh, 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates winning the world series. It's 60 or 61.

I think it's 60.

With Bill Mazeroski hitting a, uh, a home run in the 10th inning at Forbes field.

I'd like to be at that game.

Perfect. And I have one last thing before I let you go. Would you mind saying a little tagline

for courtside club?

No, I wouldn't mind at all.

Do it. I'm putting you on the spot here.

All right. Which, which one you want me to look at?

Go for it. Center.

Go over here?

Yeah.

Okay. And now ladies and gentlemen,

let's get ready.

Get ready for courtside club.

And the crowd goes wild. Michael, thank you so much.

Thank you. So good to be here.

Thank you.

Thanks.