I used to watch old clips of Muhammad Ali, where he'd be talking the jive during interviews, you know, 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, rumble, man, rumble.'
I remember a show in New Jersey several years ago when a big fight broke out in the crowd. I took the microphone and introduced Frank Sinatra. He wasn't there, but even the guys creating the disturbance stopped to look.
I was pretty dreadful on my first night as an announcer as back in those days the scorecards were written in a very strange way so that didn't help and some of the fighter's names were unpronounceable.
I've met kids right out of the Olympics who tell me they can't wait to be introduced by me. After a fight, fighters say, 'Being introduced by you, what a thrill.' That's probably the best compliment I can get.
I didn't see conflict during the Vietnam War, but I did lose close friends.
I have done a lot of NFL games, a season-opening home games, playoff games, championship games, and of course Stanley Cup games, World Series, NBA championship games. But I have never done a Superbowl. It's probably the only major sporting event I've never done and I would like to.
I've been blessed with doing something I love and then at the same time, do introductions at World Series, Stanley Cup championships, NFL playoff games and a lot of commercials. No regrets at all.
One of my favourite fighters to watch ever, and of course before I was a ring announcer, was Muhammad Ali.
The great Muhammad Ali used to have that phrase where he would say: 'Rumble young man, rumble' and 'I'm so pretty I'm ready to rumble.' I kind of just fine tuned it to 'Let's get ready to rumble.'
The night of Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao. I woke up that morning with a very, very bad case of laryngitis and couldn't speak at all. I had no voice. And I was able, just by having chicken soup and barley and salt water, to have just enough for that one fight.
Most times, I'm playing myself in films, like 'Rocky' or 'Creed.'
One time, a hedge fund gentleman in Connecticut brought in a bunch of professional wrestlers and myself at a very hefty price for his son's 11th birthday.
One of my careers just before ring announcing was that I worked as a model.
I've done quite a few gigs for the military. Some of them had to be kept under the wire. I'm a three year Army veteran myself, and I'm always available to do stuff like that. I've even done some things for the British military, too.
One of the things I really love about my job is enthusiasm.
A lot of people assumed for all those years that I was the official announcer for HBO because I had done almost all their fights. I worked on all of them independently.
The only vocal training I had was playing with a tape recorder as a kid, and you know, doing the beginning of the 'Lone Ranger' show, with a hearty hi-o silver, and just having fun, never really thinking I would be an announcer.
You know, there's a lot of luck involved in anybody's success.
There's a lot of luck involved in getting married to the right woman.
If you were to make a commercial, or do a magazine ad that says 'let's get ready to rumble' to draw attention to your product, you've stolen my property.
