Bob Sheridan | |
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Born |
Bob Sheridan 1944 (age 72–73) Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
Other names | "Colonel" Bob Sheridan, The Voice of Boxing |
Awards | World Boxing Hall of Fame (2004), Boxing Writers' Association of America Sam Taub Award, Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame (2012) |
Sports commentary career | |
Sports | Boxing, MMA |
Bob Sheridan (born 1944 in Boston) is an American boxing and MMA commentator. He has broadcast over 10,000 fights on radio and television.
Sheridan attended the University of Miami on a baseball scholarship and briefly played for the Class-A Miami Marlins after graduating in 1966. While working as a gym teacher in Miami, Sheridan paid for air time on WDER-FM on Sunday mornings. Before the end of the year, he started calling boxing matches on WGBS. He went on to announce several of Muhammad Ali's title fights, including the Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman and the Thrilla in Manila which saw Ali take on Joe Frazier. He anchored telecasts for Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield's bouts. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2007 he succeeded Lon McEachern as the main play-by-play commentator for the bodogFIGHT mixed martial arts promotion, calling fights alongside Paul Lazenby, Jeff Osborne and Royce Gracie.
Sheridan was born in 1944, in Boston, Massachusetts, after his parents moved to the United States from Ireland as toddlers. His mother came from County Mayo and his father came from County Longford; both were born in 1905. Sheridan didn't come from a highly educated background. His grandfather worked as a sheet-metal worker and passed that trade onto Sheridan's father. Bob's knowledge of Irish culture was provided to him by Andrew Dougherty, his maternal grandfather. Sheridan praised his family for being "wise" and "family-orientated".
Sheridan graduated from Lexington High School and continued on to college (University of Miami) on a baseball scholarship. After graduating from college in 1966, Sheridan found a spot on a Minor League team called the Miami Marlins. By his own account, Sheridan wasn't very good at baseball and had only been brought on the team to fill a spot until a younger player arrived.