Ready to crumble
Ageing Pacquiao could be headed for a fall, says ring announcer
MICHAEL Buffer, the silky voice of a savage sport, has seen enough upsets in his 35 years in boxing to know that Jeff Horn could stun Manny Pacquiao on Sunday in Australia’s biggest ever fight at Suncorp Stadium.
Buffer, the 72-year-old ring announcer, has made millions from his trademarked catchphrase “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’’ and thinks at 38 Pacquiao could be getting ready to crumble.
“In boxing anything is possible,’’ said Buffer, who has been the ring announcer for almost all of Pacquiao’s big fights including the Filipino’s own upset victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2008.
“This could be a Cinderella story. Manny Pacquiao is getting older and when you get older things don’t work as well as they used to.’’
That is, except for Buffer, who is still unbeatable with a microphone in his hand.
He has travelled the world as a central figure in some of the great battles in boxing history and will introduce the fighters to a crowd expected to top 50,000 on Sunday.
Buffer left the American army in 1968, sold cars and became a male model.
In 1982, he was at home in Philadelphia watching boxing on TV and though he could do a better job that the ring announcer.
Buffer started announcing at boxing shows and tried different lines to excite the crowd. Then one night after introducing a long line of commissioners, officials and dignitaries, with some sense of desperation he exclaimed: “Let’s get ready to rumble’’.
A star was born.