Latest news with #announcing
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Big Mo, the new voice of boxing, wants you to listen – no, really listen
I wanna say this without sounding like a d***,' Kody Mommaerts starts. His job, after all, involves selecting the right words. And though the stakes are lower on a Zoom call with The Independent than when a billion-dollar company entrusts him with a live microphone, the ring announcer still considers his words – and delivery – carefully. In this case, it is all to do with humility, and his concern that an analogy for his career might be misinterpreted as arrogance. 'I used to play video games as a kid,' says Mommaerts, widely known as 'Big Mo'. 'I don't play much anymore, but there was a phrase called 'speedrunning'. 'How quickly can I beat this game?' In a way... I've kind of speedrun announcing. I don't want that to come across as d***ish!' Advertisement It's okay, he's allowed to say it. Firstly, he is just over six months removed from announcing one of the most-watched fights of all time, in Jake Paul's boxing match with Mike Tyson – a bout that played out in front of more than 72,000 fans in Dallas, and more than 60 million households live on Netflix. Secondly, Mommaerts has already ticked off boxing, MMA, bare-knuckle fighting events and more, at an elite level. Thirdly, at 29 years old, he is the youngest MC at the top end of combat sports. And finally (on this taster of a list, at least), he is about to fulfil his dream: announcing at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Although, in a way, Mommaerts has already done it. He can explain that contradiction. 'I've talked about affirmation and visualisation a lot,' says the Denver native. 'I learned it when I was playing college football, but I perfected it while announcing. I would spend so much time on the road with my own thoughts, I would play videos in my mind: 'This is what I'll be wearing, this is what it'll feel like, this is how I'm gonna say Madison Square Garden.' 'I've already lived this in my brain, now I just get to experience it in real life. It's like when I get asked about the Mike Tyson introduction; I've already announced him in my brain. It's reality, so in theory it's more important, but I've already done this.' Still, 'I think [MSG] is gonna be the first moment in my career where I really lean back in my chair, like: 'Holy s***.' I did it a little bit at Paul vs Tyson, but there I almost blacked out because of the adrenaline...' Mommaerts (holding mic) moments before Jake Paul's seismic bout with Mike Tyson (Getty/Netflix) The rest of the world will get to hear Mommaerts's rendition of 'Madisoooon Squuuaaaare Gaaaaaaaaaardeeeeen' on 11 July, when Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano top an all-female card and end the most important rivalry in the history of women's boxing. Their trilogy began at MSG in 2022, when Taylor narrowly beat the Puerto Rican, before the Irish icon did the same when they clashed on the Paul-Tyson undercard. Taylor and Serrano, the first women's boxers to earn seven-figure paydays, will return to the scene of their first fight and the platform of their second: Netflix, which is showing its belief in Mommaerts again. Advertisement 'I came into this industry with zero broadcast, TV, boxing, or professional speaking experience,' he reflects. 'I'd publicly spoken, but at a collegiate level, because I was young. So [a few years ago], this 25-year-old kid with no background was holding a live microphone for billion-dollar corporations, who had sunk millions of dollars into an event. I understood the apprehension of using me. When I cold-called all the various promoters and networks, I understood them saying: 'Yeah, we're not gonna use you, we're gonna use the guy we've been using for 40 years.' Mommaerts introducing two-weight boxing world champion Natasha Jonas (Lawrence Lustig / BOXXER) 'There was a vast difference between me and every other MC, so I had to be perfect, polished, professional. They might have been looking for any reason to say: 'This is why we didn't hire the kid, I told you this was a bad idea.'' Mommaerts credits his professionalism with arguably being more important than his voice, but what of that voice? Trying to describe it is a punishing endeavour for a writer. There is a deepness to it, but also a clarity and crispness – a precision. To hear Mommaerts speak is to feel like you're trying on the most expensive set of headphones on the shelves, with the bass and treble dialled to perfection. Advertisement But to hear Mommaerts speak is one thing; to really listen to what he has to say is another. And listening to him now, a few years into an electric run atop the business, are there questions over where Big Mo starts and Kody Mommaerts ends? 'I don't want it to sound like Big Mo is this character – that's not it,' Mommaerts says, but: 'I have to dial things up. My job is very charisma-driven, it's very extraversion. It's camera, flash, smile, announcing, crowd, media, press conference. It's so much, and I'm in front of it all. And I don't mean that in a boastful way, as if I'm the star of the show, but I do have to be almost this character in a sense. I have to be this larger-than-life person to present in the way I want. I have to dial things up. 'I've never actually shared this before: this job has changed my social battery. What a lot of people don't understand is: beyond just being an MC, and the whole point of being an MC is establishing authority and being vocal, I'm also 6ft 7in. I'm a big guy, I stand out already, and a large component of my job is very visual. Networks like Sky and Netflix like putting me on camera, which is great, but it's weird: it's just changed how I look at being in front of people. Now, when I'm outside of my job, I don't always love being in front of a lot of people. I try to keep it more low-key. Mommaerts is quickly becoming the voice of boxing, while also working on other combat sports (Lawrence Lustig / BOXXER) 'Before the job, when I would go out, I would be this real social person, life of the party, blah blah blah. Now, when I go out, I'm kind of more of the guy on the wall. I'm a little bit more reserved. I still like to have fun, but I like to kind of keep to myself. So, the job has changed me a little bit – not in a bad way, but I've noticed it.' Advertisement There is little that the man with the mic doesn't notice; while his God-given voice took him a long way, his attention to detail has been a key part of his success, too. So, if anyone can channel change into something unequivocally advantageous, it is Mommaerts.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Big Mo, the new voice of boxing, wants you to listen – no, really listen
I wanna say this without sounding like a d***,' Kody Mommaerts starts. His job, after all, involves selecting the right words. And though the stakes are lower on a Zoom call with The Independent than when a billion-dollar company entrusts him with a live microphone, the ring announcer still considers his words – and delivery – carefully. In this case, it is all to do with humility, and his concern that an analogy for his career might be misinterpreted as arrogance. 'I used to play video games as a kid,' says Mommaerts, widely known as 'Big Mo'. 'I don't play much anymore, but there was a phrase called 'speedrunning'. 'How quickly can I beat this game?' In a way... I've kind of speedrun announcing. I don't want that to come across as d***ish!' It's okay, he's allowed to say it. Firstly, he is just over six months removed from announcing one of the most-watched fights of all time, in Jake Paul 's boxing match with Mike Tyson – a bout that played out in front of more than 72,000 fans in Dallas, and more than 60 million households live on Netflix. Secondly, Mommaerts has already ticked off boxing, MMA, bare-knuckle fighting events and more, at an elite level. Thirdly, at 29 years old, he is the youngest MC at the top end of combat sports. And finally (on this taster of a list, at least), he is about to fulfil his dream: announcing at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Although, in a way, Mommaerts has already done it. He can explain that contradiction. 'I've talked about affirmation and visualisation a lot,' says the Denver native. 'I learned it when I was playing college football, but I perfected it while announcing. I would spend so much time on the road with my own thoughts, I would play videos in my mind: 'This is what I'll be wearing, this is what it'll feel like, this is how I'm gonna say Madison Square Garden.' 'I've already lived this in my brain, now I just get to experience it in real life. It's like when I get asked about the Mike Tyson introduction; I've already announced him in my brain. It's reality, so in theory it's more important, but I've already done this.' Still, 'I think [MSG] is gonna be the first moment in my career where I really lean back in my chair, like: 'Holy s***.' I did it a little bit at Paul vs Tyson, but there I almost blacked out because of the adrenaline...' The rest of the world will get to hear Mommaerts's rendition of 'Madisoooon Squuuaaaare Gaaaaaaaaaardeeeeen' on 11 July, when Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano top an all-female card and end the most important rivalry in the history of women's boxing. Their trilogy began at MSG in 2022, when Taylor narrowly beat the Puerto Rican, before the Irish icon did the same when they clashed on the Paul-Tyson undercard. Taylor and Serrano, the first women's boxers to earn seven-figure paydays, will return to the scene of their first fight and the platform of their second: Netflix, which is showing its belief in Mommaerts again. 'I came into this industry with zero broadcast, TV, boxing, or professional speaking experience,' he reflects. 'I'd publicly spoken, but at a collegiate level, because I was young. So [a few years ago], this 25-year-old kid with no background was holding a live microphone for billion-dollar corporations, who had sunk millions of dollars into an event. I understood the apprehension of using me. When I cold-called all the various promoters and networks, I understood them saying: 'Yeah, we're not gonna use you, we're gonna use the guy we've been using for 40 years.' 'There was a vast difference between me and every other MC, so I had to be perfect, polished, professional. They might have been looking for any reason to say: 'This is why we didn't hire the kid, I told you this was a bad idea.'' Mommaerts credits his professionalism with arguably being more important than his voice, but what of that voice? Trying to describe it is a punishing endeavour for a writer. There is a deepness to it, but also a clarity and crispness – a precision. To hear Mommaerts speak is to feel like you're trying on the most expensive set of headphones on the shelves, with the bass and treble dialled to perfection. But to hear Mommaerts speak is one thing; to really listen to what he has to say is another. And listening to him now, a few years into an electric run atop the business, are there questions over where Big Mo starts and Kody Mommaerts ends? 'I don't want it to sound like Big Mo is this character – that's not it,' Mommaerts says, but: 'I have to dial things up. My job is very charisma-driven, it's very extraversion. It's camera, flash, smile, announcing, crowd, media, press conference. It's so much, and I'm in front of it all. And I don't mean that in a boastful way, as if I'm the star of the show, but I do have to be almost this character in a sense. I have to be this larger-than-life person to present in the way I want. I have to dial things up. 'I've never actually shared this before: this job has changed my social battery. What a lot of people don't understand is: beyond just being an MC, and the whole point of being an MC is establishing authority and being vocal, I'm also 6ft 7in. I'm a big guy, I stand out already, and a large component of my job is very visual. Networks like Sky and Netflix like putting me on camera, which is great, but it's weird: it's just changed how I look at being in front of people. Now, when I'm outside of my job, I don't always love being in front of a lot of people. I try to keep it more low-key. 'Before the job, when I would go out, I would be this real social person, life of the party, blah blah blah. Now, when I go out, I'm kind of more of the guy on the wall. I'm a little bit more reserved. I still like to have fun, but I like to kind of keep to myself. So, the job has changed me a little bit – not in a bad way, but I've noticed it.' There is little that the man with the mic doesn't notice; while his God-given voice took him a long way, his attention to detail has been a key part of his success, too. So, if anyone can channel change into something unequivocally advantageous, it is Mommaerts.
CTV News
03-07-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Calgary Stampede announcer's career turns 40: ‘Might as well do another 40'
Les McIntyre speaks into the microphone at a rodeo in Alberta in an undated handout photo. The longtime announcer on the province's chuckwagon circuit is celebrating 40 years on the mic this summer, and will be the announcer at the upcoming Calgary Stampede from Sept. 4 - 13, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Kelly McIntyre) It was August 1983 at the Hand Hills Lake Stampede and Les McIntyre had just fallen out of his chuckwagon. As he remembers it, McIntyre had made a sharp turn, hit a competitor's wagon and tumbled to the ground at no less than 40 kilometres an hour. When he hit the ground, another wagon following behind hit him, knocking McIntyre out cold and resulting in a career-ending back injury before the age of 30. He spent the next week in a Calgary hospital bed. 'That was the end of that party,' says McIntyre, now 71. He'd dreamt as a child to one day compete in the chucks at the Calgary Stampede. Two years later, just as he was preparing to begin schooling to become an auctioneer, he was asked if he'd be able to call the upcoming chuckwagon races in Trochu, Alta. 'I lied through my teeth and said, 'Oh yeah, you bet.' I'd never called one in my life.' So began a career calling rodeos and chuckwagon races across Alberta, and eventually at the Calgary Stampede -- a career that reaches the 40-year milestone this summer. 'I fell out of a wagon and fell into announcing,' says McIntyre, reflecting on his career-ending injury. 'Looking back, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.' McIntyre's voice will flood the speakers at GMC Stadium this year for every chuckwagon race at the Calgary Stampede, which begins Friday. It will be his 17th year calling the Stampede after taking up the mantle from legendary Stampede announcer Joe Carberry in 2008. In doing so, the lifelong resident of Vulcan, Alta., and longtime auctioneer will continue a four-decade-long streak in which he's never missed a job, whether it's for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth or an early spring race in northern Alberta. Early in his career, he would call more than 120 chuckwagon races and rodeos per summer, a number that has dropped to about 80 annually. One of his first lapses came just a few weeks ago when he slept through a morning production meeting in Medicine Hat, Alta. 'I missed my first production meeting in 40 years, but I've never missed a performance,' he says. McIntyre credits his longevity to a few key principles. He's never been a smoker and rarely drinks alcohol and coffee, to keep his vocal cords healthy. As for his natural ability to call such a fast-paced sport, McIntyre says his success is partly owed to his background in auctioneering. He grew up on a cattle farm and frequently delivered livestock to the High River auction market and Calgary stockyards, where he first witnessed auctioneers at work. He got into the business himself in 1986 after going to auction school in Billings, Mont., and was a livestock auctioneer until 2001. The career gifted him with the ability to think and speak fast, he says. 'If you never sell anything in your life, I always say the best public speaking and public relations course would be to go to auction school ... They take the shyness out of you.' Every rodeo he calls is slightly different from the other. At the Calgary Stampede, he says, most spectators know little about the sport, so he often provides a brief commentary on the sport's history. '(Spectators) think, 'What on earth are these coconuts doing out there?'' He's also more keen in Calgary to explain to spectators what happens when a horse gets injured, or those horses' backgrounds prior to chuckwagon racing. He describes the circuit as 'the largest horse rescue society' in Western Canada, as most chuck breeds are retired from horse racing. 'I guarantee you that we can get a horse into the hospital and treat it a lot quicker than you can get a human being into the hospital today,' he says. Explaining the sport isn't a problem at rural rodeos around Alberta such as the Ponoka Stampede, the final prelude to the Calgary Stampede that happens the week before in central Alberta, he says. 'It's not as much explaining in Ponoka,' he says. McIntyre says he has slowed down his life in small ways. He's trimmed his workload in recent years by handing off the early afternoon rodeo job to young announcers. But he believes there's no reason his vocal cords can't last as long as his brain. He credits his wife, Kelly, with keeping him in shape and eating healthy. And when asked if he plans to quit any time soon, he gives a flat answer: no. 'I think 40 is a good number. Might as well do another 40.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2025. Matthew Scace, The Canadian Press
