David Diamante has explained exactly why he announces boxers’ surnames twice before any fight.After the Kell Brook vs Michael Zerafa fight, questions were left unanswered as to the unorthodox style of Diamante.The ring announcer has developed and used this unique style throughout his career. He will announce the full name of a boxer, wait for the crowd to start cheering, and just as the excitement begins to subside, he announces only the second name again.Finally, though, Diamante has explained why he does this after having had multiple questions raised about his way of announcing.“It’s a throwback to respect the tradition of the sport,” he said, speaking in an interview with DAZN USA.“Growing up I loved it when guys did it. My two favourite announcers were Mark Bureau and Ed Derian and they didn’t do the huge fights, but they were great announcers.”The American announcer digressed that the two had a huge influence on him which consequently shaped his style.“They would always repeat the surnames and I always loved that as a kid. It was one of those things- I grew up watching the fights and loving the fights. Hearing that with the music just sounds right to me.”He also revealed how the style of announcing came about in the first place.
“It originally started many, many years ago. Back in the day that some of the of the load speaker systems weren’t that great and guys would call out the name over here and then do it over here to that, so these guys can hear it on the other side of the arena.”
Known also for his incredibly long dreadlocks, Diamante referred to a time where he had no choice but to call the names out on several occasions.
“It’s funny, even in New York I did a fight one time in the Bronx at least 15 years ago and the DJ only got paid for a couple of hours so he left. So, I was out there with no sound system, so you know, I was calling the names, so I actually had to do it for that,” he joked.
The boxing fanatic ended on a gracious testament to the sport's history and suggested that more announcers should follow suit.
“I just love the tradition of the sport. It is one of the things that I love about it. Boxing has such a great tradition,” he added.
“None of the announcers do it anymore and I loved it and I am going to keep that tradition going.”