Harold Lederman (January 26, 1940 – May 11, 2019) was an American boxing judge and analyst. He began his career as a boxing judge in 1967 and joined the cast of ''

HBO World Championship Boxing ''HBO World Championship Boxing'' (in later years stylized in its title card as ''HBO Boxing – World Championship'') was an American sports television series on premium television network HBO. It premiered on January 22, 1973 with a fight that s ...

'' in 1986, and was there until HBO dropped boxing in 2018. Lederman was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in the class of 2016. Lederman died on May 11, 2019 at 79 years of age, from cancer.

Education and career

Lederman attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and upon graduation earned a license from New York's State Athletic Commission to judge title fights on June 26, 1967. He judged (by his count) over a hundred title fights in every corner of the globe, all the while maintaining his

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

practice in New York. In 1986, HBO executive producer

Ross Greenburg Ross Greenburg (born c. 1955) was president of HBO Sports from 2000 to 2011. He was an executive producer for HBO Sports in 1985. During his tenure he won 51 Sports Emmys and 8 Peabody Awards. He succeeded Seth Abraham as president. HBO Sports i ...

invited Lederman to join HBO's boxing show World Championship Boxing as an "expert commentator". Lederman retired from active judging in 1999 but remained with the HBO show as "unofficial ringside scorer." His voice could be heard when official HBO commentator Jim Lampley introduced him with the line, "...and now the rules with our unofficial ringside scorer, Harold Lederman," after which he read the rules of the fight (often beginning by saying "Ok, Jim...") and occasionally the rules for scoring fights to the audience and cut back to Lampley. During the fight, after the 3rd, 6th and 9th rounds and immediately after the fight, while waiting for the official scores, Lampley would have Lederman tell the fans what his unofficial card looked like, often calling it the Lederman card. HBO also ran a graphic at the beginning of each round with his preceding round's score.

Family life

Lederman was married with two daughters and lived in

Orangeburg, New York Orangeburg is a hamlet and census-designated place, in the town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Tappan, south of Blauvelt, east of Pearl River and west of Piermont. The population was 4,568 at the ...

. His daughter, Julie Lederman, followed her father into the business as a ring side judge. When not commentating, Lederman could be frequently found in interviews from the boxing press.

Appearances

In 2012, Lederman served as Master of Ceremonies for the Ring 10 Veterans Boxing Foundation 2nd Annual Fundraiser..

Awards and honors

* 2016: International Boxing Hall of Fame * 1997: inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame * Inductee, Rockland County, New York Sports HOF * Marvin Goldberg Award, Bna'i Br'ith Max Kase Sports Lodge (outstanding contribution to boxing) * 2006: "Good Guy Award", Boxing Writers Association of America

References

External links

* * by Goossen Tutor Productions * from HBO {{DEFAULTSORT:Lederman, Harold 1940 births 2019 deaths Television personalities from New York City Boxing judges Columbia University alumni People from Orangeburg, New York Sportspeople from the Bronx