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Max Kellerman (born August 6, 1973) is an American sports television personality and
boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
commentator. He is the host of ''
This Just In with Max Kellerman ''This Just In with Max Kellerman'' is an American television sports talk program on ESPN, hosted by Max Kellerman Max Kellerman (born August 6, 1973) is an American sports television personality and boxing commentator. He is the host of ''This ...
'' and the co-host of ''Keyshawn, JWill and Max'' on ESPN Radio. He previously was a co-host of ESPN talk show '' First Take'' alongside
Stephen A. Smith Stephen Anthony Smith (born ) is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is a commentator on ESPN's ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. He also makes frequent appearances as an N ...
and
Molly Qerim Molly Qerim (born March 31, 1984) is an American television personality and a host of ESPN's '' First Take''. She previously was the host of NFL Network's weekday morning show, ''NFL AM'', and ''NFL Fantasy Live''. Early life Qerim was born ...
. He also previously was the co-host of the sports radio talk show ''Max & Marcellus'', with
Marcellus Wiley Marcellus Vernon Wiley Sr. (born November 30, 1974) is an American sportscaster and former American football defensive end who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Dallas ...
, on ESPNLA. Kellerman hosted the ESPN panel talk show ''
Around the Horn ''Around the Horn'' (''ATH'') is an American sports roundtable discussion show, conducted in the style of a panel game, produced by ESPN. The show premiered on November 4, 2002, as a replacement for ''Unscripted with Chris Connelly'', and has ...
'' from the show's incarnation in 2002 until 2004 and co-hosted the sports comedy talk show '' SportsNation'', alongside Wiley and
Michelle Beadle Michelle Denise Beadle (born October 23, 1975) is an American sports reporter and host who is part of the San Antonio Spurs broadcast team. Beadle was formerly the co-host of the ESPN morning sports show '' Get Up!'' along with Jalen Rose and ...
, from 2013 until 2016. He was also a studio commentator with Brian Kenny on ''
Friday Night Fights The cable television network ESPN has occasionally broadcast boxing events over the majority of its history, as part of several arrangements, including contracts with specific promotions and consortiums such as Golden Boy Promotions, Premier Box ...
'' and a
color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...
for ''
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 ...
'' and ''
Boxing After Dark ''Boxing After Dark'' is an HBO boxing program, premiered on February 3, 1996, that usually showed fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights. Unlike its sister program, ''HBO World Championship Boxin ...
''.


Career


Sports broadcasting

Kellerman's first broadcasting experience was as a teenager on a New York City
public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...
cable TV program on professional boxing called ''Max on Boxing''. Given the medium, the show was quite simple but nevertheless caught the attention of the boxing community, including a young Mike Tyson. In the late 1990s after graduating from
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 ...
with a degree in history, Kellerman was hired as an analyst on
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
's boxing series ''
Friday Night Fights The cable television network ESPN has occasionally broadcast boxing events over the majority of its history, as part of several arrangements, including contracts with specific promotions and consortiums such as Golden Boy Promotions, Premier Box ...
'' where he met future radio partner Brian Kenny. In November 2002 he was given his own show and, influenced by ''
Pardon the Interruption ''Pardon the Interruption'' (abbreviated ''PTI'') is an American sports talk television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stor ...
'', became the architect and original host of ESPN's ''
Around the Horn ''Around the Horn'' (''ATH'') is an American sports roundtable discussion show, conducted in the style of a panel game, produced by ESPN. The show premiered on November 4, 2002, as a replacement for ''Unscripted with Chris Connelly'', and has ...
''. While the show was incredibly popular, Kellerman and ESPN could not reach an agreement for him to remain with the network, and Kellerman left the network in early 2004 to host a new show called ''
I, Max ''I, Max'' was a sports commentary show featuring host Max Kellerman and Michael Holley that aired nightly on Fox Sports Net. The concept of the show involved Kellerman and his ego (explaining the name of the show) against the world, represented ...
'' on
Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
. He would discuss sports news with
Michael Holley Michael S. Holley (born February 26, 1970) is an American television and radio sports commentator, sports reporter and author. He formerly wrote columns for the ''Boston Globe'', ''Chicago Tribune'', ''The Plain Dealer'', and '' Akron Beacon Jo ...
, former ''Around the Horn'' panelist, and Bill Wolff. Max took time off from the show after his brother's death (see below). He later returned, but despite his show garnering the network's highest ratings for a period of time, it was canceled by Fox. The last ''I, Max'' show aired on February 18, 2005. Max also was the co-host of Spike TV's 2006 series, ''
King of Vegas ''King of Vegas'' was a gambling series that first aired on Spike TV in the United States on January 17, 2006. It was hosted by boxing commentator Max Kellerman and co-hosted by handicapper Wayne Allyn Root, who gave color commentary and his odds ...
''. In 2005,
Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, conservative political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show '' Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News since 2016. Carlson began ...
announced that Kellerman would be a permanent contributor on his
MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
show ''
Tucker Tucker may refer to: Places United States * Tucker, Arkansas * Tucker, Georgia * Tucker, Mississippi * Tucker, Missouri * Tucker, Utah, ghost town * Tucker County, West Virginia Outer space * Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in the s ...
''. On a segment of the show called "The Outsider", Kellerman generally took the position selected by Carlson. Frequently, Carlson introduced Kellerman with a bio containing a humorously enthusiastic compliment. The show was canceled in March 2008. Starting in the week of August 21, 2006, Kellerman did at least two nights of audition shows at 7 PM for WEPN (1050) 1050 ESPN Radio in New York City, hosting one night with
Sid Rosenberg Sidney Ferris Rosenberg (born April 19, 1967) is an American radio personality. He is currently the host of ''Sid and Friends in the Morning'' and "Sid Sports Sunday" plus sports reporter on 77 WABC in New York City. Career Rosenberg is known f ...
. On August 28, 2006, it was announced that Brandon Tierney would be taking over at 7 PM, which temporarily left Kellerman without a timeslot. On October 23, 2006, Max began hosting the 10 AM to noon program on WEPN, replacing ESPN's nationally broadcast
Colin Cowherd Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...
program. In September 2007, Kellerman began hosting a third hour, extending the show to 1 pm. Two months later,
ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...
and SportsCenter host Brian Kenny joined the show as co-host. On February 4, 2008, the show was added to
XM Radio XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its s ...
on
ESPN Xtra ESPN Xtra is a satellite radio station that carries sports talk programming produced by ESPN. The channel was originally on XM 141, but is now broadcast on Sirius XM Radio channel 81. In February 2008, three shows from local ESPN Radio owned- ...
. In the fall of 2008, Kenny left the radio program to attend to his SportsCenter duties and the program was again named ''The Max Kellerman Show''. Kellerman and ESPN radio mutually ended their relationship on March 9, 2009. Evening host Brandon Tierney temporarily filled in Kellerman, and Colin Cowherd took his timeslot. Kellerman continued his boxing broadcast work at HBO. He was originally hired for the network's
Boxing After Dark ''Boxing After Dark'' is an HBO boxing program, premiered on February 3, 1996, that usually showed fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights. Unlike its sister program, ''HBO World Championship Boxin ...
telecasts, working alongside
Fran Charles Fran Charles (born October 19, 1968) is an American television personality for MLB Network, formerly for NFL Network. Career Charles attended John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri; then earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication at Stanford ...
and Lennox Lewis. In 2007, Kellerman moved up to the
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 ...
main team alongside
Jim Lampley James Lampley (born April 8, 1949) is an American sportscaster, news anchor, film producer, and restaurant owner. He was best known as a blow-by-blow announcer on ''HBO World Championship Boxing'' for 30 years. He also had covered a record 14 O ...
,
Harold Lederman 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'' in 1986, and was there until HBO dropped boxing ...
, and a rotating guest analyst, usually
Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, inc ...
or the late
Emanuel Steward Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was also called the Godfather of Detroit Boxing. Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his care ...
. On May 12, 2010, it was announced Kellerman had been hired by
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
: "Kellerman will weigh in on sports and pop culture issues on ''CNN American Morning'' and other programs. He has previously served as a contributor to MSNBC." Kellerman was announced in December 2010 as the new midday host at ESPNLA 710 alongside former NFL player co-host
Marcellus Wiley Marcellus Vernon Wiley Sr. (born November 30, 1974) is an American sportscaster and former American football defensive end who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Dallas ...
, replacing LA Sports Live with Andrew Siciliano and former NBA player Mychal Thompson. Program director Mike Thompson (no relation to Mychal Thompson), who hired Kellerman, had worked with Kellerman at WEPN. In May 2015, Kellerman covered the
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, billed as the ''Fight of the Century'' or the ''Battle for Greatness'', was a professional boxing superfight between undefeated five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and eight-division worl ...
boxing match for HBO. He received criticism online for his post-match interview with
Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...
. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' stated that his line of questioning was, "interpreted as patronizing" as his wording to Pacquiao was "You thought you won today, Why?" However, Kellerman retorted that he "had to ask him" about his disagreement with the judges' adjudication. Kellerman has replaced
Skip Bayless Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II) is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show '' First Take'' with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left ...
on
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
's ''First Take'' as co-analyst alongside
Stephen A. Smith Stephen Anthony Smith (born ) is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is a commentator on ESPN's ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. He also makes frequent appearances as an N ...
and host
Molly Qerim Molly Qerim (born March 31, 1984) is an American television personality and a host of ESPN's '' First Take''. She previously was the host of NFL Network's weekday morning show, ''NFL AM'', and ''NFL Fantasy Live''. Early life Qerim was born ...
, effective July 25, 2016. With HBO leaving the boxing business at the end of 2018, Kellerman signed a multiyear contract with ESPN which greatly expanded his role in the network's boxing coverage. However, in contrast to his color-commentary role with HBO, for ESPN he is presiding over network coverage from the broadcast desk rather than at ringside.


Acting

Kellerman made a brief appearance in the 2006 film '' Rocky Balboa'' alongside Lampley and Merchant, who served as the broadcast team for the fight between Rocky and Mason "The Line" Dixon. He would also make an appearance in the 2015 film '' Creed'', as the reporter interviewing
Donnie Creed Adonis "Donnie" Creed (born Adonis Johnson) is a fictional character from the follow-ups to the ''Rocky'' film series: ''Creed'' (2015), ''Creed II'' (2018), and the upcoming ''Creed III'' (2023). The character is played by Michael B. Jordan in ...
at the conclusion of his fight with "Pretty" Ricky Conlan. Kellerman played himself in the short film ''The Wedding Bout''. Kellerman played himself in ''
Real Husbands of Hollywood ''Real Husbands of Hollywood'' (abbreviated ''RHOH'') is an American reality television parody that originally aired on Black Entertainment Television, BET from January 15, 2013 to December 13, 2016. A Revival (television), revival series produce ...
''.


Personal life

Kellerman was born in
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, and grew up in the
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
area of New York City. He graduated from New York City's
PS 41 Public School 41, Greenwich Village School, is a public elementary PreK–5 neighborhood catchment school. Founded in 1867, P.S. 41 is located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York City. In 1957, the old PS 41 was torn down and replaced by a ...
in Greenwich Village, Hunter College High School in 1991 and, later,
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 ...
in 1998. Kellerman and his wife, Erin (Manning), have three daughters, Esther, Sam (named after Max's late brother), and Mira. Kellerman pointed out on ''Tucker'' that "Max" is not short for anything, and that he does not have a
middle name In various cultures, a middle name is a portion of a personal name that is written between the person's first given name and their surname. A middle name is often abbreviated and is then called middle initial or just initial. A person may be ...
. He is active in
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
cultural activities and, according to ''
The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...
'' and the
Yiddish Book Center The Yiddish Book Center (formerly the National Yiddish Book Center), located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, a ...
, speaks
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
. A hip hop fan, evidenced by his intro music on his ESPN Radio show, Kellerman's favorite artists include the
Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close aff ...
, having stated on his radio show that
Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon The Chef, or simply Raekwon (), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success ...
's '' Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...'' is one of his favorite albums. He was a member of a hip-hop group with his brother Sam, under the name "Max and Sam". They were signed under Columbia Records in 1994 and recorded a music video titled "Young Man Rumble". Kellerman has a small permanent scar on the left side of his mouth from a childhood accident with an electrical outlet. Kellerman is a fan of the New York Giants and
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
.


Murder of his brother

Born on November 24, 1974, Sam Kellerman grew up in Manhattan while attending Stuyvesant High School. He was 15 months younger than Max, and the second of the four brothers in the Kellerman family. As an aspiring young artist, Kellerman wrote a play called ''The Man Who Hated Shakespeare'' and hosted a public-access cable-television show. On October 17, 2004, Sam Kellerman's body was found inside his apartment in the 1400 block of Vista Street in Los Angeles. As a result of the ensuing investigation, former boxer James Butler was arrested and charged with Sam's murder. He later confessed to the murder and was given a 29-year sentence. Sam Kellerman was 29 years old. In speaking about his brother, Max Kellerman recalls that " amwas a creative genius... He was the best writer for his age I've ever read. I used to tell him, 'I'll always be able to get someone to pay me for talking, and you'll always be able to get someone to pay you for writing.' When it came to writing, I felt like Salieri to Sam's Mozart. Sam wanted to direct film, but I think he was fated to write and be in front of the camera. He was starting to get work as an actor. He was in several national commercials. And acting wasn't even what he did best. Sam was a sure thing. It was just a matter of time before he made it big."


Sports opinions

Kellerman is a proponent of
sabermetrics Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...
and has hosted many practicing sabermetricians on his radio show. He believes that Roger Maris should still be considered the single-season home run record holder at 61 because of steroid accusations towards players such as Barry Bonds,
Mark McGwire Mark David McGwire (born October 1, 1963), nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2001 for the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Card ...
, and Sammy Sosa. Among his all-time favorite fighters are
Pernell Whitaker Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, ligh ...
,
Jerry Quarry Jerry Quarry (May 15, 1945 – January 3, 1999), nicknamed "Irish" or "The Bellflower Bomber", was an American professional boxer. During the peak of his career from 1968 to 1971, Quarry was rated by ''The Ring'' magazine as the most popular ...
,
Willie Pep Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scre ...
, and
Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, inc ...
Kellerman is also a strong proponent of only using the '' Ring Magazine'' championship rankings as opposed to those of the major boxing sanctioning organizations which he has often described as corrupt. However, Kellerman did not mention the ''Ring Magazine'' championship by name while broadcasting for HBO, preferring euphemisms (e.g. a fighter who holds the ''Ring Magazine'' championship may be referred to by Kellerman as "the true world champion").


References


External links


ESPN MediaZone profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kellerman, Max 1974 births Living people 20th-century American rappers American rappers American sports radio personalities American television talk show hosts Boxing commentators Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Records artists Disney people ESPN people Hunter College High School alumni Jewish American sportspeople Jewish rappers Radio programs on XM Satellite Radio Secular Jews