Beiro and the art of the MC

By Paul Upham: Mark Beiro is one of the more recognisable ring announcers in boxing today and, just as he appears to be enjoying himself in the ring, he is a very funny guy to talk to in person. He could do stand-up comedy and not be out of place with his quick wit and knack for telling an amusing story.

Now 50 years of age, Beiro started his announcing career at nine in his hometown of Tampa, Florida. “I’m a fourth generation Tampanian. My grandparents go back to Spain and Cuba on either side of the family. I’m of Spanish and Cuban heritage,” said Beiro.

“When I was nine I started announcing amateur fights at the Ybor City Boys Club gymnasium. The Director of the Ybor City Boys Club pointed at me one day and he said, ‘Mark, you do the announcing, you are good at it, you do it’ and the ham in me took over I guess.

“I was one of those kids that always knew what I wanted to do and announcing has always been something basically I’ve worshipped all my life, even though I didn’t have any family members in the business, TV or radio. My father was a laborer and my mother a housewife. I was totally detached from the world of broadcasting.”

Beiro spent many thousands of hours as a young boy working as a volunteer announcer, continuously building on his experience and range of sports. “As a boy, my dream was to be a baseball play-by-play announcer. I love baseball,” said Beiro.

“I did a lot of amateur fights when I was as a kid. I would just volunteer. I announced little league baseball games at a park right near my home. I was 13 when I did my first professional fight card and oddly enough it wasn’t even in my hometown of Tampa. The regular announcer in Orlando, Florida was sick so I had to drive an hour and a half. My uncle took me and I worked for $35.”

After graduating from high school, Beiro worked as a labourer and part-time disc jockey before other announcing opportunities presented themselves. Beiro first appeared on the popular USA Tuesday Night Fights in 1989 and slowly built up a reputation as a reliable and professional television ring announcer.

“I’d always been a boxing announcer in the Southern United States, I was utilised a lot on a here and there basis,” said Beiro.

“I used to announce Hi-Li here in Florida for 15 years where it is very popular. Back in the middle 1980s, they were going to open Hi-Li down in Australia and I was going to be the guy that was going to teach the local announcers. A scandal took place in the United States that really hurt the industry and so they abandoned the plans to expand to Australia.”

“After 15 years I was fired from my job at Hi-Li and the USA Tuesday Night Fights people and the promoters they dealt with were requesting me more often so I thought at that point that I could do this full-time.”

Finally in July 1994, Beiro was hired on a full-time basis by the USA Network. “I was turning down a lot of jobs because I couldn’t leave my primary source of income which was announcing Hi-Li. When they fired me, I spoke to the USA Network. I was not only hired as a ring announcer, but as an assistant co-ordinator. I loved it, that whole deal, it was really a lot of fun.”

During that time of his career, Beiro was doing between 75 and 80 cards a year and, despite the demise of USA Tuesday Night Fights in the late 1990s, he still averages around 70 cards a year.

“I had established enough loyal promoter clientele that even when USA went by the wayside, I was the choice,” said Beiro, who has been rehired to do a full series of Cedric Kushner’s Heavyweight Explosion, whilst doing almost 60% of the ESPN2 Friday Night Fight cards and around 20% of the HBO cards.

“I try to be a promoters’ announcer and by that I mean I’ll go and do a show keeping in mind that, if the promoter is getting hurt at the gate, I’ll work a separate deal afterward so he doesn’t get hurt. In that way, I build a loyalty base,” said Beiro.

“I go to the weigh-ins and I talk to the fighters, they all know me and most people look at me as an announcer and that is all that think of me as. The truth of the matter is I’ve been the chairman of the state amateur boxing organisation here, I’ve done everything from write press releases to sell tickets, to work in the concession stands at fight cards. I’ve done everything a promoter does.”

The many years that Beiro spent as a young boy announcing little league baseball games and amateur fights was his own training ground for being a full-time boxing announcer. “I never had any idea that just doing it for the love of it would turn into a reciprocal thing. I got to say it is really nice,’ said Beiro.

Of the many great fights that he has worked, there is one card that stands out for many reasons says Beiro. “The one that I am most proud of is the Johnny Tapia-Danny Romero championship fight in Las Vegas,” said Beiro.

“It came on the heels of the Tyson-Holyfield ear biting episode and things were not very good boxing-wise in Vegas after that fight, and it is my fervent opinion that Tapia and Romero saved boxing in Las Vegas.

“Because as rough and tough and competitive as that fight was, it represented the very best that one could see when they would see a boxing contest. It erased the stigma that Tyson-Holyfield had established at that point.

“The second thing about that fight I remember was being Hispanic, all of us in the ring were Spanish people except the referee, who was the late Mitch Halpern. Right before I started the introductions, and it was an HBO telecast, I went to Mitch in the corner and asked him how it felt to be the minority. He busted out laughing. I’ll never forget that laugh that Mitch Halpern had that day in the ring. It was a very sad day when Mitch Halpern passed away.”

A card one night in El Paso, Texas saw Beiro utilise his acting skills to great affect bringing a tremendous reaction from the crowd. “I was doing a Jesse James Leija fight and his corner people and entourage were dressed as Mexican pistoleers. They came into the ring and, as I went to announce Jesse Jame’s name in the corner, I saw these guys draw their pistols and aim them to the sky. They were going to shoot these pistols off at the sound of his name,” said Beiro.

“As soon as I said his name and they shot the pistols, I went completely back as if in a starched position on purpose and fell on my back. My arm was sort of starched upwards into the sky and the whole place erupted into laughter. Al Albert and Sean O’Grady thought I had gotten shot and then they realised how ridiculous I looked.”

If you watch Beiro closely in the ring when he is announcing, you will see the sparkle in his eyes and hear the sprinkle of excitement in his voice. This is one man who really enjoys his work.

“I’m glad you said that because it is true. I take the job very seriously, but not myself. The question I often get by the casual fan is, ‘What is your catchphrase?” said Beiro.

“I tell people that my catchphrase is that I don’t have one. I’m not the principal in the ring. The fighters are. The attention should be focused on them. I feel that I get the greatest pride in my work, when I am able to elicit a response from the crowd, without it sounding like a prompting. To me, I feel that is a standard by which announcing should be judged.”

One of Beiro’s favorite boxing venues is the historic Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. “I consider that venue as the most nostalgic. It takes me back to a time when I was a child and I remember the grittyness and the real feel of the old smoker arenas that used to exist in and around the Tampa Bay area where I grew up,’ said Beiro.

“I like doing fights in smaller towns because they seem so special to people.”

Beiro is looking to continue the ring announcing as long as he physically is able to and has no retirement date in mind. “I’m hoping to continue until my dying day. I hope I am sharp enough to be able to give the public something they respect and there is nobody who is more grateful to be able to have the opportunity to do what it is that I do. Man, it is a dream come true. It wasn’t an easy road but it is very nice the consideration that I get from boxing fans,” said Beiro.

A new television series in the USA called “Battlebots” which sees all sorts of robots doing battle has given Beiro another legion of admirers. “I’m the arena announcer for that show and it is the No.1 cable show in the United States. It is becoming an incredible craze. It is unbelievable,” said Beiro.

“The funny thing is that I have been a ring-announcer in boxing and wrestling for 41 years and when I go though the airports, people will now stop me and say, ‘Aren’t you the robot guy?”

Paul Upham
Contributing Editor