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Max Kellerman (born August 6, 1973) is an American boxing commentator and sports talk radio host based in Los Angeles. He currently appears as a color commentator on HBO World Championship Boxing and HBO Boxing After Dark and as of January 3, 2011, is hosting a midday talk show on 710 ESPN radio in Los Angeles.
Prior to his current duties, Kellerman was best known for his work at ESPN, where he was a studio commentator with Brian Kenny on Friday Night Fights and the original host of Around the Horn.
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His first broadcasting experience was on a New York City public-access television cable TV program on professional boxing (Max on Boxing). In the late 1990s after graduating from Columbia University with a degree in history, Kellerman became an analyst on ESPN's boxing series Friday Night Fights and beginning in November 2002 hosted ESPN's Around the Horn. However, Kellerman and ESPN could not reach an agreement for him to remain with the network, and Kellerman left the network in early 2004. He was promptly hired by Fox Sports Net and went on to host a new show with FSN called I, Max that first aired on May 10, 2004. He would discuss sports news with Michael Holley, 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 cancelled by Fox. There are disputes as to why this occurred, with some citing the show's low ratings, while Kellerman has attributed it to conflicts with network executives. 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.
In 2005, Tucker Carlson announced that Kellerman would be a permanent contributor on his MSNBC show Tucker. 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 cancelled 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. 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 program. In September 2007, Kellerman began hosting a third hour, extending the show to 1 pm. Two months later, ESPNEWS and SportsCenter host Brian Kenny joined the show as co-host. On February 4, 2008, the show was added to XM Radio on ESPN Xtra. 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 has taken his timeslot.
Kellerman continues his boxing broadcast work, now working at HBO. He was originally hired for the network's Boxing After Dark telecasts, working alongside Fran Charles and Lennox Lewis. In 2007, Kellerman moved up to the HBO World Championship Boxing main team alongside Jim Lampley, Harold Lederman, and a rotating guest analyst, usually Emmanuel Steward).
On May 12, 2010, it was announced Kellerman had been hired by CNN: "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 710 ESPN alongside co-host Marcellus Wiley, 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.
Kellerman made a brief appearance in Rocky Balboa alongside Lampley and Merchant, who served as the broadcast team for the fight between Rocky and Mason Dixon.
You can see Max playing himself in the short film "The Wedding Bout."
Kellerman is a proponent of Sabermetrics and has hosted many practicing sabermetricians on his radio show. He also 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 and Sammy Sosa.
Among his all-time favorite fighters are Pernell Whitaker, Willie Pep and Harry Greb. Max 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 does 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"). He was not a fan of Manny Pacquiao until the last couple years.
Kellerman graduated from New York City's Hunter College High School and, later, Columbia College in 1998. He attended P.S. 41
in Greenwich Village. He is married to a woman he has referred to as "Trixie" on his ESPN radio show. Her real name is Erin, maiden name Manning, as he pointed out in episode 1 of his webcast Max Kellerman Soldiers., and, according to Max, she is a lawyer. He has pointed out on numerous occasions on Tucker that "Max" is not short for anything, and that he does not have a middle name. Also on that show, Kellerman described himself as atheist. Despite this, he is active in Jewish cultural activities and, according to The Forward, is fluent in Yiddish. Max is an avid hip-hop fan, evidenced by his intro music on his ESPN Radio show. Max's favorite artists include the Wu Tang Clan, having stated on his radio show that Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… album is one of his favorite albums. Max was also a member of a hip hop group with his brother Sam and under the name "Max and Sam". They were signed under Columbia records in 1994 and they recorded at least one video entitled "Young Man Rumble", which can be found on YouTube. On June 18, 2008, Max announced on Kellerman and Kenny that his wife Erin is pregnant with their first child, Esther.
Kellerman has a small permanent scar on the left side of his mouth from a childhood accident. An article in Sports Illustrated said it resulted from his fooling around near an electrical outlet as a child. He has confirmed this on his radio show.
Kellerman's off-topic tangents often involve food: He frequently extols the "bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll" from a local delicatessen near his Washington Square neighborhood in New York City.
On October 17, 2004, the body of Max's brother Sam was found near a hammer in his Hollywood apartment. 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.
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