When Bunce Met Costello: A conversation with boxing royalty ahead of Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz

Costello’s credentials are impeccable, his boxing knowledge unrivalled. But he had to start somewhere. This is the story of his journey

Steve Bunce and Mike Costello with Anthony Joshua in May of this year

If you listen to BBC Five Live on Saturday night the final words you will hear at the end of the fight in Saudi Arabia will be from Mike Costello. It is unlikely you will forget them.

Costello will be sat next to me under the stars in Diriyah, the ancient city on the outskirts of Riyadh, for the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz. A viral clip of Costello commentating on the third round of the first fight in New York in June – a round when both were knocked down – has been viewed by millions. It is commentary of the highest order, a joy to watch and listen to.

The Costello journey to his prized ringside seat in Diriyah started in 1972 with a short walk to the Lynn Athletic Club, an amateur boxing gym, then in the back of Manor Place Baths, off the Walworth Road in south London.

Costello fought for the club, then trained boxers at the club until 1991; his years at the BBC started in 1976, his first overseas assignment was England’s cricket tour of Pakistan in 1989. He has been talking about boxing on the BBC World Service since 1987 and has been the main commentator on Five Live since 2005.

He is also the BBC’s athletics correspondent and commentator, and once visited a 17-year-old Usain Bolt in Jamaica: If you have just under ten seconds free, find the Beijing 2008 final, Bolt’s first gold, or the 2004 Justin Gatlin final from Athens. Both are unforgettable and inspiring soundbites in equal measure. Costello’s credentials are impeccable, his boxing knowledge unrivalled. But he had to start somewhere.

“I sent a demo tape to the sports editor at the World Service: She said she was not sure, but sent me to the World Athletics Championships in 1995,” he tells The Independent. “I was under pressure and the first race I did was a heat of the 400 metres – Michael Johnson could have won it with a rucksack on his back. It was so easy. I was screaming. Other commentators were looking at me. I was pleased, but the producer back in London listened down the line and said to me: ‘What are you going to do when he reaches the final?’ It was an early lesson. I had to find the pitch, it was a gentle lesson.”

On fight day Costello vanishes to add the last touches to his notes and get his head right.

“I tend to watch one fight of each boxer on the day of a fight – this fight is easy, it’s a rematch. Just the one to watch. I’m looking for the fight rhythm when I watch. On fight night we do a few rounds from an undercard fight – that helps me get my eye in and get comfortable in the surroundings at ringside.”

In the past, Costello and I have been placed in areas with a restricted view, areas where people are having their own fight party. At the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight in 2015 there was a guy next to us on a jolly from an Australian paper. Instead of a pen, he had a few beers to hand.

“That was one of the most challenging fights I have covered,” says Costello. “We only found out that morning that we would be ringside after negotiations all week between the BBC and the promoters – ten years earlier I would have not been able to do that fight.”

And the fight he would have most liked to have been at? “Simple: Rumble in the Jungle – imagine doing a podcast from there every day (some of the press were in Kinshasa for over sixty days!). And then commentating on the fight as the impossible started to happen in the ring. Now that would have been a real challenge. What a story to tell.”

However, the best preparations in the world can be left in tatters with the brutal flash of a single leather glove. It is a sport where a commentator has no relaxed moments, no easy rounds to find his voice or study the developing rhythm of the fight.

Mike Costello interviews Anthony Joshua in Diriyah (Steve Bunce)

With a single punch, the champion is over. There is chaos, time runs fast, time stands still, the referee appears, a cornerman is climbing the steps, the promoter stands up and the fighter rolls over and begins to climb up. He has been on the floor five seconds, the punch landed six seconds ago and seven seconds back it was just a normal fight. This is the manic, unpredictable, breathless space in which Costello lives. In that tiny moment of action he has to read the fight perfectly. At ringside in Madison Square Garden just about everything that could happen and could go wrong, did happen and did go wrong.

“Somebody once asked me how do I stop myself swearing – well, there is something I learned a long time ago from Des Lynam; somebody asked him how he is so calm on air? He told them that the key is when you feel like speeding up, slow down. In your mind everything has to slow down. It can’t come out all jumbled up. That was what that round was like.”

And so we land in Saudi Arabia, the latest destination for our fight game. This week we have looked for dunes, camels and dishes of dripping dates. We have tucked our shoeless feet under our bodies and broken off juicy pieces of lamb during an ancient courtyard feast, but he has drawn a firm line at trying foul (a traditional bean dish with lemon juice, fresh chillies and olive oil) for breakfast.

In Saudi we have done a podcast each day – Five Live Boxing with Costello and Bunce – from rooftops, restaurants and open squares so far. Refusal to obvious VIP areas has been routine – that is not a Saudi thing, trust me.

“You can always gauge how big an event is from the demands on your time. Here in Saudi I have been across all BBC outlets. As I said in the first podcast of the week – this feels like one of the top six events I have ever covered. It’s big.”

Costello is in demand here during the latest week on the road, in a new fight city, one to follow New York, Las Vegas, Helsinki, Munich and a hundred other locations. It all started in that tiny, tiny ring at the Lynn and it’s not over yet. I have known him over 40 years and it has been a long journey, a great journey. It will be a privilege to once again sit down and listen to the master, this time under the stars and in a fight that matters.

“There is nothing quite like it.”