Larry Merchant: A Quick Praise for HBO's Boxing Legend

I remember as a kid taking my first drink of beer.

I gagged as soon as the bitter liquid hit my tongue.

Confused, I wondered how all my uncles could enjoy such a foul taste every time they would come over.

It might have taken a few years of acquiring, but these days there isn’t a better taste than a cold beer on a warm day…or a warm beer on a cold day (any combination will do).

I also remember when I first started to watch HBO Championship Boxing. Talking over the action was a slow, deliberate, irritating, probably drunk old man.

“How does this guy have a job?” I remember thinking.

Years later, I express a quiet praise every time Larry Merchant brings the rest of the HBO broadcast team—and the boxing world, for that matter—back to reality.

Jim Lampley: 
“So, Larry, Floyd Mayweather wins the welterweight championship with a flawless display of self defense, then breaks into tears at the news conference saying that he’s underappreciated and vows that he’s only going to fight one more time. What’s goin’ on?”

Larry Merchant:
“I think he bored himself to tears, Jim.”

Over 30 years ago, Merchant started as an analyst for HBO Sports. Through the years he has become infamous for his confrontational in-ring interviews. He has never been intimidated by any of the top names in the sport.

Once, after a Tim Witherspoon fight, Larry asked Witherspoon about his weight, which was heavier than usual. The fighter responded that he was comfortable with his weight.

Merchant quickly replied, “If you want comfort, go to the beach. This is a fight, and you owe it to the fans to come in shape.”

He is so often the unrelenting voice of honesty. Boxing is a sport where the truth always finds the light of day, and Merchant reflects this maxim with his unique commentary.

(De La Hoya–Mayorga prefight)

Jim Lampley:
“Will the seething undercurrent of the buildup now be reflected in what we see in the ring?”

Larry Merchant:
“Probably. Sure, because Mayorga is a rude, crude dude in the ring as well as outside. In a sense, what we have here is class warfare with boxing gloves. Mayorga looks at him as a hated slumlord, and Oscar is coming to collect the rent.”

Merchant means more to longtime boxing fans than just an opining voice during a fight. Evidenced in 2007, when HBO executive Ross Greenberg attempted to replace Merchant with Max Kellerman, the outcry of boxing fans and insiders were loud enough to force HBO to reconsider its move and offer Merchant a new contract.

Kellerman is a knowledgeable fan of boxing, but Merchant’s shoes are not only too big for anyone else to fill, but a different shape than anyone else’s feet altogether. He adds something to HBO boxing that you couldn’t find anywhere else.

“This must be a good fight, Jim. I’ve already got five dots of blood on my shirt.”

Merchant is an old-school journalist—a creative wordsmith that you can be assured will call it like he sees it. If HBO has any sense of what its boxing viewers want, it will keep Merchant until he decides to retire.