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HBO's Larry Merchant Delivers Memorable Line In Mayweather Post-Fight Interview

HBO boxing announcer Larry Merchant following last Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz fight had “probably the most memorable line of a ringside reporting career that began 34 years ago for the former newspaper columnist and author,” according to Tim Dahlberg of the AP. Announcers are “conditioned to take some abuse in the heat of the moment, but Mayweather was in Merchant's face, screaming profanities at him and telling him he should be fired when he decided that enough was enough.” Merchant then told Mayweather, "I wish I was 50 years younger. I'd kick your ass." Dahlberg noted it “wasn't as if Merchant had been badgering Mayweather with tough questions;” he was “simply trying to find out why Mayweather had just ended the fight with two punches that were technically legal but very questionable.” Merchant said, "I'm just trying to get him to tell his side of the story. I'm not there to arbitrate the controversy and decide who is right or wrong." However, Dahlberg wrote it was “a classic live TV moment, made even better when Merchant turned toward the camera after challenging Mayweather and flashed a bemused smile.” Merchant's questions are “somewhat halting and often meandering, but that's part of the charm of watching Merchant at work.” He knows the sport "better than most, and can analyze a fight with the best” (AP, 9/21). The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Jason Gay wrote the 80-year-old Merchant became “an unlikely Internet sensation after telling off" Mayweather. Merchant: "It was a spontaneous combustion. I don't know where it came from." Gay noted HBO “will replay the Mayweather-Ortiz fight on Saturday night, along with the now-famous post-fight interview” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/20).

I'M GONNA BE ON TV! Golden Boy Productions President Oscar De La Hoya believes that the recent deal to air UFC fights on Fox “could pave the way for boxing to get back on network TV.” De La Hoya: "I can feel very confident in saying that, sooner rather than later, it will be back on network television. When you put good fights together people want to watch, and when you have any type of network television behind boxing you will create good ratings." De La Hoya said that Golden Boy “is working on taking those steps” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/21).

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