Larry Merchant retires.

[auk1124]

Watched the Nonito Donaire fight tonight and HBO says that Larry Merchant is done. Part of me will miss his rambling, disjointed commentaries that added a bit of ***? weirdness to a sport already riddled with random episodes of bizarreness.

But another part of me is glad he's gone. Beneath the rambling I always thought there was a subtle undertone of maliciousness to much of Merchant's commentary, like he took great joy in firing snarky verbal potshots at fighters in the guise of "getting to the truth."

What a strange sport, in that its most prominent television commentator was often vaguely belittling (and sometimes downright confrontational) with the very athletes that allowed him to earn a living.

Now if only Jim Lampley would retire....

 

[tinashubby]

I liked Bobby Czyz calling fights and doing interviews. Intelligent and non confrontational.

 

[Phog Allen]

I have not followed fighting very much since Foreman's comeback. However, I have watched a number of fights on HBO and I think Showtime at a friends. Of course Merchant was always there with that...yeah, snarky attitude. The one that made want to reach through the telly and smack him was years ago. An aging Michael Dokes went something like 11 rounds against a much younger opponent and gave one of the gutsiest performances I have ever watched. He lost the fight but had everyone's respect in the auditorium. Except Merchant's. I cannot quote the question but it was essentially did you throw the fight Michael? I thought Dokes was going to mangle him. i have never liked him since. Good retirement and good riddance.

Cheers, Todd

 

[StephenP83]

He had a great career. I won't miss him though. Boxing is my number one sport and I follow it closely. I don't think I could describe his attitude any better than the original poster did. There was always an undertone to everything.

 

[oakeshott]

I don't have the same reaction to Larry Merchant that so many others have including you guys. I recognize the snarky attitude, but was willing to give him some leeway since the nature of the business of boxing would turn anyone that close to it for so many years into a cynic and a snark. Nonetheless, his retirement won't diminish the quality of commentary on HBO. You are all correct about that. The same could not be said, however, of Max Kellerman who I think does the best job of the all of them. Do you agree?

My favorite boxing commentator is Teddy Atlas. I think his Long Island patois causes some folks to discount his intelligence, but he's both smart and entertaining. I'll never forget the match in which one guy is just beating the other guy senseless and he literally started yelling at the ref from the commentators chair to stop the fight. You can't fake that kind of passion. Would love to see Teddy take Larry's spot, but that will probably never happen.

 

[lowcountry_sc]

Would take Merchant over Lampley any day of the week, and Teddy Atlas over both of them put together.

 

[Redhead]

Yeah, he actually was well spoken and had an IQ over 90, not like most. I don't watch much boxing or sports that matter anymore, but I remember him as being a class act.
Red

 

[StephenP83]

I agree on the Teddy Atlas comment. I don't know if he is happy with his Friday Night Fights gig or if HBO isn't interested, but I think he would make a great addition. I think Showtime could use some improvement so maybe Teddy could go over there and help them out a little bit. I think Showtime has had better events over the last few months, but HBO is far ahead when it comes to the commentary team IMO.