Ring Talk (RT)– You’re tuned to Ring Talk live worldwide. The Godfather of the HBO crew is in the house Larry Merchant. From his lair in Southern CA. after the fight last night at the LA Staples Center featuring Vitali Klitschko’s win in ten rounds over Chris Arreola. Arreola was thought to have a chance, didn’t look like a formidable challenger last night. Not against the man from the Ukraine, I’m talking about Dr. Klitschko. Anyway Larry were you surprised that Arreola was so inept? I mean I thought he could put together a couple of good rounds; He didn’t even put together one I don’t think.
Larry Merchant (LM) – I wasn’t surprised about him, so much as I was about Vitali Klitschko. I was surprised that at the age of 38 after a four year layoff that he could still perform at a very high level. I had gone back and looked at some tapes of when he fought Lewis and in his recent fights, and in his recent fights he looked slower, a little thicker, and yet when he fought someone that came to him the way Arreola did it made him look younger rather than older and it’s something to be said for dedication and discipline.
RT– OK, how can I put this all of the railbirds are coming in, and one guy sent an email saying, “ask Larry if he thinks both Kelly Pavlik and Arreola need new trainers that they’ve been with their childhood trainers for so long and these guys can’t take them to the next level.” Do you think, is there any merit to that?
LM– (Angered at question) Well he took Pavlik to a pretty high level, I mean he’s still the middleweight champion of the world and just he lost to Bernard Hopkins at ten pounds over the highest previous weight he ever fought . I don’t see how you can fault him on the basis of one fight. We’ll see what happens when he fights Willliams in December.
RT-.Well Larry it’s all about what have you done for me lately and let’s be honest…
LM– (Interrupting) I’m sorry wait, wait, wait Pedro, you don’t throw a guy out because he had one bad fight, I’m sorry!
RT– Alright.
LM– (Angry now) You know how about the 30 or 35 good fights he had with him!
RT– I’m not saying that but he had to see a sports psychologist and he had some issues with booze since then. Don’t you think, do you still…
LM– (Interrupting again) Well, that’s on him, that’s not on the trainer.
RT– Good point.
LM– A fighter has to have responsibility.
RT– OK, Larry Merchant is our guest folks, the godfather of the HBO crew. Of course, last night Vitali Klitschko was the winner after the fight was stopped by referee Jon Schorle after ten rounds. Where do you think he goes from here, will he ever fight his brother Wladimir?
LM – Well they talk about it, I think it’s more of a fanciful thing. I can’t imagine these guys who are so close are going to have a fight where they can hurt each other. That just doesn’t make any sense to me.
RT– So you think it would be like Serena and Venus Williams playing tennis like sparring back and forth if they ever do fight each other.
LM– I don’t know, Emanuel Steward, who knows them better than I do says that this older younger brother thing that they would have a have a fierce fight. But I don’t think it’s realistic I think that for all indications are that Vitali Klitschko is going to fight Johnson in December and Wladimir will fight Eddie Chambers next March or April.
RT– Ok is the heavyweight division void of any real talent except for the Klitschko’s.
LM– I think that a lot of people think that and maybe it’s true, but you know something Pedro, that’s been the case on many occasions in the past. When Joe Louis was the champion there were a lot of very inept guys below him. You can go back and look at the rankings and none of them were very good. At least during the thirties and early forties that’s why he wound up fighting Billy Conn, a light heavyweight .So there have other times like these but when you have a dominant exciting dynamic champion nobody really cares about the rest of the guys. If the Klitschko’s were Americans everyone would be saying wow how these guys are, what a great story. The brothers have never done anything like this, they knockout 90% of their opponents etc. etc. So I think that there probably 1, 2, or 3 pretty good fighters out there, but the Klitschkos are clearly dominant, clearly the class and I can’t think of anyone who can beat them right now.
RT– Dynamic, exciting fighters, would you put Floyd Mayweather in that same bunch. Is he dynamic and exciting.
LM– Well in his own way he such a dominant boxer as a pure boxer, um that he creates the impression that he is an artist, that he is a consummate pure boxer. He is also a master promoter of himself, you going on dancing with the stars and the WWF and all that. That is reflected in the amazing PPV numbers, over a million buys they think.
RT– How much of that had to do Juan Manuel Marquez drinking his urine? I mean that sort of piqued my curiosity.
LM– (Laughing) Well it got a lot of people talking at the water cooler the next day I suppose. My own take on that was that was a way of him proving to himself how tough he is. You know and that he knew that he was going in against a guy bigger and faster than him and bigger and faster usually beats slower and smaller. But also I think it tantalized viewers into thinking God how tough is this guy, how willing is this guy to go out there and fight. So maybe it contributed something but I think there was curiosity about him from people who saw him (Mayweather) on dDancing With The Stars or with the WWF, or that commercial we were seeing for weeks and weeks on the computer. He did a brilliant job of marketing himself and if there is anything he’s better at then boxing and marketing it is matchmaking. He continually chooses smaller guys and until someone makes him fight a bigger guy he ain’t gonna do it!
RT– Good enough, Godfather all the best to you, thanks for spending the time, I know you’re a busy guy tonight. Say hello to the godmother, is it beautiful out there in Southern California. I know it is beautiful here in San Francisco.
LM– We’ve had some amazing weather.
RT– We’re just blessed aren’t we?
LM– Yeah, well Southern California which almost became Northern Mexico if Areolla would’ve won.
RT– All the best to you Godfather.
LM– See ya.
RT–My name is Pedro Fernandez, you’ve been listening to Larry Merchant on “Ring Talk” live carried live each Sunday at 6:05 PM PT on XTRA Sports 860 AM in San Francisco with LIVE and DELAYED audio at www.RingTalk.com
Note: This interview aired on September 27, 2009. We thank our own Edwin Ayala for his detailed transcription of this interview.