Ring Talk (RT) – Folks we’re joined by Larry Merchant , who a fortnight after Floyd Mayweather stopped the “Vicous” Victor Ortiz or not so vicious Victor Ortiz depending on how you look at this fight, at 2:59 of round four. Larry, you’re of the opinion that although the shot was legal, it was a cheap shot.
Larry Merchant (LM) – I’d call it a legal sucker punch, that’s what the world saw. The world doesn’t read the fine print of the rules, what they saw was a guy who was turned away not ready to fight get whacked out by another guy ready to jump on him. That is there was why there was such a volatile explosive atmosphere in Las Vegas. It is up to the professionals to tell everybody well here is what happened and why it was legal. But you know Pedro just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean you can do it. Look, I don’t think that great champions have to do that sort of thing, that being said the shots were perfectly legal.
RT– I told you about this I was fighting at the Stockton Civic Auditorium about 20 to 25 years ago and he kept holding and holdiing, and I was whacking him with my freehand. The referee was upset cause I was punching him sort of in the back, the kidney. Finally the referee was upset, took a point away and we came together again after the exchange and he had his hands down, I drilled him with a one-two much like Mayweather did and it was lights out and I didn’t feel any any remorse whatsoever and I didn’t think was a cheap shot, is there a difference between what I did and what Floyd did?
LM– I don’t quite follow you Pedro, but the difference was the audience. I think it we to recognize that it’s a legitimate emotional response to going to a fight or paying for a fight at a major event and that’s how it ends. I was asking Floyd Mayweather in what I thought was a reasonable way, his side of what he did, what did he do it and the fans reaction. I believe that’s what guys like you and I do. My interpretation of why he went off is Floyd realized as much as he wants pure unadulterated love and worship for how good he is, once again there would be a question about it. So he launched into me and I counterpunched.
RT– Larry Merchant’s our guest folks, talking about the beef with Floyd last Saturday. Let’s change the subject a little bit, Erik Morales got a shot at the WBC vacant 140 pound crown taken away from Tim Bradley a few months ago, Tim an undefeated, fighter and an American fighter and Morales is a Mexican fighter who jusy lost to Marcos Maidana. You can read our latest article that was written by Kevin Perry who called the WBC the World Boxing Circus. I mean when you look at what they did giving a shot to Morales and then you look at what they’re doing with the world middleweight champion Sergio Martinez taking it away from and all of a sudden they’re bending over backwards to give it to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I mean it is this problem Mexican bias or has Jose Suliaman finally lost his mind or what
LM– Look these are corrupt business people, who are going where the money is and at the moment the money is with the Mexican fight scene is the dominant force in North America. If they can help a promoter promote a fight as a title fight, in the end the unsophisticated emotionally charged fan doesn’t really care about it or even know about it and they can get a cut of the action, it is a business deal. Floyd Mayweather to his credit doesn’t associate with any of these guys giving them shares of anything as far as I know because he need them, he made that business decision. There are so many title belts that now more than ever the old expression that the title doesn’t make the fighter, the fighter make the title. If you have a title and people don’t want to see you or don’t like the way you fight or whatever the reason is they don’t care what kind of title you know. You and I make a living watching boxing couldn’t name all of the titlist out there.
RT– We used to be able to back in the day.
LM– You know Pedro many fighter’s love the belt, they want to be able to show their families and friends a belt. That will recognize how good or great I am and that is such an emotional response that the business people take advantage of. That’s the way it is, we can call it out all we want, we can roll our eyes all we want and by the end of the day all we’ll remember is when the bell rings was it a good fight and the rest of it is up for discussion.
RT– Okay, now has Manny Pacquiao agreed to waive this 14-day window regarding drug testing yes or no?
LM– As far as I know yes, I think they wanted to reduce it to three days or two days, I don’t know. But essentially, yes he has.
RT– So it will happen, the fight will happen, there’s nothing stopping it.
LM– Well it may happen, but he’s been saying yes for a long time and we’ve heard nothing from Mayweather, who doesn’t want to take yes for an answer. Look Pedro, I want to see fairness and testing like everyone else. But I don’t think that has anything to do with Mayweather fighting Pacquiao, the fact that he can make so much money for fighting someone that he believes is not a threat to him, like Victor Ortiz becomes a disincentive to fighting someone who is a threat to him, that’s my opinion, I don’t think it’s who takes this or that.
RT– Floyd did show the mechanics of how to beat a southpaw, the quick strikes and right hand leads, a left hook. I thought Floyd showed great reflexes.
LM– I thought he did an excellent job and we gave him full credit from ringside he was drilling the holes in the defense of Ortiz and being aggressive. It was one of the more impressive performances in a long time and he got full props for it, which is why I was so stunned after the fight as I was giving him credit that he went into his rant.
RT- Now we’ve been doing this a while has anybody went off on you like that and told you were full of you know what, I don’t remember anybody saying that in front of the camera like that. Do you?
LM- Well a few guys may have expressed their dissatisfaction and you know what I normally do when that happens, I let them have the mike there, let them say their say, I say thank you and over to you Jim. I will let the viewer decide what he heard and what credibility it had. In this case it was a personal and professional attack and so I just had spontaneous combustion, It was not planned, I don’t know what came out of me, but it was real and it was human. I was defending myself.
RT– God bless you for it Larry, because I’ll tell you that sort of thing woke up the non-boxing fan across the country people now think they know you’re the Godfather. I’ve been trying to tell the listeners for like 27 years that Larry Merchant’s got it, he’s the real thing!
LM– It’s been kind of a whirlwind experience. You know I’ve always felt the fights and fighters should have the spotlight, I’m just a guy commentating on the fights. I’ve never been hit with a punch and I’m just a professional kibitzer and it’s kind of unusual kind of zippy and exhilarating. My family and friends are sort of getting a giggle out of and you can go on EBay now and buy Larry Merchant T-shirts, God knows where they’re coming from.
RT– You getting a cut of those?
LM– No I’m not getting a cut, I don’t think that’s the way it works. It’s a story here, I’m having my 15 minutes of fame and it’s running out and next week we’ll be on to something else.
RT– I’ve think you’ve always been a class act, when you were with the Philadelphia papers and the whole nine yards. The Godfather of HBO Boxing. and I respect you dearly and I thank you for standing up for yourself and the rest of the boxing world the other night. We all know Mayweather can be a jerk at times and you put Floyd in check and I thought it was great, it was spontaneous, more than that it was honest. Larry, I love you man, God bless.
LM– Pedro, thank you so much.
RT– What can I say folks the Godfather of HBO Larry Merchant telling it like it is here on the Sports Byline Broadcast Network.
Note: Radio interview transcribed by Edwin “Ace”Ayala