The reason Floyd cut Larry off was because Larry's next question was going to be Why don't you fight Pacquiao. Floyd didn't wanna hear it and ran away like a big baby that he is. Somebody with Floyd's mouth who likes to talk all kinds of trash should have called Manny out said agree to testing Manny and let's do it. But no he ran. Yet he quickly said that giving Ortiz a rematch is not a problem but ran away before Manny's name could be mentioned. His steroid accusations landed him a court case so now he knows better and keeps his stupid mouth closed so basically he's got nothing to say as far as why he won't fight manny so he simply doesn't even mention his name or doesn't hang around long enough to hear manny's name mentioned. What a fucking coward. A coward with a big mouth that's the worst. Sly come here and agree that your hero is a coward. You know we we know it Floyd even knows it.
This is the crazy part - PBF is a sensitive little bitch it turns out. He cries at a press conference and then whines like a fucking teenager because Merchant refuses to kiss his ass, and instead does his job which is to ask him the questions we as fans want the answers to.
Only Floyd can clairfy on why he cut short the interview and offered that rant. But what I took out of it was that he got annoyed with being asked five times in a row about the fight-ending sequence (which was both legal and clean, despite the bullshit spin HBO applied). In fact, the ONLY questions Merchant asked to either fighter afterward was regarding the ending. If that's not agenda-driven, I don't know what is. Honestly, I was pissed off by it so I don't blame Floyd for getting annoyed - although he should've just left rather than get in Merchant's face the way he did (and ditto for Ellerbe, who had no business getting involved, esp. from the cowardly over-the-shoulder view he maintained)
It looked like Floyd was looking Schaefer to get an okay to rant and end the interview. Floyd looks at Richard, Richard keeps nodding, then Floyd goes off.
Wow..... really? Did you buy the fight? I know you are familiar with Merchant and his style, so it can't be that you were surprised by Larry. I am just trying to fathom this reaction. After the main event ended early in dubious fashion (time in was never called; a legal technicality but not beyond discussion, surely) as Floyd pummeled Ortiz with his hands down and thus won a fight only 4 rounds old, and you are pissed off that Larry Merchant asked him about it in the post-fight interview? What should Larry have asked him about? His kids? His Twitter account? I just can't believe that any rational boxing fan could possibly be angry at Larry Merchant for wanting Floyd to discuss how the main event, a championship PPV bout ended. They do the same for knock downs or any other notable event, so it is not as if HBO or the staff is being inconsistent. They always ask the fighters to watch the replay and tell them what happened. Larry has done this for what... decades? It's his job. It's not my role to tell you how you should feel, but I can only suggest that it would make more sense to be pissed at Floyd for cheap shotting Ortiz, then screaming threats and profanity at an 80 year old man whose job it is to do post fight interviews. Just my 2 cents.
Larry Merchant has been around FOREVER. Seen them all and Floyd never liked Larry because he keeps it real. He ackowledges Floyd amazing talent but questions his choices for opponents. It's like Larry Holmes asking for Howard Cosell to be fired. And Larry Holmes fought EVERYBODY...
Holmes missed out on a slew of WBA titlists/#1 contenders and giving rematches to guys who gave him hell.
Larry didn't fight Coetzee, Dokes, Thomas, Page ... saying he fought everybody is absurd and I like Larry
Tex Cobb (who got pounded by Larry Holmes) said he'd go another 15 with Holmes if it got Cosell fired
Cosell stopped commentating on boxing after Holmes-Cobb. Cobb called it "my gift to the boxing world". Cobb made for a hell of a quote. Plus he was in Raising Arizona and Married With Children.
I don't know if this is true, but I can certainly imagine it There was some sort of banquet that took place many years ago where they were honoring some fighters and Joe Louis, Larry Holmes and Muhammad Ali were among the honorees (so I'm guessing it was shortly before Louis passed, so early 80s) and Cobb was there as well as Renaldo Snipes for god knows what reason... anyway, Cobb gets up to make a toast and says something to the effect of "I'm glad to be here sharing this room with some of the baddest Ni**ers on the planet" and Snipes stood up furious and said "I'm not going to sit here and have you call me a Ni**er!!" to which Cobb shot back "sit down, relax, I wasn't talking about YOU"
It should also be noted that Cobb essentially saved the life of the writer Pete Dexter who was being beaten to death with baseball bats in a philadelphia bar
Mayweather's resume is better than Holmes' from 130-135 alone it's better names, hands down Larry has Norton, Shavers, Weaver, Witherspoon at the absolute top Mayweather has Castillo, Corrales, Hernandez at the absolute top... and the second layer is a whitewash in Mayweather's favor -- Vargas, Gerena, the other Hernandez, Juuko, Manfredy... it's a higher caliber of comp If Larry had fought Coetzee, Dokes, Page, Thomas, you'd have something here, but he didn't
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I think if he fought those guys would be similar to Floyd fighting Sharmba Mitchell, Judah, Bruselees, Marquez. Good names but what a waste... Holmes fought Tyson at his peak. Holmes ducked no one.
For a "drunk", Merchant is very eloquent, and puts together his thoughts extremely well for anyone, let alone an 80 year old.
Holmes Refused to Fight the South African, Gerrie Coetzee, Because of Apartheid...Fair Enough... But Holmes Wanted NO PARTS of Greg Page OR Michael Dokes, which is Why Don King Got All of them Shots @ the WBA Title Instead (Holmes ws the WBC Champ @ the Time)...Mike Weaver Had the Title, Lost to Dokes, Dokes Lost to Coetzee and Coetzee Lost it to Greg Page... "Ducked" is a Harsh Word, but CLEARLY, Larry Holmes DID NOT Fight the Best Heavyweights that he COULD have... REED:dancingBaby:
First of all, you - just like everyone else at HBO - are wrong about time never being called back in. Cortez YELLED "LEt's go" then motioned his hand fo them to continue fighting. That part is constantly left out of the equation. Onto Merchant... Honestly what pisses me off is the fact that HBO has kept him around for as long they have. But beyond that... as I said, his entire post-fight rhetoric was centered around the ending. Why not ask Ortiz why he fought like a fuckin' retard? Instead, he made Ortiz - the only guy in the ring that night to have committed a blatantly intentional foul - the HERO of the evening. Why not interview Joe Cortez and ask him what the fuck he was doing during the end of the fight, like Jim Grey did it at the end of Mares-Agbeko I? Merchant is a bitter old drunk and it has spilled over into the broadcast one too many times. He was even starting shit with Harold Lederman, who is quite honestly the nicest guy in the industry. It wasn't even that he asked Floyd about it over and over, but that he came into the ring completely agenda-driven and was a condescending prick from beginning to end, more so than usual. He hates Floyd. He let it show during the fight, and during the interview. And because of it, he found a way to once again make himself part of the story.
I agree with you 100%. However, this might be giving Floyd way too much credit but he still should have handled himself a little more professionally. He didn't have to take it to that next level like he did. We all know how Merchant is and so does he. I'll Holla 5000
agREED... REED Certainly DOESN'T Feel Bad for Floyd, for Being on the Receiving End of Merchant's Angst...But this Notion that Merchant was "Great" or that he "Stood Up to Floyd" is No More than Guys DISLIKING Floyd & Enjoying Watching him Squirm... But Painting the Exchange as Some Type of ELITE Level, "Hard Hitting" Boxing Journalism is BULLSHIT... REED:hammert:
i agree with outlander completely. Apart from floyd nuthuggers, the striking moment of the fight was the bitchmade suckerpunch and the whole crowd/watchers who weren't trying to justify Floyd's actions were all in Larry's corner.
Merchant is a moron, he's not only being a jerk to Floyd. He's also been a jerk to many other fighters, including Lennox Lewis. The man is an idiot who craves attention and his boxing knowledge is pathetic.
whats interesting is ortiz camp didnt have any problems with the outcome after the fight. that snake arrelano admitted (and im paraphrasing) we did something dirty and he did something dirty back, and we just got the worst of it. oh well, thats how it goes.