FUCK FLOYD, FUCK MERCHANT

Nice to hear a video such as this from Mr REED. 95% of boxing media is about results or preDICKtions of fights. Comments about the culture of the sport and the personalities around it are much more rare.

As for the topic, I get what you are saying but I don't see a major problem. Yes, Merchant is a racist old cunt, but now that he is 90 fucking years old and doesn't represent any institution anymore, he can stay miserable for all I care. It was different when he was at the HBO, back then he should have kept his cultural views up in his ass.

As for Floyd, he a is soothingly stupid egomaniac but everybody recognizes him to be one. Thus his blabbering has very little effect to even the casuals. At least that's how I think it is, I don't follow the Twitter, Instagram or crap like that so I don't know if he has any believers left.

The podcast however was solid as usual and keep firing away with your opinions!

 

Merchant wasnt consistent. He would criticize safety first black fighters often but for some reason always loved whitaker

 

I wouldn’t classify Whitaker as safety first ... he consistently outworked his opponents

 

Merchant hankered after an impression which may or may not ever have existed. An ideal.

I used to tune in to sports radio in England back in the day when you actually had to tune in by twisting a knob on this thing called a radio.

The night Tyson had beaten Julius Francis in England, Joe Calzaghe had beaten a guy called David Starie in an awful 12 round fight.

Both Tyson and Calzaghe were mercilessly pilloried in the post-fight radio shows.

Tyson for being a lazy dosser who was touring Europe fighting bums for easy money in shit fights and generally conducting himself like an arse...., and Calzaghe for not having the wherewithal to get rid of Starie, who himself had come to survive.

It was all about how they wanted some harkback to the "good old days" of Benn vs Eubank or Tyson vs Bruno, and now felt they were getting red bull and rum instead of Champagne on ice.

Maybe that's why Merchant hated Floyd. He saw Whittaker make a fraction of the money taking 10 times the risk and usually being more entertaining for it. In addition to this Floyd was a cunt, did hard interviews, it was never his fault and would chat shit.

I saw Merchant attack an Irish bum who rushed the ring to complain about the judges in the McCullough vs Zaragoza fight when Merchant was interviewing Zaragoza. Merchant threw him out of the ring.



Floyd could start a fight in an empty room. He was surrounded by bag-men and bums. Nobody ever liked him.

 

I was just saying, he took way more risks for none of the cash against dangerous dudes.

Think of his late round assault to get rid of the Cuban he was losing to.....same Cuban who had Tszyu on the mat twice.

 

Tyson did as well - he criticized Floyd for bodyguards, but I saw Tyson with at least a half dozen at a family fight event once - McGirt vs. Brown at the Mirage. It was ridiculous. Don King gave away free tickets to the base as it was right after Thanksgiving and the town was nearly empty that Saturday. Then there were cocktail waitresses that went into the Casino and told people to walk right right in the fight was free, the property probably thought it could at least generate sales at the concession stands by this tactic and it probably did. Then in walks these 6 guys at least 6'3 a piece and you see a little guy in the middle surrounded by all of them, only the top of his head. It was Tyson looking like a child at elementary school being kept from bullies at the playground. There was no one that was going to cause a fight there. There were families, children even mingling with the fighters and they had no "bodyguards", only Tyson. Some self procaimed "Baddest Man On the Planet". I did meet Merchant once, and he appeared drunk to me, bottom line.

 

Merchant almost certainly was drunk, his speech was always suppressed.

 

Bodyguards aren't ONLY intended to prevent their client's from getting into fights - that's something Tyson is capable of handling on his own (one v one at least).

What a celebrity like Tyson isn't trained to do is to handle a plethora of groupies mobbing him for pictures, autographs, ect... THAT'S where bodyguards come in.

If not for them, what's to stop 100 people at once from mobbing Tyson? Putting both his safety and their safety in jeopardy.

I don't fault Floyd, Tyson, or any major celebrity from having several bodyguards.

It's very necessary when you're at "that" level of fame - ESPECIALLY for controversial celebrities like Mayweather and Tyson.

 

The property had security of its own there - plus Clark County Sheriff's Deputies in addition to event staff. There was no one that was going to approach him on any level.

 

If Floyd was wearing a cap he could walk through and nobody would recognize his small angry ass.

 

He brought all of that on himself, as Tyson did back then.

 

REED Knew of These Comments for a Couple Weeks Now and Didn't Intend on Entertaining Them...

Next Thing You Know, Sloooooooooooow Fight Week, Lukewarm Fight Weekend, Compounded by REED's Floyd/Merchant Feelings Laying Dormant...It Was Time to Release...

Once REED Ventured Off and Started His Own Channel, He Learned the HARD Way Staying Up to Speed on Social Media is a MUST...Tagging/Sharing Videos, 1st Hand Updates/Pictures from Fighters, etc...

The Obvious DOWNSIDE is REED's Also Privy to Floyd's PATHETIC Attempts @ Keeping Himself Relevant...





REED

 

There's Some Truth to This...

More Often Than Not, Merchant Promoted the Way Boxing USED to Be @ the Expense of the Era of he Commentated...

Historical Perspective and Context is GREAT, But Weekend After Weekend Merchant Beat the "Good Ol' Days" Dead Horse and Increasingly Sounded Like he'd Rather Be ANYWHERE Else BUT Sitting Ringside Watching Contemporary Boxing...

@ NO Point Should Merchant or Anyone Else Blow Smoke Up People's Asses, But an Effective Broadcaster Should Be Focused on TODAY More Than Yesterday...And If You're THAT Put Off By "Today", WHYtheFUCK Are You Sitting Ringside Week After Week???...

Hopefully, This Will Be Merchant's LAST Public Utterance Ever...Being a Natural Born OPTIMIST, Merchant's Perpetual Negativity Always Irked the Shit Out of REED...






REED

 

agREED...

Knowing How Socially AWKWARD, MOODY, UNFILTERED, DISTRUSTFUL and TEMPERAMENTAL Tyson Is, Bodyguards are for the "Protection" of Others Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay More than for Mike's Sake...




REED

 

Merchant was the classic "I am only doing this for the money, I'd rather be elsewhere" , well, Merchant.

He was perennially miserable and constantly made mistakes which were synonymous with some sort of incompetency {brought on by alcohol} mixed with plain not-paying-attention.

In England, he'd have been retired ages ago. I don't agree with how Showtime got rid of Pacheco, but when you have to go, you go.

Boxing and sports were changing rapidly from the 1990's onwards, away from the old solid formats and into what we have today, no real respect for boundaries or sanctioning bodies {which is fine}, rampant abuses of bargaining power etc.

As I say, when I took up the sport seriously in 1996, HBO, Showtime, SKY were the big names. The first time I ever listened to ODLH speak live was when I saw him fight Quartey. The second time was when he appeared on Fight Night on my Playstation LOL. By 2006, If HBO didn't have it, somebody might be "streaming it"....I watched Brewster vs Liakhovich on a stream........HBO and Merchant weren;'t just no longer respected, they weren't even needed.

People like Floyd knew about it, Merchant either didn't know it or didn't want to know it..........I don't disagree with merchant, I am very old fashioned, but horses got no business on the freeway. I think Merchant knew he was a dial-up dude in the broadband era, and didn't like it.

 

Come On Brother Karl...

No One Was Going to Approach MIKE TYSON @ a Boxing Event, on Any Level???...Perhaps Not in a THREATENING Manner, But Given Tyson's Level of Fame/Infamy, People Would Certainly Approach to Chat Him Up, Get Autographs, etc...

It's MIKE TYSON Bruh!

And for Better Or Worse, Worse or Worser, Mike Has an Undeniable Level of MAGNETISM...





REED

 

Yeah Mike needed bodyguards. For my sake, not his.

Who scares you more? This guy?





Or this guy?

 

One of these comments is false. Which one?

Hint: Brad Pitt is still alive.

 

To answer the follow up reply first neither one scares me. why would they frighten anyone? No one would have approached him REED if some Event Staff were assigned to the guy, that's it. Steve Lott told me those guys that surrounded him were hired by Don King and paid for by Mike Tyson to follow him everywhere, not just the fights.

 

That Being the Case, King's Paranoia is Why Mike was Surrounded By Bodyguards, in REED's Opinion...King Didn't Want ANYBODY In Mike's Ear That Wasn't On His (King's) Payroll, Especially @ a Boxing Event...

REED Would Bet Mike was Unaware HE was Paying for Those Bodyguards Also, But Since He Gave King Carte Blanche to His Finances, Shit Happens...





REED

 

The real reason Tyson would’ve had all those guys around him is to enhance his sense of importance... it’s the same reason Mayweather or Donald Trump obnoxiously make gratuitous displays of wealth... insecurity and wanting to be seen as a big shot

He certainly wasn’t worried about getting confronted by some delusional strip club bouncer

 

That's not what Rudy Gonzalez told me. He told me that back when Mike was banging Megan Markle he was afraid Da Loominatti was going to take him out like Lady Di.

 

It was Larry's job to keep that Bum out of the front of the camera, so he was justified in using force.

 

LOL who is this?

 

What LOL?? I was referring to the fat drunk about 25 years ago that interrupted an interview after McCullough lost big time to Zaragoza and stepped in front of the camera. I have seen idiots like that get dragged out of the ring by cops and had the bracelets slapped on them and then they went downtown for doing that.

 

"_________ _______________, I love you!"- Larry Merchant.

Fill in the gaps.

 

Yeah but his shit paid for. What about yours?

 

Derrick Jefferson

 

Jefferson was nothing special but that was a great KO