Why did Larry Merchant accuse Tyson of fighting a carnival parade of handpicked opponents?

It meant Larry Merchant is a breath-takingly arrogant drunk.

 

Take it about as serious as his statement that if he was fifty years younger, he could've whooped Mayweather Jr's ass.

 

I did too more often than not, but his ego for a guy who never had a fight in his life was absurd.

 

Larry Merchant was what the kids today would call a **** poster.

He said and did outlandish stuff as that was his shtick. That and rampant alcoholism.

 

He meant Julius Francis, Lou Savarese, Andrew DQ Golota, etc. That’s the company ‘Iron(ic)’ Mike had been keeping since the Holyfield fights for the past year or two going into the Lennox Lewis bout.

 

What of it? He was washed up.

 

Look who Mike had been fighting going into the Lewis fight. And after, it was right back to the circus, only this time he was picking them from the peanut gallery.

Mike was kept just viable enough by careful matchmaking after the Holyfield disasters. He was toast, but Don King knew how to cook toast

 

Does that mean his opponents weren’t from the circus circuit?

Is Larry supposed to say he was fighting great fighters and Hall of Famers when he was fighting guys from the island of misfit toys? He pointed out who he’d been fighting, probably to contrast it with now (in Lewis) fighting a real heavyweight force … telling the casuals in the audience what the reality was behind that farce of a matchup.

 

No, but he was in the death throes of his career. No need for Merchant to act like he was champion of the division at the height of his powers. Loads of old fighters take an easy route. Hell, Holmes did it while still champ.

 

You and Holmes seem to have an affair between the two of you.
But yeah, he was at the end of his lifespan as a boxer, and the Golota showcase was honestly damn good (Despite the fact that he was numbed out for that). Do consider that Andrew went on to arguably beat men like Byrd and Ruiz, who were still mainstays of the division.

 

Sure they weren't the best opposition available but they were all rated in the WBC's top 15 and had honorables performances before.
Edit : small mistake from me, they were at least all rated in the top 17.