Incidents of Larry merchant getting salty

Both him and Bernard made good points.

They both were right in what they were saying.

 

Bernard was more right. Dude was a mandatory. What was he supposed to do? Get stripped just because his mandatory opponent sucked?

Merchant's real issue was with the fact of who the mandatory was.

 

We obviously disagree on this I never heard Cortez say that at all. He should have done but he didnt
Ortiz fouled with the head butt sure & he was rightfully docked a point ,probably tired of Floyd's running ,holding , & his elbow shivers he's noted for . How come Floyd never got warned for anything he fought dirty too Passive dirty

 

One thing you notice Larry forgot to mention. Lennox had been training for a warm up fight with Kirk Johnson we all knew Kirk was heartbroken after the way he was robbed of the WBA belt by Ruiz Oscar worthy acting & Cortez bias. Kirk backed out of the fight a few days before claiming injury. Vitali was on the undercard as Lennox #1 contender the idea being the two winners meet in a title shot. Lennox did what no other world champion I know did & took on his #1 contender when he was barely 80 % ready on 10 days notice in a fight for the title. Rumours were flying at the time that Vitali's camp paid Kirk to drop out so he'd have a better chance against Lennox not being fully prepared. Knowing Kirk at the time I do not believe that at all though Vitali did give Kirk a fightlater which was the one where Larry daid " The whale got harpooned" It was obvious Kirk was there for the check only. If he'd been in the shape he was against Ruiz he'd likely have given Vitali hell

 

I don’t know how to timestamp, but start about 34 seconds in. You hear him say ‘Don’t be doing that … let’s go’ and wave his hands together to resume a few seconds later. Plain as day and right to Ortiz.

What’s wonky is Cortez gets distracted … maybe trying to get the timekeeper’s attention or the timekeeper or a commissioner person trying to get his, and briefly turns his attention away from the fighters (bad form for Cortez, fair criticism) but there’s no way he didn’t say ‘Let’s go’ and wave the fighters together.

This content is protected

How many hugs and kisses and glove touches should Ortiz be allowed before resuming? It’s like someone kicking you in the nuts and wants to spend the next half hour trying to be your best buddy.

The very first rule of boxing is ‘protect yourself at all times.’ Any first-fight amateur knows this, much less a pro in a title fight. The rule is not ‘protect yourself most of the time, but not after you deliberately and egregiously foul someone and want to hug and kiss … but all other times.’ Find me that in the rulebook.

 

I don't want to keep arguing with you my friend , I know you know your boxing but look at Cortez face when
it happened he knew he'd goofed it was really down to him.
Even if it was legal what Floyd did, do you admire him for doing it??? I hope not I think it was the actions of a street punk catch him open & unprotected they wont DQ me. We all know that much was obvious in Vegas
dont we. I have zero respect for Floyd who's career had many dark clouds hanging over it. I still don't understand how the NSAC could issue the statement "M Mayweather did nothing wrong" re IV gate & then issue him a retroactive TUE three weeks after the fact to cover the saline use.
Its over & done no sense in us arguing about it but it only makes the game look more corrupt

 

So the ref’s facial expressions are what’s important, not that he said ‘let’s go’ and waved them together? C’mon man.

Yes, Mayweather did what a professional fighter should do — he took care of business after a guy maliciously fouled him. You seem to overlook everything Ortiz did but focus on Mayweather punching him in a boxing match after the ref said ‘let’s go’ and waved them together as if that’s the illegal action here. I simply cannot wrap my mind around that.

You seem to have a resentment against Floyd bringing up all kinds of things that have nothing to do with the actual topic we’re talking about and thus taking a ‘Floyd bad’ stance that overrules everything else.

I’m not actually a Mayweather fan but regardless of what I think of a guy, no, I don’t condemn a fighter for hitting his opponent.

Can you at least comment on:

1) Did or did not Ortiz blatantly, purposely headbutt him? Is there any question whatsoever that it was a deliberate foul?

2) Did Ortiz not hug him, kiss him, touch gloves a couple of times and then want to hug him again? Is it the ref’s job and the fighter who got fouled’s job to let him get done with all his hugging and kissing and allow Ortiz to say, ‘OK, now that I’ve done that I will allow the fight to resume?’

3) Did you watch the video? Is there any doubt in your mind that Cortez said ‘let’s go’? Did you not see him make the hand motion to resume the fight? Does Ortiz get a timeout and HE decides after HE did the fouling that it’s OK to fight again?

If he’s in a boxing match and standing right in front of the guy he’s fighting and somehow he’s ‘defenseless,’ exactly what is wrong with him? Why would he be defenseless? I can understand a guy getting spun in a corner and hit from behind being defenseless, I can understand a guy getting hit in the balls reaching down in reflex reaction and being defenseless. Hell, I can understand Oliver McCall having a mental breakdown vs. Lewis and being defenseless, but he did that by choice and nobody whined when Lewis hit him while he was crying. But Ortiz is standing in front of his opponent and the ref has said ‘let’s go’ and motioned the fight to resume. He’s defenseless because he wants to continue to hug it out. And that’s just stupid.

 

OK Enough lol... Yes Ortiz fouled Floyd. Yes he was punished. but throughout the fight Floyd was fouling Ortiz wasn't he ??Do you think that caused him to head butt Floyd. Like I said Have you ever seen Floyd punished for fouling??NO he never has been
Sorry I have absolutely no respect for him what so ever He should have been DQ'd against Judah when Roger jumped in ring & attacked Zab. The rules state if a corner man enters the ring & attacks the opponent its an automatic DQ Sorry in my book Floyd is not TBE he is TBF The biggest fraud in the game

 

So you don’t like him and that clouds your opinion on every situation involving him. You keep bringing up other stuff and don’t address this actually situation.

To you, that means in this situation he did wrong … actually hitting his opponent in the mouth in a boxing match (as opposed to what his opponent did).

What about all the kissing and hugging? Why didn’t Ortiz just touch gloves and get ready to fight? Why the overly demonstrative love-fest?

The fight resumed and he got KO’d. End of story.

You hit me low or deliberately head-butt me in the ring, my inclination is to foul you right back. In this case, Mayweather threw legal punches and knocked the guy out.

 

Well Ortiz was clearly looking for Amanda.

Amanda Kiss’n’Hug.

Yep, Cortez called it back on but he did stutter ever so slightly with his foot between the fighters and by looking away, talking to his time keeper.

But after Cortez did recede - but barely so, and while still looking away, it was back on technically but Ortiz still went in for another apologetic hug.

I suppose, if Cortez had to clarify to his time keeper that it was back on, still looking away and talking - Ortiz could have a case to suggest that it wasn’t only himself who wasn’t clear.

Ideally, Cortez should’ve had them both remain in neutral corners, then instruct/wave them back on while clearly stepping from the middle of the ring and away from the fighters.

The irony was that Ortiz was having some decent success when he inexplicably opted for the head butt.

Under separate address, I interpret “Protect yourself at all times” to be primarily intended for the fighter’s own welfare - and it doesn’t necessarily speak for the legality of whatever blows are landed whilst you are off guard.

Say a ref calls break - you comply but also drop your hands and the other guy belts you as you move away and puts you down and out.

Technically, a DQ could be in order but per the laws of the real world, it’s far more prudent to maintain your guard as best you can on the break.

Keeping your guard at all times also covers times when the ref’s action and words are potentially misconstrued or misunderstood - which can happen often during the heat of battle and the surrounding din.

In those cases, the protect yourself at all times philosophy can perhaps ensure that the liability remains with the fighter who fails to observe same - notwithstanding mixed messaging or confused actions on the ref’s part or misinterpretations on the parts of either or both combatants.

 

The idea is ghat having such ma datories makes the belts irrelevant.
Which was true then and more so now.
Hopkins would have been recognized as the champ either way.
And Hakkat was a very poor mandatory.

 

Of course it’s tough, but commentators are going to express things and call it as they see it. It’s true of all sport and entertainment. Making a movie is tough, too, but movie critics aren’t going to ‘pull punches’ and say something’s good when it’s not.

I never particularly loved nor hated Merchant but I’ll take an interviewer/commentator who is critical and isn’t just a shill every time whether I agree with them or not.

 

And therein the problem with guys commentating today:Absolutely all of them are shills.All.
It s ludicrous to me the lack of backbone and evident brown envolopes handed everywhere.
Merchant didnt roll like that altough I’m sure he could have.
Sure,he wasnt a purist,and towards the end of his run he was abysmal(Martinez-Macklin for example he was just plain hating on Sergio for no reason) but he had something all these guys today dont:backbone.
His vocabulary was also good,guys today barely know 70 words.
Can you imagine anyone of today interviewing Nelson Mandela?

 

Very well put. Yeah, I also have mixed feelings about him seeing how he could have a go at fighters, but he could turn a phrase and was zero flattering BS unlike too many others.