Larry Merchant is an a***e and i see why fighters dont respect him

Aww, now aren't we feeling indignant

Larry and all the commentators know the promoters. It's unavoidable! Lou had a look of resignation on his face and Larry affirmed it with a stiff two thumbs down for the exposed Caballero. I'm sure Lou was really demanding HBO fire him 5 minutes later :|:|:|

Grow the **** up, end the hate campaign on Larry Merchant. He was drunker than usual last night, came off as insensitive at times, but this was not one of these times. Larry Merchant has known Lou Dibella for an eternity. Unprofessional my ass, or are you deeply involved in the upper echelons of the fight promotion/production business and have a better understanding of their EXTREMELY professional culture where there's no joking around and it's serious business 24/7?

 

Again, he pointed to Debiella and it then shows Debiella mouthing off to Merchant. Yes, he ignored Jason, but the thumbs down was not for Jason. He is still an *******, but he expected like the others and ourselves for Cab to come with his A game and he did not.

 

Merchant is a ****ing ****. I would love him to just **** off and never appear on my TV again.

 

Even though you blatantly pulled this justification out of your azz, the question still stands: Why is an announcer giving a thumbs down (or any gesture at all) to a promoter for the performance of his fighter?

 

I didn't get to watch the Caballero or Berto fight so I can't really comment on what he did or said in those circumstances but this I sure saw and I was so mad at him at asking Katsidis "would your brother be proud?" after getting beaten. Further, while Mike started speaking, with hurt in his voice, he cut him off! This is almost as bad as Kellerman asking Paul Williams to comment on the replay of his knockout loss to Sergio Martinez. What fools! :fire

 

Great card last night, but I did notice how much of an ******* Merchant was being to Berto and Litazo.

 

For sure Jason is talking to Manny Steward who is off camera to Merchants left... he's telling him he told him so etc referring to the incident where Steward and Litzau met in the elevator.... Merchant is talking to Lou Dibella and they're discussing the weight class his guy should fight in, Dibella mentions 145... Have you guys ever been to a live fight it;s so incredibly loud in there and I'm sure Merchant is much of a shouter. I think his thumbs down is a response to Lou asking him a question as a means of non verbal communication because he can't verbally respond from that distance...
I agree Merchant goes off on weird tangents sometimes, and you can feel odd tension between him and Lampley... especially when Lampley corrects Merchant on the round of Martinez's knock out the previous week...
As far as him cutting off Katsidis mid sentence... i think Merchant was trying to give Michael an opportunity to express what his brother meant to him.. but once he saw Michael starting to break down he interjected because he didn't intend for it to be a hurtful question, and was mindful that he had just lost the fight.
Merchant's role has always been the one of bringing the element of the human conditon, backstory, or human emotional element into the commentary. I think in this case he was hoping to give Katsidis a chance to be proud of his performance and stand tall but it backfired.

Either way... there seems to be an incredible amount of discordance between the commentary team at times which i find to be odd.
Whereas when you watch a commentary team like Rogan/Goldberg from UFC there's great energy and general consensus... they certainly don't bicker back and forth or try to argue their points. I think the problem is they need to give the commentators more defined roles and make them stick to their roles of 1. MC, 2. Expert, 3. Poetic/Emotional Take. They're slipping for sure...

Isn't HBO in NY? They should straight away higher the most professional post fight interviewer in all of combat sports who happens to be in NY, Ariel Helwani. He's thoroughly knowledgable, intelligible, has perfected his craft, and most importantly he keeps his pulse on the fans and ASKS THE RIGHT DAMN QUESTIONS.

These questions Merchant and Kellerman ask are completely lame and worded in such a predictable way.

 

ya i thought that was low too.,

 

Merchants an idiot and clearly stuck in a racist age where he's almost openly bigoted against black fighters. It's unreal

 

Why are you mad, because he didn't kiss Berto's ass...please he calls it as he see it...and I happened to agree with him:hi:

 

:deal

 

Merchantg is more entertaining that the entire HBO team..and his knowledge of the sport is far more than anyone on this forum...:hi:

 

Damn, a lot of you are some whiny ass bitches. Complaining about the HBO commentary team? Are ya'll serious? Turn the ****ing sound off! I am so sick of people bitching about Merchant and Kellerman. Merchant can be crass at times, but he also knows how to put fighters in their place when need be. Kellerman knows his ****...I don't know why everyone says he doesn't. The guy has been into boxing his whole life.

Please. Let it go. We got more pressing issues in our sport.

 

Berto? Am I reading this correctly? ...We're getting on Larry because he said Berto hasn't fought great opposition and shouldn't be in line to fight the Manny Pacquiao? ...He was RIGHT!