Dana White on Mayweather vs Merchant: "Merchant Is Senile"
by Scott Christ on Sep 22, 2011 3:02 PM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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Speaking with MMA Fighting, UFC boss Dana White had comments on the feud between Floyd Mayweather Jr and HBO Sports analyst Larry Merchant. White has also spoken about the Mayweather vs Ortiz fight, blaming Joe Cortez for losing control of the bout and hurting boxing with the controversial finish. But here's what he had to say about Merchant:
"These guys get done fighting and he jumps in the ring and just starts saying off-the-wall, weird, rude shit to these guys. Who the hell would want to do an interview with him? ... I actually thought that that was very embarrassing for HBO. The guy is senile, he's out of his mind. He's up there berating Floyd, but Floyd can't say anything back to you?"
Years ago when UFC was talking with HBO about doing some programming, one of the things the UFC didn't want to give up was control of the production and things of that nature. White has employed Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan, who are basically a couple of cheerleaders for the brand and its fighters. I'm not saying that to be mean or whatever, it's just how it is. I could never imagine the UFC employing someone like Merchant, but the freedom of HBO commentators to be critical is, at least in theory, part of their appeal.
And that's not to say that I think they should. Frankly, I think we're well past Merchant's sell-by date as a commentator, and I'd prefer HBO not feature him anymore. But people do like him. When HBO tried to remove him a few years back, there was some level of outcry from boxing fans and media, which basically saved his job.
Now, was it embarrassing for HBO? Hardly. If anything, Merchant became a star himself with the interview. Normally I'd point out that Merchant constantly tries to make himself the star, but this was a situation where I didn't see anything unusual or even particularly notable in the interview. All of this wouldn't have happened if Floyd hadn't lost his temper at Merchant, who this time did not deserve the blow-up from the fighter. Yes, he's been insulting to fighters in the past, but to say he was "berating" Mayweather on Saturday is a bit much. Mayweather could have said or done a lot of things, but he had a temper tantrum. In my view, neither side came out looking too professional, but they sure got people talking.
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I've been agreeing a little too much with Dana White the past few days.
Feels weird.
Hey, I'll take it from here because you obviously don't know what you're doing... Lie down now, rest, and we'll talk about this when you regain your senses. --The Knockout Mechanism.
Max Kellerman, on his radio show, gave his thoughts about the hubub during the 3rd and 4th hours. Max has always been very, very protective of Larry Merchant, and has mentioned numerous times about the part Larry’s played in sports journalism, but says where Merchant erred in the interview (and where he himself erred during the Marquez post-fight interview) is that they simply took too long to spit out the question, with too much setup that Mayweather was interpreting as criticism, and Floyd disregards the positive things said about him, and focuses only on the negative.
Yes, by all means …
… let’s make sure to phrase questions so we don’t hurt Floyd’s feelings.
Most people don't know shit about boxing. At all. Period. - Roger Mayweather
by The Kittitas Kid on Sep 22, 2011 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Hes definitely easy offended. But knowing your subject, are you trying to get answers or are you trying to set him off? If you really want to know his mindset and ask about Pacman, then you don’t push in that situation. A good example is how TMZ approaches Merchant the next day. They wanted answers. A different approach would have gotten an FU.
by Craig111 on Sep 22, 2011 5:28 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
The part I can’t get over is the part about the controversy “hurting boxing.” What a load. I have seldom heard so many people talking about a fight after the fact as I have now—especially not in the last ten years. I’m not just talking online. I can only speak for where I live, but people all over Brooklyn are discussing this fight. I’ve had about half a dozen casual acquaintances (who know I am a boxing fan) ask me about it. Buzz, buzz, buzz is what this fight has generated, and White doesn’t like it one bit.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
Dana didn't say it hurt boxing
He even disagreed with the notion that that whole thing helped MMA. He said if it hurt anyone it would be Floyd because he’s easy to hate
Here is the quote:
Realistically, when you look at it, boxing puts on two big fights a year," White said. "Two big fights a year. They [expletive] up one of them. The referee destroyed that fight. He destroyed it. …That was a multi-, multi-million dollar fight that this one guy destroyed. Because I don’t know about you guys, but I was watching the fight, I would have liked to have seen how that really would have ended.
To me this does seem to imply that he thinks the ending of Mayweather vs. Ortiz hurt boxing. I could be wrong, but it seems like that’s what he’s getting at. I would have liked to have seen the ending too, but since I watched three interesting fights on the undercard first, I didn’t feel robbed.
Also, boxing certainly puts on more than two big fights a year. I’ve noticed that White and many MMA people prefer to assume that only audiences in the U.S.A. matter. This helps justify the narrative that MMA is replacing boxing in importance as a combat sport. His view that boxing only puts on two big fights a year seems to be another example of that. It’s easy to be the big frog when you only see the small pond.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
WHITE
Let’s let Merchant have his day in the sun, I think he’s earned it. My God, the dude is 80 and still working and paying taxes. He’s done alot to promote boxing over the years. Thank you Mr. Merchant
Yeah. It’s also kind of a cheap shot to use the word “senile” to describe anyone over 70, not matter how unlovable, dated, and arrogant they may be who are, in fact, working and paying taxes . I see senile for real every day, and that ‘s not what they’re doing. Kind of like using “retarded” for anyone not going quite as fast as you’d like. And just about as acceptable.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
I think Rogan is more than a cheerleader for the UFC. When you listen to him he’s actually a fan with a really good job. He’s the kind of guy that you would want to watch a fight with. Merchant… not so much.
No way I would want that voice at my fight party. Rogan strikes me as the guy who brings a lot of weed to the party and offers none.
Merchant subconciously hates boxers in my opinion. I have afolder on him with many examples.
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." - Mike Quarry
It gets harder spelling the older we get ;)
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
Until a 10th Planet fighter is in the ring
Then he just jizzes all over him.
"Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment."
-Lao Tzu
At least I'm not senile...
I’m all for freedom of opinion in boxing, but when you shove ur peronal BS into your commentary it’s just annoying. Merchant we get it, you hate the guy. Mayweather is probably the most hated boxer in boxing, but I don’t think he is the most hated person in boxing. I’ll leave that to Arum and Merchant to duke that out.
I don’t think we will see a commentator-boxer relationship like Cosell-Ali. Boxers will always have big personalities, but I dunno if we’ll see a commentator with one to match.
Floyd probably had planned to release his, "You never give me a fair shake" before hand
As Scott has mentioned numerous times, there wasn’t anything particularly pointed or mean about the line of questioning just a history of contentious disagreement in the past.
I fully believe that having a Jim Gray call out Mares at the risk of “ruining his moment” or Larry Merchant ask Mayweather whether he took advantage of the situation helps swallow otherwise nauseous moments in boxing.
How sad is it that a fan should be forced to believe something was an awe inspiring victory when it is actually a disappointingly truncated or qualified version of a fight.
I’m sorry, I’m still confused as to why I should give a damn what Dana White says? That being said, now that White has blessed us with his opinion, I have to agree in part and disagree in part.
I completely agree that Merchant is old and senile and should be fired. He can barely keep up with the speed of action in a walking marathon. I don’t understand why he is still calling fights. Shit, you don’t even have to fire him, just have him do color commentary before and after the fight or locker room interviews. Trust me, he’ll understand, and if he doesn’t? Get rid of him. Is HBO worried about showtime or fox sports picking him up to call their fights? Is Larry Merchant THAT integral to the HBO Boxing business model?
I disagree that Merchant was berating Floyd. Merchant was taking a very long time to get to the question that everyone wanted answered at the time and Floyd just lost it. Did everyone else see the very same look in Floyd’s eyes, when he started yelling “you aint shit” at Merchant, as when he started yelling at his father?
hear hear
I completely agree that Merchant is old and senile and should be fired.
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." - Mike Quarry
I will never forgive Merchant for what he did to Sonny Liston while he was a sportswriter in Philly. Sonny was coming back to Philly after having won the Championship and was expecting a nice crowd to greet him at the airport, but no one showed up and that really hurt Sonny.
Larry was quick to put salt into the wounds when he wrote that maybe "Sonny was expecting a ticker tape parade. They could use his rap sheet for confetti."
I may not have it exactly correct but the essence is there. I thought that was an extremely mean-spirited thing to do to a guy who was already down. Ever since then, I have studied Larry’s behavior and it has confirmed my feelings about him.
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." - Mike Quarry
Another thing comes to mind when he called Micky Ward a coward on the undercard of the Whitaker-De La Hoya fight. It was clear Larry had done no reserach on Ward and knew nothing about his left hook to the liver. Well, after he waxed Alfonzo (or whatever his name was), Larry was very quiet. Ward had not only iced his opponent, he had shut up the HBO team.
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." - Mike Quarry
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