By Edward Chaykovsky
Former HBO analyst Larry Merchant has been around the sport for decades and he's witnessed numerous big fights get pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances.
In his opinion, Manny Pacquiao should have absolutely withdrawn from his May 2nd mega-match with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
After that fight was over, Pacquiao claimed to have entered the ring with an injured right shoulder. He hurt the shoulder a few weeks earlier in training camp. During the fourth round, he hurt it even further.
Because there was so much money involved in the event, Merchant says there was no way anybody was walking away from the fight - injury or otherwise.
"Yes [he should have pulled out]. I covered Ali-Liston II, a much anticipated event. It was postponed because [Muhammad] Ali had a groin injury. I covered Ali-Foreman, another much anticipated event - it was postponed because [George] Foreman suffered a cut in sparring, in training. But, when a fight has been anticipated for four, five years - I guess they were afraid of postponing it and with so much money pouring into the event and the mass media having jumped into it.....all of that money on the table, nobody was walking away from it," Merchant told Steve Kim during a video interview .
Merchant has been one of Pacquiao's biggest supporters but he was disappointed with the way he performed against Mayweather in the ring.
"I love Manny Pacquiao and everything he did in boxing and all of his big events and living up to the expectations of those events. But, he let everyone down in this fight," Merchant said.
