By Matthew Hurley
Larry Merchant remains the most compelling and, oftentimes, frustrating “expert analyst” in boxing. His indelible, halting on-mike persona has led many a couch potato to choke on his swig of beer and say to the shlub sitting next to him, “Larry’s at least three Martinis in now.” Indeed, Merchant’s flubs, mixed metaphors and off-the wall asides are as remarkable in their entertainment value as “unofficial” HBO scoring judge Harold Lederman’s shrill histrionics are annoying.
But, Larry is as unique and opinionated in his approach as Howard Cosell, and as refined and eloquent as the legendary announcer Don Dunphy. Still, Merchant, for several years now, has been mired in the negativity that Cosell came to personify rather than the dignified positivity Dunphy always defined.
Larry Merchant has been around forever and anyone who has punched that workman’s time clock for as long as he has deserves respect and can be allowed that certain crankiness to emerge at inopportune moments. Merchant began his career as a newspaper columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, the New York Post and the LA Herald Examiner.
He joined HBO as a boxing analyst in 1978 and has remained the most familiar figure on the broadcast team ever since. He brings a journalistic sensibility to his fight calls. There is, at times, an awkward hesitancy in his delivery; a deliberate mind-search for the right word or phrase that stutters him when speaking into the microphone. It is the columnist in him and it has provided for many malapropisms or on air gaffes that have even “flapped” the “unflappable” host of HBO broadcasts Jim Lampley.
And it is great live television.
“This is an abortion,” Larry whined during the Derrick Gainer – Juan Manuel Marquez featherweight bout. His disgust was palpable. Granted it was a horrible fight, but Larry’s tone had taken on the irritating sting of the curmudgeon. Nothing was good enough. Unless of course it was a Hagler – Hearns shootout or an Arturo Gatti – Micky Ward war. His annoyance with any fight that doesn’t reach his standards of excellence becomes a chore for not only him but for his audience.
His criticisms of the second match between Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera were so off the mark that one could only assume that a tactical boxing match between two great fighters was not to his liking and therefore the audience should be bored. His tirades in that fight and in many others that followed made many an HBO subscriber turn the sound off.
Not only was the Barrera – Morales rematch a good scrap, it showed off different aspects and strategies both men were capable of pulling off. It made their third bout even more compelling. But Merchant was having none of it and he has been harshly vocal in criticizing any bout, or fighter, who doesn’t run headlong into a fist.
It’s no secret that HBO heavily promotes who is under contract and the broadcast often reflects that, regardless of what Larry or Jim Lampley says in his defense. It is so obvious it’s laughable. Was there ever a more egregious on air partisanship than HBO’s love affair with Jermain Taylor? The suits at HBO hated then middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. And quite frankly, the former champion was a thorn in everyone’s side because he wouldn’t protect anyone but himself.
Protect yourself at all times, the referee says to the fighter before the opening bell and Bernard took that to heart. He wouldn’t play ball with anyone because it was his ball and he was taking it home with him. The antagonism between Hopkins and Merchant was so thick they both seemed to sweat when in each others company. But a good broadcaster doesn’t bring that to the mike.
Larry did.
Lampley did.
Hell, Lampley was so enamored by Oscar De La Hoya, an HBO fighter, you would think that the “Golden Boy” was the reincarnated version of Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep and Henry Armstrong combined. Even Emanuel Steward gets in on the act. One round he’ll say a fighter is all done and then the next he completely changes his mind and tries to justify himself. Manny’s developed himself a new catchphrase without even realizing it – “I really don’t think he’s going to weather this storm…”
And yet, it makes for good television. It’s easy to get angry or annoyed with these guys but there’s something about them that just works. They’re the Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith of boxing. That’s what chemistry is all about.
Don Dunphy was the last truly great boxing announcer. He was the patriarchal figure who gently described what was going on. When his voice rose your sense of excitement rose because if the sedate, professional Dunphy could be thrilled you, the listener, must be thrilled.
Howard Cosell meandered onto the scene with his nasal voice from a different herd of broadcasters. He made sure that the event would not overwhelm his own presence. Whether it was boxing, baseball or Monday Night Football, Cosell was all ego and whatever was going on was no more important than what he had to say. There was no grey area with “The Mouth”. You either liked it, and no one loved it, or you hated it.
Larry Merchant falls somewhere in the middle, though closer to Dunphy. Merchant doesn’t say things to force himself into the spotlight as Cosell did. But because he’s a man of such fierce opinions he sometimes loses that Dunphy eloquence when he gets bored or annoyed. In that sense he can become oppressive. Yet an HBO broadcast wouldn’t be the same without him.
Whether he’s dressed in a tux with his white hair slightly askew, or in a Polo shirt with a mysterious grin on his face Larry Merchant has come to define the fights on Saturday night. He’s that familiar figure that is comforting even if you want to throw your beer can at the screen the first time you see him.
