Larry Merchant was tripping on Steve Smoger

Smoger is one of the best in the biz, imo. Notice how many of the most entertaining fights we've seen the past few years have had him as the third man in the ring. He did the right thing, imo...he was evaluating Miranda's condition when Miranda spit the mouthpiece out he is required to have the mouthpiece cleaned and there was a break in the action (Miranda was being given his 8 count.) It was obvious that Miranda did it purposefully, to buy himself time, so Smoger deducted the point. Larry started his usal huffing and puffing without even realizing that they had deducted the point. Larry is way past his time. He was good a few decades ago, but he failed to catch up with the times, which is why he is so grumpy. The sport, whether we like it or not, has changed; fighters dance their way to the ring, theatrics, showboat, rap...this is the sport today. It's equal parts sport and entertainment. He hates all of that, and expresses it. Which would be fine, except he is in the position of analyzing and commentating on a fight; his job is to describe the action and leave the opinions to the fans. It's a commentators job, not an editorial-opinion piece.

HBO can't get rid of Larry. They should have Larry on the hbo show till he dies!!! even though larry says some stupid shit...its true...hbo wouldn't be the same without him

Smoger was completely 100% correct in what he did. The extra time was him looking into the eyes of Miranda and making sure it was safe to let him go on. Idk what LARRY was getting all worked up about I don't either. Was Miranda supposed to go out there without his mouthpiece? I think that Larry is too far removed from the danger of this sport. He wants everybody to box like they're trying to kill eachother. To him it's the only aspect of the sport, it seems. I still love the guy, but damn.

I never forgave Ferdie for questionig McClellan's hear tdirectly after the bout. Especially after his involement with Ramos-Moore and Paret that makes it that much worse. Atleast he didn't say what King said about Gerald. His turning on Chavez after kissing his ass for years was pretty bad aswell.

I have a Pacheco painting of Marciano. He is a much better painter than announcer imo. Until he pulled a Cosell and spoke of the ills of Boxing. I never forgave Ferdie for questionig McClellan's hear tdirectly after the bout.

An early report out of Sasketchewan has the fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco taking Merchants place and not Kellerman who was widely reported as doing so. Uneblievable news. I have a Pacheco painting of Marciano. He is a much better painter than announcer imo. Until he pulled a Cosell and spoke of the ills of Boxing.

Dan Dierdorff was unstoppable as a commentator as well.

An early report out of Sasketchewan has the fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco taking Merchants place and not Kellerman who was widely reported as doing so. Uneblievable news.

yah i agree, he is a bum. the yshoulda fired him, but jus cuz he knows his shit they keep him.. a lot of ppl know their shit like that... a lot of the british uk commentators are AMAZING. the guys on showtime are kinda wack... and i havent seen much more.. but yeah larry merchance, and that bum suck ass, when its those 2 and emmanual i go to sleep i like lennox lewis tho, he knows his shit, he is respectful, and he only talks when he feels its needed. and when he has a good point to make. max kelelrman isnt bad either, he knows his shit and makes great points, and also knows where to draw the respect/disrespect line. but it seems like for the big fights its larry, bum , and emmanual, then for boxing after dark its max, lennox , and that new guy... they just made the big cards WACK with the commentairy, maybe thats what suppossidly killing boxing, i personally think all that talk is bs anyways but haha prolly I have always liked Max as well since his cable access days in NYC. Lampley should have been fired if Czyz was for DUIs. Lampley is much worse.

yah i agree, he is a bum. the yshoulda fired him, but jus cuz he knows his shit they keep him.. a lot of ppl know their shit like that... a lot of the british uk commentators are AMAZING. the guys on showtime are kinda wack... and i havent seen much more.. but yeah larry merchance, and that bum suck ass, when its those 2 and emmanual i go to sleep i like lennox lewis tho, he knows his shit, he is respectful, and he only talks when he feels its needed. and when he has a good point to make. max kelelrman isnt bad either, he knows his shit and makes great points, and also knows where to draw the respect/disrespect line. but it seems like for the big fights its larry, bum , and emmanual, then for boxing after dark its max, lennox , and that new guy... they just made the big cards WACK with the commentairy, maybe thats what suppossidly killing boxing, i personally think all that talk is bs anyways but haha prolly

i dont like any of the hbo ppl. teddy atlas is the best hands down. and joe tessitore is a good like promo , cut to commercial guy, better then the arrested cracked out guy... but i do like max kellerman, and lennox lewis... and FUCK emmanual stewert, mad trainers know their shit, why should he be the only one to do commentairy... hbo is FUCKED> i personally like friday night fights / wednesday night fights commentators and team much better. hbo just is the best cuz the elite fighters and title fights. but fuck, if atlas was on there, how much better would that be. i hate larry merchant. sure he knows his shit, but most the time he is talkin smack or fuckin tryin to be funny n shit. teddy atlas giving boxing lessons during every fight he calls. BRAPPPPPPPPT atlas for life I agree on Atlas. Sean O Grady is better than Lamps to me. I can't stand the guy with no balls, I can't get over him abandoning his daughter at the Garden during Bowe-Golota. He is overrated scum imo.

i dont like any of the hbo ppl. teddy atlas is the best hands down. and joe tessitore is a good like promo , cut to commercial guy, better then the arrested cracked out guy... but i do like max kellerman, and lennox lewis... and FUCK emmanual stewert, mad trainers know their shit, why should he be the only one to do commentairy... hbo is FUCKED> i personally like friday night fights / wednesday night fights commentators and team much better. hbo just is the best cuz the elite fighters and title fights. but fuck, if atlas was on there, how much better would that be. i hate larry merchant. sure he knows his shit, but most the time he is talkin smack or fuckin tryin to be funny n shit. teddy atlas giving boxing lessons during every fight he calls. BRAPPPPPPPPT atlas for life

i wish we had larry commentating here in england he fuckincracks me up lol

Smoger did everything he could. Miranda spit his mouthpiece out.

It didn't really seem to matter. The end was in sight and Miranda actually did a smart move to by giving himself some more time. Pavlik didn't complain after the fight as well. Larry was probably right as well because it gave Miranda a chance when he was definitely out on his feet, but it didn't effect the outcome so now it's kind of a moot point. I love Larry though he says what's on his mind and doesn't care what it sounds like. You guys are right HBO should have on there til he dies in his seat. His little speech on "crunk" was hilarious before the Taylor/Spinks fight.

I thought Merchant was spot on with his bashing of Smoger-Miranda was out on his feet and you have the ref taking his weet ass time-Its not fair to Kelly Pavlik. BTW-Lennox Lewis is the worst analyst I have ever seen, Foreman was bad yet is twice as good as Lennox.

Generally a big Merchant fan, but thought he was out of line there - Smoger got the action happening as quickly as possible again, & took a point. Totally legitimate, good refereeing I thought. Another thought - Smoger lets the action continue without getting Miranda's mouthpiece back in. Miranda gets seriously injured. Guess who's liable?

Larry was wrong for his rant on Smoger. I understand his beef - that the offending fighters often get the break they want, even at the cost of losing a point. But still, Smoger admonished him the moment he spit out his mouthpiece, immediately summoned the corner to the ring apron, and while they washed off the m/p, Smoger took a point. Honestly, Steve couldn't have handled the situation any better. As for Larry leaving - I'm mentioning it in my next column, but whispers around the water cooler this weekend were that he's not quite turning in his blazer yet. that was about the fastest ive ever seen a mouth piece replaced. Smoger is one of the best, larry is losing it.

Larry was wrong for his rant on Smoger. I understand his beef - that the offending fighters often get the break they want, even at the cost of losing a point. But still, Smoger admonished him the moment he spit out his mouthpiece, immediately summoned the corner to the ring apron, and while they washed off the m/p, Smoger took a point. Honestly, Steve couldn't have handled the situation any better. As for Larry leaving - I'm mentioning it in my next column, but whispers around the water cooler this weekend were that he's not quite turning in his blazer yet.

What about on occasions when mouthpieces come out legitimately? The action can be stopped for the mouthpiece to be put back in. Just about everything can be open to referee discretion, but when fighters blatantly cheat by spitting out their mouthpiece and all that is open to the ref is to give a warning, take a point and call a DQ (which would be grossly unfair in a title fight as the title can't change hands on a DQ ever since Max Schmeling "won" it following a low blow from Jack Sharkey) then it definitely gives a huge unfair advantage to the spitter. The referee should have the option of continuing the count at his discretion. That way there would be no incentive to spit out the mouthpiece.