Interesting story about Larry Merchant on racism.

[j.razor]

larry merchant, jim lampley & harold ledderman ALL SUX! They are the reason you fools out there can't decide who won the fight! SMH....Get them OUT of BOXING!

[New England]

Interesting thing is Larry Merchant was a catalyst in HBO losing both Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather to Showtime.

They forgave him for Tyson, but after Mayweather left they canned him.

mayweather left because he got a hell of a deal from CBS. merchant was literally in his 80's . the guy retired. he's 86 now.


if you think hbo canned merchant, or floyd left hbo because of merchant, you're wrong and honestly pretty naive.

[The Big Dunn]

Anyone who thinks Merchant didn't have issues with race, see his comments prior to the ODH/Sweet Pea fight and the reaction to those comments from the Latino community.

[anonymous2.0]

I think Larry Merchant suffers from old man syndrome.

[Motorcity Cobra]

Why was he in love with Shane Mosley?

Shane was one of the "good ones". Quiet, smiled for the camera. He knew his place. Shane is the type that let white people rub him on his head like he's a good boy.

Merchant didn't like the uppity ones who didn't know their place.

[Metho_4u]

Larry hated Floyd because he saw Floyd as the selfish fake weasel that he was, not because Floyd was black. He simply called him out on it.

Any intelligent and honest man can see this.

Larry was a good man.

When he was sober?

[GhostofDempsey]

Shane was one of the "good ones". Quiet, smiled for the camera. He knew his place. Shane is the type that let white people rub him on his head like he's a good boy.

Merchant didn't like the uppity ones who didn't know their place.

He loved Ali.

[Eff Pandas]

Calling someone racist over questionable if not outright non-racist sh^t is becoming its own subgenre of racism, but Merchant did seem to dog a lot of black fighters a lil too much for my liking, but HBO tends to have a different thought process with how they "promote" their own fighters & I suppose one could argue their two of their greatest cash cows (Tyson + Floyd) largely were boxers who took the route of being the "bad guy" so you could say HBO hyped them along in being the bad guy too.

[Zaroku]

Why do people call him a racist? Because of the Floyd thing?
I think he was great at antagonizing him. Floyd was trying to play the heel and Larry treated him like one by speaking for the fans who don't like an arrogant, brash fighter. It was a very WWF kinda thing they had going.

Simply calling everyone we don't like "racist" is ignorant and damaging because it wrecks your own integrity, as well as the credibility of your cause.

Nice thread tag BTW.

Floyd loved to project his insecurities onto larry in a twisted way. Post Castillo 1, larry told Floyd that most people thought Castillo won. Most of the fans booed the decision..
Floyd & trump both lack the class to hear criticism, smile, and let it roll off their backs..

[Pigeons]

I thought he was in love with Derrick Jefferson.........

I think after that punch we were all in love with Derrick Jefferson.