Thread: Was Larry Merchant's question to Mayweather "too painful"?

After the Ortiz fight, Larry asked Floyd the question that every fan watching wanted to know. He asked what Floyd thought about the way the fight ended, and whether or not he thought it was a sucker-punch. Mayweather went on a tirade, saying that Merchant doesn't know anything about boxing, and that HBO sports has it out for him. He said that he never gets a fair "shake" with HBO. After that he proclaimed that HBO needs to fire Merchant.

Merchant is little bit different announcer. Too many announcers in sports want to be friends with all of the athletes. They constantly try to get the players' adoration. His question to FM was though but hardly rude at all. Mayweather, like politicians generally, loves media and hype but not if media asks some though questions. That's the way i want media of sport to stay.

Fuckin A!!!

Mayweather spat the dummy out, plain and simple.

I personally think he believes he was unfair and just tried to change the subject, from his shady victory, to something everybody would go "Ooooh" over. It worked.

And probably also to avoid the inevitable "Is Pacquiao next?" question. Again, it worked!

Originally Posted by Vendettos

Mayweather spat the dummy out, plain and simple.

I personally think he believes he was unfair and just tried to change the subject, from his shady victory, to something everybody would go "Ooooh" over. It worked.

And probably also to avoid the inevitable "Is Pacquiao next?" question. Again, it worked!

I think that's the biggest thing he was trying to avoid. Make a scene and hurry up and get out of there.

Larry Merchant is an arsehole. He's never laced a pair of gloves on himself and he makes a living out of hauling his fat ass into rings criticising fighters. He has a really irritating slow delivery and has never really done what I'd call a good interview.

He has criticised Mayweather for years, though I don't think Floyd covered himself in glory by ranting at him on live TV

Considering the circumstances of Floyd's victory it would have been unbelievable had the interviewer not questioned him on it.

Boo's were ringing out around the arena , cries of disgust everywhere, what would it say about the pathetic weakness of an interviewer were he to be so sycophantic as to wimp out of challenging Floyd on that? They would look like as silly as Tony Blair cosying up to Gadaffi.

Originally Posted by X

He's never laced a pair of gloves on himself and he makes a living out of hauling his fat ass into rings criticising fighters.

Oh please, anybody who's ever watched a boxing match, has criticized a boxer at some stage.

Your statement is essentially that ANYBODY who has NEVER laced up for a fight, should not be allowed an opinion of a boxer?

That's like saying Jose Murinho shouldn't be allowed to be a manager because he never played the game.

Utter Non-sense!

I think the problem is on how Larry was acting like such a troll. Asking questions in a way that were just out of line with the truth just to make the question 'tougher' than normal.

The key point for me, is that Larry was trying to get Floyd to comment on an 'unfair advantage' that in the cold light of day really wasn't unfair at all... So obviously Floyd went into victim mode and went all teenager on Larry.

I mean Larry is proper grown-up-funny but he definately is biased and has a prick mentality to boot.

...EDIT...Of course Floyd is a prick too but at the end of the day it was his fight, not Larry's and as I said before, it's a shame that Larry decided to voice the opinion of the ill informed.

We all have that!

I agree with him, I hate Mayweather so does 50% off most people! He'll retire the most unliked undefeated champion ever!

Just because his attitude is that of a jack ass. How was Larry acting any different from how Mweather always acts?

Originally Posted by Vendettos

We all have that!

I agree with him, I hate Mayweather so does 50% off most people! He'll retire the most unliked undefeated champion ever!

Just because his attitude is that of a jack ass. How was Larry acting any different from how Mweather always acts?

The difference is Floyd asks his questions in the ring.

Touche

Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

I think the problem is on how Larry was acting like such a troll. Asking questions in a way that were just out of line with the truth just to make the question 'tougher' than normal.

The key point for me, is that Larry was trying to get Floyd to comment on an 'unfair advantage' that in the cold light of day really wasn't unfair at all... So obviously Floyd went into victim mode and went all teenager on Larry.

I mean Larry is proper grown-up-funny but he definately is biased and has a prick mentality to boot.

...EDIT...Of course Floyd is a prick too but at the end of the day it was his fight, not Larry's and as I said before, it's a shame that Larry decided to voice the opinion of the ill informed.

That is why it's up to Mayweather to provide the proper answer to educate the ill informed.

Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

Originally Posted by Vendettos

We all have that!

I agree with him, I hate Mayweather so does 50% off most people! He'll retire the most unliked undefeated champion ever!

Just because his attitude is that of a jack ass. How was Larry acting any different from how Mweather always acts?

The difference is Floyd asks his questions in the ring.

But so far, Floyd has avoided asking his questions to the right person in the ring.

Originally Posted by Vendettos

Originally Posted by X

He's never laced a pair of gloves on himself and he makes a living out of hauling his fat ass into rings criticising fighters.

Oh please, anybody who's ever watched a boxing match, has criticized a boxer at some stage.

Your statement is essentially that ANYBODY who has NEVER laced up for a fight, should not be allowed an opinion of a boxer?

That's like saying Jose Murinho shouldn't be allowed to be a manager because he never played the game.

Utter Non-sense!

Has Larry Merchant ever boxed at any level? A quick search just came up with the expected.

Mourinho was a proffessional footballer (I think, Rio Ave etc may have been semi?) , although he obviously never played at an elite level.
Being good at something and having a brain for it don't always coincide with eachother, but experience has it's part regardless.

We watch boxing, we aren't (key word) proffessional commentator's. Not too long ago it seemed the general opinion was that Larry Merchant was a drunk and should retire, go figure.

Mayweather gets more than enough money and adulation from millions of fans so should expect to take a bit of criticism and get asked uncomfortable tough questions.

I know people have had issues with Merchant in the past but i don't think he was out of order with anything he said the other night. I think a lot of Mayweathers problem stems from the fact he has a huge ego that is massaged by everyone around him and he takes offence if anyone treats him any different.

The fact he fights once a year at most and still wants to be p4p no.1 is leaving himself open to criticism whether he likes it or not.

oh yeah and if he doesn't fight Pac there will always be questions left unanswered when it comes to evaluating his career post retirement especially for new fans in many years to come who ask 'how good was Mayweather really?' Regardless of if Pac will take the tests or not it is PBF who is the one who looks like he is making the fight look less and less like happening fair or not that is what the general public will start believing.

See how painful that is for Mayweather when he is 70 years old and he feels he didn't do everything he possibly could have to be considered the greatest.