Quote Originally Posted by wacko3205
No offence...but anyone that questions the man's knowledge...well...I gotta question them.

Merchant has been involved in boxing commentating & sports in general for years & years & years. He's a well of knowledge & he (IWO) covers all the grounds that he should. He also asks the questions that most commentators wouldn't.

Honestly...I think that he's a bit long winded...but most commentators are & in the end...they should be.

I'd rather hear him embellish than I would listen to just a play by play...any drunken idiot can do that...errrrrrrrrrrrrrr...hey waitagotdaminutenow!
The man definitely knows his boxing history--that's not why he's obnoxious. He's obnoxious because he can't just speak straight-up; everything has to be a not-quite-working analogy spoken in a smug tone, because he obviously thinks that everything that comes out of his mouth is profound.

That said, the post-fight interviews are hilarious sometimes. Merchant is such an old curmudgeon and does not have any sense of awe of (or even respect for, half of the time) any of these fighters, which leads to really funny (in a cringing kind of way) questions.

"After what was obviously a totally lopsided loss, [meaningful pause], what's next? Is this the end of [25 year old fighter's name's] career?"

"You seemed to have no answer for his left. Was it just that you are too slow, or was it more [meaningful pause] that you are simply a B minus boxer, [meaningful pause], while he is an A boxer?"