Quote Originally Posted by Kirkland Laing View Post
Did you ever watch Around the Horn on ESPN when he did it? It was him chairing a debate between a bunch of sports journalists and he used to do the same know-it-all thing on baseball, football, every sport they discussed and almost every programme I saw the jounalists ate his lunch and/or exposed that he didn't know what he was talking about. He was total garbage and failed upwards into a job at HBO entirely because his family is really well-connected in the media world.

I'm not doubting he's a boxing fan or he's read a few books and watched old fights but I still think a guy in his job should have actually have lived through a few of those fights like Merchant instead of having read about them decades later. HBO hired him to appeal to a younger demographic but they should concentrate on appealing to a boxing demographic.
I hear what your saying But Strictly speaking on boxing I do believe Kellerman & HBO are focused on a boxing demographic as you state.Alot is made of his age or lack there of but the fact remains that he is very knowledgable in the sport.He strikes me as someone that Is a fan first with a general passion for the history of the sport and who is slowly ebbing his way through trial and error into the role boxing commentator.His flaws on camera can be glaring but he knows boxing,past & present.Is Kellerman young, brash and a little goofy?Absolutly,But how and when he developed his Knowledge is frankly not immportant,It is genuine and Is Not scripted,feigned or read off of a prompter.He is uncomfortable on camera but I like that he does not worry so much about the Cosmetics of a show and Lets the history flow.
No doubt that he will never have the first hand experience of a Larry Merchant,None of us will for that matter,But that should not devalue or exclude any one or Kellerman from delving into that available History and trying to keep it In the minds of the current and future Fans alike.