Foreman vs. Merchant at HBO

[TKO Tom]

BANGOR, ME (Dec. 16, 2001) - I'm not sure what the issue is between HBO boxing color man George Foreman and boxing analyst Larry Merchant, but after last night's uncomfortable exchange at the end of the Ruiz vs. Holyfield III bout it is clear that emotions between the two men are at the pressure point.

 

Just after the fight ended a nasty exchange ensued between the pair who had been verbally sparring back and forth all night over minor points and details.  It finally took Jim Lampley to diplomatically quell the bickering between Foreman and Merchant and move the program along.

 

Here is how it went in case you missed it:

 

Merchant (to Foreman):  You think these guys are Champions?

 

Foreman:  They fought like Champions.

 

Merchant:  Well, you and I couldn't disagree more about that George.

 

Foreman:  Well, once you have a boxing match...I'll let you know what a Champion fought like.

 

Merchant:  (becoming testy)  Don't!!.....don't pull rank on me!!

 

Foreman:  No, let me have my piece!....no, no, no!!

 

Lampley:  (Interrupting and talking over both men)  Let's...let's see if you can agree on one thing!  (At which point the production goes to a replay of the disputed knockdown/push from round 1 -about which they didn't agree on either).

 

Things are uncomfortable at ringside at HBO and this verbal bantering and bickering has been ongoing between Foreman and Merchant for months.  It's typically over trivial issues but for the HBO viewers it's a definite distraction.

 

The say familiarity breeds contempt.  I'd say so.

 

Tom Stewart 

 

 

[Alex Dombroff]

Truthfully Id rather see Merchant go...Merchant is coming to his end in
announcing anyway. His earlier work far surpasses what he is doing now. Jack
Dunne of MaxBoxing.com sent me a tape of fights- one of them being wasnt
actually a fight, it was a post fight show hosted by Merchant on the aftermath
of Tyson-Douglas. It became apparant to me as to why everyone who has watched
boxing for a while thinks Merchant is so great. Because he WAS great. That was
some of the best sportscasting work I have EVER seen. But look at him now.
Extremely inchoerent. He doesn't know what he is going to say. Foreman, on the
other hand is constantly improving behind the mic. Also Foreman has been in the
ring, under circumstances people like Mosley and Vargas dream of. He knows what
its like to step through the ropes, and like what he is saying or not, he knows
what goes through a fighter and is telling it true. So, to me at least, as much
as I love the HBO announcing crew it is quite obvious to me that while Merchant
is at the end of his career, Big George may still be going strong 5-10 years
from now as he is constantly improving.

Keep Loving Boxing,
Alex Dombroff

[Observer8]

Larry Merchant is old and worn out. He needs to use the advice he
gave Holyfield and retire.

"Alex Dombroff" <yank...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011216175650...@mb-cq.aol.com...

[Squatting Neville]

They sound like a bunch of squabling girls, you need commentators that can
crack a joke and not be too serious, it seems like their competing against
each other to see who is the most knowledgable about the sport. Here in the
UK Sky's commentator's Ian Darke & Glen McCrory disagree on things a lot but
they just laugh it off.

[dissonant]

I'd much rather see George go. Merchant might not have any ring experience
but George's supreme lack of intelligence gives Merchant the edge in
credibility IMO. Most of the times they bicker, I'm on Merchant's side of
the argument. Merchant says some stupid stuff but George just amazes me with
it. I say drop George and pick up Manny or someone with some intelligence.

"Observer8" <Obse...@cinci.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0O9T7.12472$ED6.2...@typhoon.neo.rr.com...

[WingNut]

I'd like to drop Merchant and bring Bobby Czyz in (if HBO can get him from
Showtime)

[DoomBloom]

<< I'd like to drop Merchant and bring Bobby Czyz in (if HBO can get him from
Showtime) >>

WHAT??!! you have to be kidding...he is one of the biggest flakes on the
Showtime payroll.

[Zomby Wooof]

Larry doesn't get along too well with Roy, either.

dissonant <unli...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:2zcT7.315$ns3.1...@news.uswest.net...

[dissonant]

Damn, I can't stand Czyz at all. IMO Showtime and Fox Sports Net have the
worst announcers. I feel they all detract from the fight. I'll take HBO or
ESPN over those two any day.

"WingNut" <fak...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:9vjrl2$gnr$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...

[job]

"Dunne of MaxBoxing.com sent me a tape of fights- one of them being wasnt
> actually a fight, it was a post fight show hosted by Merchant on the
aftermath
> of Tyson-Douglas. It became apparant to me as to why everyone who has
watched
> boxing for a while thinks Merchant is so great. Because he WAS great."

I think the only reason Merchant looked 'great' early on was because he was
around great fighters during that time in his career. (Duran, Leonard,
Hearns, Hagler, Tyson...).

I don't think it was Merchants great commentary that made people take note
to his ability as a commentator but the great champs that he happened to be
around at the time to interview and comment on.

"Alex Dombroff" <yank...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011216175650...@mb-cq.aol.com...

[Brian]

On 16 Dec 2001 22:56:50 GMT, yank...@aol.com (Alex Dombroff) wrote:

>Truthfully Id rather see Merchant go...Merchant is coming to his end in
>announcing anyway.

You agree with George that those guys are champions? Come on...George is just
being a contrarian and acting like because he got in the ring that somehow makes
him the authority on all things boxing. I think they should dump George and
bring back Roy Jones. Roy was the best ringside announcer I've seen. In some
ways he's better suited personality wise to be an announcer than a boxer.

[guitarious jamicus]

I always liked Shawn O'Grady, I'd like to see him ditch the "Toughman"
thing on FX and get picked up by HBO

[The Sanity Cruzer]

"Brian" <opt...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:amnr1ukoerhomkqse...@4ax.com...

>I think they should dump George and
> bring back Roy Jones. Roy was the best ringside announcer I've seen. In
some
> ways he's better suited personality wise to be an announcer than a boxer.

Agreed. At least as an announcer Jones was willing to be involved in a
competitive fight.

[Jim DePierro]

Oh, God no!!
"guitarious jamicus" <ark...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:16220-3C1...@storefull-258.iap.bryant.webtv.net...

[Jim DePierro]

Call me crazy but I prefer the status quo. I don't like commetators that
always agree with each other and slap each other on the back after repeating
the same shit every broadcast. If anyone should go it should be Foreman
though. I say keep them both because even if the fight is a stinker at
least you get to watch a war of words which is often times better than the
fight. As far as larry not likeing Roy well more power to him.

I don't like Bernard Hopkins much as a fighter because he is so dirty and he
strikes me as more of a mercenary than a real lover of the game but the man
always impresses me when he speaks. I think Hopkins would make a great
commenttator. Put him and Foreman on the same broadcast and then you will
see the sparks really fly. Has anybody ever listened to what Hopkins had to
say about Foreman after he (Foreman) accused Hopkins of being a dirty
fighter. That was some seriously funny shit that Hopkins said
"Zomby Wooof" <zomby...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9vk31c$fkg71$1...@ID-102219.news.dfncis.de...

[Brian]

I don't think that it is a conincidence that Larry doesn't get along with
both Roy and George.

While it is not a prerequisite that someone has to have fought in the ring
before commentating on a fight, Larry has absolutely no respect for what the
fighters give of themselves in the ring.

Unless two fighters are pounding each other into submission, he comments
that the fights are boring and that the fighters do not have any courage or
heart (at least not as much as he does huh?).

Brian

"Zomby Wooof" <zomby...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9vk31c$fkg71$1...@ID-102219.news.dfncis.de...

[d...@cheetah.net]

On Tue, 18 Dec 2001 15:03:22 GMT, "Brian" <bleed...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I don't think that it is a conincidence that Larry doesn't get along with
>both Roy and George.
>
>While it is not a prerequisite that someone has to have fought in the ring
>before commentating on a fight, Larry has absolutely no respect for what the
>fighters give of themselves in the ring.
>
>Unless two fighters are pounding each other into submission, he comments
>that the fights are boring and that the fighters do not have any courage or
>heart (at least not as much as he does huh?).
>
>Brian

Courage is the main factor that "allows"
a man to climb through the ropes. A fool
allows himself to be pounded for the glory
of boxing. A well trained, prepared, and
experiences fighter understands the not so
subtle differences.

There are a lot of ex fighters walking
around with barely enough sense to come in
from the rain and have no place to stay dry.

DCI

[Johnc3382]

foreman is the man and merchant has to go lampley should go also these guys are
fucking wimps , if they were in a room with a bunch of fighters they wouldnt
have the balls to talk back , but on tv they run there months like they know
boxing, if you never stepped in the ring you never can truly know the
nature,fears the animal that is boxing
like i tell my virgin friend geno who is 25 when he has the balls to tell me
about pussy, " geno it is not like in those porno movies"

[Anthony Gasparetto]

Brian wrote:

> I don't think that it is a conincidence that Larry doesn't get along with
> both Roy and George.
>
> While it is not a prerequisite that someone has to have fought in the ring
> before commentating on a fight, Larry has absolutely no respect for what the
> fighters give of themselves in the ring.
>
> Unless two fighters are pounding each other into submission, he comments
> that the fights are boring and that the fighters do not have any courage or
> heart (at least not as much as he does huh?).
>

I agree with the above comments and I will add that I didn't find the fight
boring. I was looking to see who would take charge and it was Holyfield who
decided that he wanted it more. I found it more of a chess match granted at slow
speed but the rounds were close and my sense was it could got either way.
Tony...

[dissonant]

I think Merchant and to a lesser extent Lampley are just real protective of
boxing. It pisses them off to see anything that they perceive as harming
boxing (ie. Ruiz/Holyfield). Maybe that's why they were both so annoyed with
George's moronic statements. Maybe that also explains why Merchant isn't
fond of Roy. Because Roy is ultimately bad for the sport.

Merchant is a cynic and that's what he get's paid for. You have George
tight-cast as the moron for comic relief who also tries to offer a glance
through a punch drunk fighter's eyes. You have Merchant giving his overly
cynical point-of-view. And then you have Lampley for standard blow-by-blow
and to pull the whole thing together. It kind of evens out..

"Brian" <bleed...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:_UIT7.636$NM4.32852@rwcrnsc53...

[BoxMuham]

>You have George
>tight-cast as the moron for comic relief who also tries to offer a glance
>through a punch drunk fighter's eyes.

You don't know what "punch drunk" means. But your wife likely will when
you go for your morning shave a short 15 years from now...
Foreman easily exceeds Merchant's grasp of thought these days. Merchant
was once an excellent boxing commentator. But he looks and sounds like another
old alki these days.

BoxM

[BoxMuham]

>I'd like to drop Merchant and bring Bobby Czyz in (if HBO can get him from
>Showtime)
>

Oh no. Czyz is THE worst. The most biased and inane "boxing"
commentator out there. Czyz is worse than the worst of Kellerman.

BoxM