12.02.04 – By Matthew Hurley: You knew it was coming. He had to say something. His anger, which often mirrors the opinions of even the most pedestrian boxing fan, never fails to either put a smile on our collective face or make us cringe in embarrassment. It always leaves us with something to argue about or to puzzle over. “This is an abortion,” sighed Larry Merchant during the mind-numbingly boring Derrick Gainer – Juan Manuel Marquez Featherweight unification bout. It was an inappropriate comment, one that diminished Merchant’s own credibility as a broadcaster, but more worrisome, of a type that has become all too commonplace with the HBO analyst in recent years. His relentless cynicism has called his journalistic integrity into question and, more alarmingly, it has undermined his talents as a commentator. His apparent disillusionment with the sport he professes to love is turning him into this generation’s Howard Cosell.
During a nationally televised Heavyweight title fight between Larry Holmes and Randall “Tex” Cob in 1982 Howard Cosell, pontificating from ringside, as was his wont, suddenly seemed to lose his taste for the sport that had brought him his greatest fame. Without shame he denounced both the mismatch he was commentating on and the sport of boxing, and swore he would never cover a boxing match again. The most famous sportscaster of his time turned his back on the very sport that had made his nasal histrionics and pompous attitude an icon of his generation. Cosell’s defection never really hurt boxing, in fact, in retrospect, it made him look rather foolish when boxing resurged in the 1980s thanks to countless great fights and great fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran, and Aaron Pryor to name but a few. But Cosell planted a seed in the consciousness of a growingly egotistical sports-writing community that was more concerned with baseball and football and had little time for the trials and tribulations of up-and-coming fighters. Boxing slowly but surely became persona non grata in the sports pages. It has since continued to become a dead issue in the major sports media unless a superfight is involved, or Mike Tyson has yet again embarrassed himself.
Which brings us back to Larry Merchant. Merchant, a longtime boxing writer and current analyst for HBO, has become what we all love or hate, or love to hate – an irritating curmudgeon. He wasn’t always like this. His passion for boxing and its participants was once palpable. You wanted to hear his opinion. His journalistic approach to broadcasting harkened back to great commentators like Don Dunphy, who would verbally interject his opinions only when necessary. Silence was the operative emotional response. It allowed the action of the two fighters to remain the focus and in itself spoke volumes. But somewhere along the line Merchant has either lost his passion and patience for the sport or has simply lost his objectivity.
If a fight doesn’t rise to the level of say, a Micky Ward – Arturo Gatti slugfest, his audible sighs and smarmy diatribes denigrating the fighters overwhelm the fight itself. His newly found didactic approach to broadcasting can all but ruin an event. If he doesn’t like what’s going on you shouldn’t either, and he’ll make sure you know it. If it’s not a Marvin Hagler – Tommy Hearns classic, and there aren’t too many of those, it’s an “abortion.” Where has this man’s passion for the sport of boxing gone? Why has every broadcast become a struggle? Sometimes it seems as though he isn’t even trying anymore. His disgust not only alienates the viewers but has left his broadcast partners at a loss. Even the unflappable Jim Lampley, who also has to deal with the nonsensical George Foreman (soon to be departing), often seems hesitant to respond to some of Larry’s off-the-wall metaphors.
Granted, Merchant was completely in the right in his criticism of the Gainer – Marquez fight but this is the same man who could find nothing to enjoy in the tactical, compelling Barrera – Morales rematch and who openly chastised Middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins for fighting a mandatory challenger. Merchant seems to have metamorphosed into the worst possible boxing fan – one who demands an impossible standard of excellence and regards anything else less as an “abortion.” There is no gray area as far as Larry is concerned.
The most unfortunate ramification of Larry Merchant’s degeneration into a broadcast hack is that knowledgeable boxing fans are being deprived of one of the few intelligent and analytical voices left in boxing. Merchant’s grasp of boxing history, cultivated through years of newspaper work, is without peer. His is a voice to be respected and counted on when it comes to fistic knowledge.
Sadly, that very voice has become shrill and, yes, annoying. There is a weary quality in every broadcast Merchant does. Perhaps he should simply pack it in, like Cosell did, or, better yet, re-ignite the passion for the sport he professes to love and remind us all why he was once the best broadcaster in the business.