In the aftermath of Larry Merchant?s verbal altercation with Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night (shortly after the sucker punch heard ?round the world leveled Victor Ortiz), if you typed ?Larry Merchant Mayweather? into Google, you?d get a listing of over a million results. Just in case you?re the lone person who hasn?t seen the exchange (and seriously, you just might be the only one), log on to YouTube, where there are a multitude of uploads dedicated to it. As it related to ?Star Power,? ironically, it was Merchant, the longtime boxing analyst for HBO Sports, whose star has shined the brightest.
After telling a tantrum-throwing Mayweather, “I wish I was 50 years younger and I?d kick your ass,” in response to the temperamental pugilist?s claim that Merchant didn?t know ?sh*t? about the sport, Merchant immediately became a part of pop culture. Want proof? Go to TMZ.com and you?ll see Merchant, of all people.
His stunned look into the camera after Mayweather started in on him has already become a popular avatar throughout the internet. Someone also created a particularly clever fictitious fight poster (yfrog.com) and for a spell, Merchant was trending on Twitter.
“Twitter? What?s Twitter?” joked Merchant on Monday afternoon. At that point, he understood that his post-fight interview with Mayweather was an insta-classic that will be forever immortalized. Yes, at age 80, Merchant has finally arrived.
“It?s weird and exhilarating and funny,” said Merchant, who has been on a multitude of radio shows and has been asked to do numerous interviews in light of this past weekend?s events. “I mean, I get a message from my granddaughter in grade school saying, ?Merchant pride!? and such. So it?s been kinda fun, although I?m not completely comfortable with being a center of attention because I think the fighters and the fight are the stars. That?s my personality. I?m the guy on the sideline kibitzing. So y? know, it?s been an interesting few hours.”
For the most part, the interview seemed relatively tame. It?s no secret that the two haven?t always seen eye-to-eye but for the most part, they seemed to be playing nice on this occasion. But things turned ugly as Merchant kept pressing Mayweather for an explanation on the ending of that fight near the conclusion of the fourth round. In a split second, Mayweather was at his petulant worst.
“I was surprised,” Merchant admitted. “You saw a quick look at the camera (from me) and I guess I?m thinking, ?I?m asking him questions so he can explain his side of the story,? but at the same time, there was a growing volatility in the crowd. The crowd was really upset. What the crowd saw was one guy hitting another guy who was turning away and wasn?t fighting, hitting him with a sucker punch. Now, it may be a legal sucker punch. He had every right to throw it- but should he have thrown it?”
