World Boxing News outlines the famous story of Floyd Mayweather, and Larry Merchant’s epic HBO spat in 2011.
The pair had a back-and-forth after Mayweather controversially dispatched Victor Ortiz. What took place afterward went down in boxing folklore.
Mayweather told Merchant: “HBO needs to fire you because you know s**t about boxing. You ain’t sh**t. You’re not s**t.”
An irate Merchant then replied: “I wish I were 50 years younger, and I’d kick your ass.”
Floyd Mayweather vs Larry Merchant
Years later, Mayweather and Merchant patched things up after their epic live spat in a post-fight interview that went viral.
However, Mayweather would only fight once more under the HBO banner before leaving for Showtime. Mayweather decision to move was later attributed to HBO leaving boxing five years before Showtime.
Speaking about the incident following a health scare, Merchant revealed how the animosity was ironed out.
“Yes,” said Merchant when asked by Little Giant Boxing if all was well between the pair. “[Floyd Mayweather] informally apologized to me. I thanked him, and we moved on.
It’s nice to know Merchant and Mayweather didn’t continue their division. At the time, the interview video outshone anything in the sport for days.
Since then, Merchant has kept a keen interest in the sport and discussed 2023 as he recovers from illness.
Fighter of the Year
Asked who his Fighter of the Year for 2023, Merchant replied: “I think that the performance of Crawford against Spence was supernatural, and I was excited watching how everything played out.
On Inoue, he added: “He is a terrific little fighter. He makes so much money fighting in Japan that getting him to fight anywhere else is hard. Maybe he can come to America and fight somebody I don’t know.
On who he likes to watch, Merchant responded: “Canelo is one. He isn’t what he used to be, but I think he has earned a kind of loyalty if you have watched his whole career as I have.
“Sometimes Tyson Fury puts on a great show. I am interested in what happens in the aftermath of the heavyweight [Day of Reckoning] show in Saudi Arabia.”
Concluding the interview, Merchant was quizzed about the chances of ever getting Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder.
“Wilder is going to have to take a very short end. But if he does that, Wilder might beat him.”
