The controversial ending to the Floyd Mayweather–Victor Ortiz fight has been the talk of boxing for two days, and the post-fight flap between Mayweather and HBO commentator Larry Merchant has received nearly as much attention.
Merchant's attitude was a bit too anti-Mayweather for Money's tastes, and Mayweather lashed out in the interview from the ring, telling Merchant "You don't know [anything]." Merchant gave as good as he got.
"I wish I was 50 years younger and I'd kick your ass," Merchant responded.
Later, Merchant managed to work a pot shot into his analysis of the fight.
"Well, I think that Mayweather was already picking him apart," Merchant said, according to boxingscene.com. "Whether Ortiz could have imposed his size and strength later in the fight, we really don't know. People will say that his plan was to come on, but we don't know. Chances are, Mayweather would have dealt with anything and what happened happened. Mayweather hit him with a legal sucker punch."
Merchant went on to say he was surprised, but not rattled, by his exchange with Mayweather.
"I've been doing it a long, long time and I've heard a lot," he said. "My general attitude is, when a fighter gets out of line, people can see what they see and make their own judgments. But in this occasion, there was some spontaneous combustion. And it led to where it led."
This wasn't the first incident between these two. Merchant has been mildly critical of Mayweather for failing to provide "entertaining" fights, and Mayweather has called Merchant "just a commentator."
Check out the video below to review some of their history together.
