Larry Merchant

Larry Merchant (born Larry Kaufman; February 11, 1931) is an American sportswriter, a longtime commentator for HBO sports presentations of HBO World Championship Boxing, Boxing After Dark and HBO pay-per-view telecasts, called "the greatest television boxing analyst of all time" by some, including ESPN Boxing analyst Dan Rafael. Early life and education Merchant was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on February 11, 1931, to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, Merchant was interested in entering professional sports broadcasting. However, due to the fear of antisemitism within the industry possibly halting any chances he had of succeeding, Merchant changed his legal surname "Kaufman" to its literal translation "Merchant". In 1978, Merchant joined HBO Sports as an analyst. Prior to joining HBO Sports, Merchant was a well-regarded sports columnist with the Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Post. Career Merchant was part of the HBO Boxing commentary team along with Barry Tompkins, Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman, Gil Clancy, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Roy Jones Jr., Emanuel Steward, Lennox Lewis and Harold Lederman for championship and pay-per-view fights. Among the fighters who have clashed with Merchant include Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. The De La Hoya incident came during his fight with Pernell Whitaker. When De la Hoya entered the ring to Mariachi music, Merchant stated that while he loved Mariachi music, he felt that it "stunk" in this particular situation. Merchant would later apologize on the air after De La Hoya tried to have him removed from HBO.