BoxRec

What is everyones views of the man deemed to take over from the ageing but experienced Larry Merchant? I only ask after watching a couple of recent HBO casts i was impressed with Kellerman's knowledge and views.

Firstly he had a decent knowledge of the European and Asian fight scene and unlike his compatriots such as Jim Lampley didn't subscribe to the Yoo-ess-ay school of thinking where everyone outside of the States is inferior johnny foreigner.

Anyway while watching Kessler-Andrade i thought Kellerman was fairly insightful and Manny Steward who is usually solid and intelligent was pretty poor. He persistently gave Andrade a chance he clearly didnt have. Claiming Kessler was going to wear down, was looking scared after exchanges and Andrade was going to take over late on etc all i saw was Kessler bouncing shots off Andrade all night in a near perfect performance. Steward was insistent Andrade was doing things he wasnt doing and was becoming a bit of a cheerleader. Anyway thoughts on Kellerman?

Kellerman can call a fight well. I think a lot of ppl find him TOO enthusiastic at times especially with him replacing the ever so dry Merchant. However, Merchant has become increasingly cliched with his catch phrases and new blood is needed.

Kellermen may well collide with Lamp, who also likes to blabber. Will they compete, rather than gel?

I feel that Lamp has been accommodating to European fighters (the Klitschkos for instance or the "dramatic nosed" Branco) whereas Kellerman has been charged with disliking non US stuff. i.e. his much criticised 2002/3 comment that "Antonio Tarver shouldn't fight Michalczewski in Germany because he'd outclass him but get robbed". Maxboxing's very good M Mulchahy, in his ESB days, really ripped him for that.

Als, Max did say that "Jermain Taylor is THE MAN in the 160-168 region" which isn't quite so.

Kellerman will probably continue to open his mind by covering events like Kessler-Andrade which I felt was an impressive win over a dangerous customer. I don't mind him. Prodiving his continues to temper his enthusiasm.


PS, anyone hear about Andrade stiffing McCullough his training expenses? Paid him 3% rather than the agreed on 10%.

Getting rid of Larry Merchant, is a bit like F1 without Murray Walker. The cocks and digressions are becoming more and more frequent and he's definately seems minutes of the action.... but you just couldn't replace him.

I don't have much of an opinion on Max... He doesn't annoy me, he doesn't really make me take notice.

But what was Larry doing letting Floyd Sr blabber on during one of last weekend's undercard fights? It was fecking painful and you could almost sense Darkie fuming in the background.

The biggest problem I have with Kellerman is the way he pronounces his opinion as fact: His comments with regards to Taylor, as Final Fight pointed out, for instance. I don't have anything against him as such, but I do feel he has a touch of the Holdsworth's about him, in that he gives his opinion on a fighter as if it's the final word.

I've heard from America that he does have his favourites as well, guys who can do no wrong. Don't know how true that is. However, he does seem to be enthusiastic about boxing, and how many people are these days?

Final Fight wrote:But what was Larry doing letting Floyd Sr blabber on during one of last weekend's undercard fights? It was fecking painful and you could almost sense Darkie fuming in the background.

Well, I don't think it was all Larry's fault. Floyd Snr seemed to be clearly on something that night (I'll alledge) and Larry did try to butt in on a few occasions, but Floyd just kept going on and on. I think Larry kept with it in the hope that eventually Floyd (a guy who should have been a very sought after interview) would say something of importance and relevance... instead of just blabber. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Plus... Larry is in his mid 70's. I don't think he wants to be messing around with offending Floyd Snr given his reputation.

Floyd Snr certainly won the ugly award that night.

stujones wrote:

Final Fight wrote:But what was Larry doing letting Floyd Sr blabber on during one of last weekend's undercard fights? It was fecking painful and you could almost sense Darkie fuming in the background.

Well, I don't think it was all Larry's fault. Floyd Snr seemed to be clearly on something that night (I'll alledge) and Larry did try to butt in on a few occasions, but Floyd just kept going on and on. I think Larry kept with it in the hope that eventually Floyd (a guy who should have been a very sought after interview) would say something of importance and relevance... instead of just blabber. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Plus... Larry is in his mid 70's. I don't think he wants to be messing around with offending Floyd Snr given his reputation.

but Larry showed a woeful lack of control, especially in regard to the quality of the HBO broadcast. then again, it must have been someone else's stupid idea in yet another desperate bid to use Floyd Sr as a "dramatic subplot".

No doubt there will be a rematch with Floyd Sr training Oscar.

states wrote:The biggest problem I have with Kellerman is the way he pronounces his opinion as fact

I can't argue with you there states i had noticed that myself and it would be a flaw he has. The way he puts his opinions across as if they are hardline facts is misleading.

Harking back briefly to my point on Kessler-Andrade i thought Steward called the fight pretty badly and i was disappointed with him. He insisted on claiming Kessler was tired, looking scared etc and Andrade is in the ascendency when he had nothing to back it up with. Kessler was only ever going to tire himself out from bashing Andrade's stationary noggin all night ala Klitschko V Puritty.

Kellerman is actually an excellent journalist -- his articles on ESPN.com were superb before he left for Fox -- and he displays a real depth of knowledge about the sport. I must admit that his style grates on me, and, as I said when Chelsea signed Ballack, I really don't think he'll gel with Lamps.

There's nothing wrong with enthusiasm, but Lapley provides enough of that and it blended perfectly with Merchant's insightful stoicism. If you're getting rid of Merchant, perhaps it's time to lose Lampley and get somebody who is a little quieter and measured to do the blow by blow. Somebody more in the Reg G style.

Final Fight wrote:

stujones wrote:

Final Fight wrote:But what was Larry doing letting Floyd Sr blabber on during one of last weekend's undercard fights? It was fecking painful and you could almost sense Darkie fuming in the background.

Well, I don't think it was all Larry's fault. Floyd Snr seemed to be clearly on something that night (I'll alledge) and Larry did try to butt in on a few occasions, but Floyd just kept going on and on. I think Larry kept with it in the hope that eventually Floyd (a guy who should have been a very sought after interview) would say something of importance and relevance... instead of just blabber. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Plus... Larry is in his mid 70's. I don't think he wants to be messing around with offending Floyd Snr given his reputation.

but Larry showed a woeful lack of control, especially in regard to the quality of the HBO broadcast. then again, it must have been someone else's stupid idea in yet another desperate bid to use Floyd Sr as a "dramatic subplot".

No doubt there will be a rematch with Floyd Sr training Oscar.

Thats true... but had he butted in there would have been lots of critics saying he butted in BEFORE Floyd was about to say something of importance.

Even though he is very experienced.... I am sure he can count on one hand the amount of interviews he has had with the person not be offensive but just in coherent. A Tyson rant is quite easy to cut off because the interviewer can have the offensive angle to use to break it off. Floyd wasn't beeing offensive (which did surprise me) but just was hardly making sense.

One of the strangest interviews I have seen in boxing. You can expect the unexpected with Tyson, but that one was just strange.

The worst I can remember of Merchant though was with Oscar De La Hoya post Sturm. De La Hoya was clearly down and cleared annoyed at himself and it was obvious he thought it was VERY CLOSE. Larry didn't ask the basic question if DLH thought he won the fight. If you hear that interview you can hear Darke in the background (even though his mic was off) screaming "ask him if he won the fight".

Sorry, but Larry just grates with me. His experience of the sport is well founded and he certainly has his due respect, but at hiis age he should not be interviewing adrenaline induced fighters whilst he's searching for the leak in his colostomy bag. 8)