Larry Merchant Vs. Floyd Mayweather Rematch Interview
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After Mayweather's extremely controversial knockout of Victor Ortiz last September, when Victor was caught with a left hook-right hand combination while his hands were down and he was looking away, Larry Merchant engaged in a heated verbal battle with Floyd.
Many were shocked with the way that Mayweather lashed out at the 81 year old Merchant, but even more stunned when Merchant responded the way that he did: "I Wish I was 50 years younger so I could kick your ass!"
Now that Mayweather is set to fight the Junior Middleweight title holder, Miguel Cotto on May 5, Merchant has been assigned as the post fight interviewer. It's unclear what will happen when Floyd and Merchant are face to face again in the ring this time around, however, Merchant claims he will approach the post fight interview in a professional way as he always does.
Here's what Larry Merchant had to say about being assigned to conduct the post fight interviews for Cotto vs. Mayweather:
"They told me that I will be doing the May 5 show, and I am looking forward to it. Everybody knows what happened, and it seemed like the right thing to do was to put me on the fight. To me, it's a fight I want to see and the fight is first, second and third. I understand that there is a certain fascination with the question and answers between Mayweather and me, but the fight is first.
"There have been times when there have been contentious interviews, but we try to treat it professionally, both the fighter and me. In this case in September, there was a highly controversial ending to a fight and a volatile, explosive atmosphere in the arena. As the next part of that drama, I found myself being personally attacked and I responded spontaneously. When somebody attacks you, you can duck, take the punch or respond. Without thinking about it, I responded the way I did. I felt that it was an honest, spontaneous response and you can't second-guess that any more than you can second-guess the fans who saw what they saw with the way Mayweather knocked out Ortiz.
"I don't have any regrets, and the five minutes of fame I had afterward was a giggle and a hoot. I will treat it as a fight. I haven't given any thought about an interview after the fight. I will go in and ask whatever questions I think the fight suggests I should ask. My job is to ask questions and question answers. It's not a popularity contest."
Source: espn.go.com
