Last week I was honored to be able to conduct an interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant on a wide variety of topics. He proved to be as insightful in a lengthy interview as he is behind the microphone at fights. Merchant didn’t duck the tough questions, answering every one with the kind of wisdom that comes from watching the world’s biggest fights ringside for thirty years. Among the topics we discussed was the proposed De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight; the surprisingly strong ticket sales for the Calzaghe-Jones showdown; Ricky Hatton’s weight problem, and an inside look at how fights are made, and unmade.

William Trillo: Let's go ahead and get right to the topic on the top everyone's list, do you think Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao can come to some sort of resolution and get this much-talked about farewell battle signed?

Larry Merchant: Well it's my experience is that when it's over money that in most cases it gets resolved in one way or another. Now, Jones and Hopkins never resolved their differences (laughs), they had several cracks at rematches but for reasons of business and reasons of ego and whatever the other reasons were, they never were able to compromise on money, maybe they were both expecting too much out of it. So, you never know.

There are issues between Oscar and Pacquiao that go into their business relationship; there are issues that go between the competition between Golden Boy and Top Rank. But otherwise you would have to imagine that a percentage point or two, if that's the real difference, could be finessed in some way, including the suggestion that a few percentage points be put on the table for the winner.

They are still talking and it still is the biggest event that Oscar could be involved in if this is indeed his last fight and that indeed is his goal, to be involved in a major event rather than a serious fight.

WT: So then I have to ask, does Oscar want to go out with an event, or does he want to go out with a serious fight that puts a belt around his waist and let's him go off into the sunset a Champion?

L.M.: Oscar is a business man and Golden Boy still depends to a large degree on his success as an attraction and I don't know how much that plays into it, but Oscar has never ducked the big fight or the big fighters. I think it's the end of his career and he is entitled to go either way.

I don't think if he were to fight Sergio Mora, who seems to be the other potential choice, and then defeat Mora, that it would be a huge deal. I don't think it would tell us or remind us or reorder our thinking about Oscar and what kind of fighter he was when he was at his best, I don't think it's an important enough title to really mean that much.

So from that viewpoint it seems to me that fighting Pacquiao makes more sense financially and is the big event he has gotten used to and is potentially a good fight as well.  

WT: I have been convinced that as long as Joe Calzaghe is in litigation with his former Promoter Frank Warren that HBO will stay away from airing the fight with Roy Jones, but it seems as though things are going forward and ticket sales are doing very well. Was I wrong to assume HBO would stay away from any fighter who is in a legal battle?

L.M.: First I don't know the facts of the matter but if HBO or anyone else decided not to do a fight where fighters were in lawsuits we'd probably never get a chance to do a fight. (Laughs) I mean Calzaghe did fight Hopkins a few months ago and the fight came off. Sometimes the fighters indemnify themselves with the networks they are dealing with. For example, a fighter may have an argument with a manager or a trainer, all the kinds of stuff that fighters are often involved in, and if somebody notify's a network or a hotel where the fight is going on about this type of thing, the way you move is that you get indemnified so that they can't sue you. I don't know the facts in this case but I assume that since Calzaghe was able to fight Hopkins that whatever problems he and Warren may have will not interfere with it. 

WT: I am somewhat surprised that ticket sales are doing as well as they appear to be for a fight that is a non-title catchweight fight. Why do you think it is doing so well?

L.M.: One reason presumably is that people from Britain and Wales find it easy to fly to New York given the rate of exchange. So I assume that one reason Calzaghe & Hatton have had success here, generating big revenue from Hotels and the like is the expectation that their fans will follow them. And when there have been significant fights like Hatton vs. Mayweather & Calzaghe vs. Hopkins they (the British boxing fans) have followed them.

WT: Were you as surprised as I was when they put the Hatton vs. Malignaggi unifier in Las Vegas instead of New York?

L.M.: Well originally it seemed to make sense to put it in The Garden, but I assume given the success of Hatton's fights in Las Vegas it made it easy for them to put up enough money to bring it there along with a guarantee. That's something The Garden couldn't do. It's dollars and projections that decide these things, I mean when Calzaghe fought Hopkins it was a new version of an old hotel (Planet Hollywood), and they apparently have a lot of locations in Britain so for promotion purposes they put up an astonishing amount of money to bring that fight to Las Vegas. So what you see here is the globalized economics of boxing, and there are various reasons why these venues are interested in this fights.

WT: Does it seem to you that Hatton my not be the "everyman's" Blue Collar fighter he used to be and money has changed his priorities. And do you think his constant ballooning up in weight in between every fight is about to catch up with him? 

L.M.: Well, I've seen Hatton at several events and it is very unusual how he relates to his fans and vice versa. But sometimes the expectations aren't met and sometimes fighters, like any public person or celebrity need privacy, so I don't know how that has changed.

In terms of Hatton blowing up between fights, yes, I do think that it's dangerous and I do think one of the reasons for his success is how strong he was at 140 pounds. Fighters, when they get into their late 20's don't fight as often as they did when they were younger, maybe because when they are successful they don't train as hard, have difficulty sustaining their low weight. We've seen this over and over. Joe Luis Castillo and many other fighters who were successful when they were young and strong and could suffer their bodies into the lower weight classes or the lowest weight classes they could perform in. But when they get older they were unwilling to suffer as much(chuckles) or they weren't fighting as often and they started to move up in weight and became less successful. So specifically to him, (Hatton), he does get big between fights and I don't know how long he can sustain that.

I once saw Erik Morales in a restaurant and I would not have recognized him...this was between fights, he had no fights coming up. He was in Vegas for some reason. I have done many of his fights and had many conversations with him in Pre-fight meetings and the like. I would not have recognized him if he wasn't with some people who I knew were around him. This wasn't at the end of his career, but it was late in his career.

Look, these are quality athletes, they are top guys and they can get away with it against most competition but when they start fighting top or elite competition they can be exposed or they are not as effective when they move up in weight.

WT: So we will have to wait until November to see if Malignaggi is that kind of elite fighter that can expose Hatton.

L.M.: I think that's a fair way to put it, but again, there are exceptions. I mean when you look at Antonio Margarito, who might be the biggest strongest looking Welterweight I have ever seen, certainly in the modern times, and this also goes for Bernard Hopkins who was a Light heavyweight squeezed into a Middleweights body; that there are exceptions with guys who are so driven and so determined that they can pull it off. These guys are so focused and laser beamed to achieve and get everything out of their body that they are able to do that. I never saw a Middleweight who was as big as Hopkins in terms of how broad his shoulders were and how easily he moved up into the Light heavyweight division and I think the same can be said for Margarito.

I don't know if Hatton has that same kind of will, if he is able to do it, then he can do it. Hatton is the kind of fighter that can discourage a lot of fighters just simply with his strength and his will. So we just don't know about Malignaggi. Paulie is a tough kid obviously. He fought Cotto as well as he could, but as you say, it's just one of those things you don't know until you see it.

We here at Pound4Pound would like to thank Larry Merchant for his time, and hope our readers are as excited to hear what he has to say as we were.


Questions Or Comments? Email William Trillo