Larry Merchant is 93 years old, and I’m happy to report that he is living happily in Santa Monica, CA, walking, exercising, caring for his wife, and yep, watching fights.
He tunes in the big ones and watches the Top Rank/ESPN fare. Oh, and he pays attention to the wider world. He reads the NY Times all the way through every day. We talked for a 1/2 hour on Monday, about an hour after I spoke with another Brooklyn-born fight-game lifer, Bob Arum. The chats made my week, if you must know, because bless ’em, these two are both sharper than typical tacks, and yeah, that includes the Commander in Chief, who Merchant compared to Max Schmeling for his debate-night debacle.
We hopped around different subjects, with Merchant sharing that he dug the Oleksandr Usyk win over Tyson Fury and also that he and his boxing buddies who meet for lunch chats have discussed the travails of Ryan Garcia. “He has been a subject of interest,” said the Philadelphia Daily News vet, who went from the NY Post (1965-1975) to TV outlets, with his own talk show and, of course, his lengthy affiliation with HBO.
Of Ryan Garcia, the off-the-rails talent who is leaning into his behaviors in a manner that has some folks worried for his mental health and others disgusted at the narcissistic indulgences.
Ryan Garcia Is Off the Rails
“It’s a sad saga,” Merchant said of the 25-year-old Cali boxer who has been “partying” and advertising his habits, like boozing and drugging, with alarming flippancy. Is he or is he not going to rehab? Or jail? “He seems like a troubled young man,” the Hall of Famer said. “I was told that before his last fight, he’d been drinking and wasn’t hiding it. Too much, too soon. I don’t know if it’s fixable or not.”
I weighed in with my semi-educated guess that I think that Garcia is a strong candidate for mood-stabilizing medication and that he showed signs of being in a “mania” state, which can often result in risky and self-destructive behaviors. Garcia looks, sounds, and acts like he’s not in his “right” mind. I speak from experience in the mental field, and I can recognize behaviors from a personal standpoint as well. “I’m happy to see the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) stood firm and the WBC did, and I’m wondering if other places will follow suit,” he said.
It’s money that matters, and the coast will be cleared for Ryan Garcia to come back and headline big rooms real quick if/when he gets his head screwed on straight, I posited. “That’s why I’m ‘wondering’ about it,” Merchant quipped quickly, acknowledging that Randy Newman was right.
Merchant: “Ryan Garcia needs help…That can affect people differently. If he (gets treated and stabilized), will he still be an outstanding prizefighter?”
Big time incisive from Merchant. The type of mania run which Garcia has been on, I told Larry it can feel to the manic person akin to being on a strong stimulant. But the person really isn’t in a position to accurately assess themself, oftentimes.
Bless him, Merchant still pulling few punches. Shakur Stevenson, he headlined Saturday on ESPN. I’ve not been shy about my thoughts on the talented but timid pugilist. His embrace of defense over offense, to the extent he is more so engaging in sparring than FIGHTING his foes, leaves me bored.
Is Floyd Mayweather To Blame?
“He is boring,” Merchant said. “I believe that professional prizefighting is not the same as “boxing.” OK, does Larry think ole pal Floyd Mayweather‘s style stayed in the heads of those coming after, to a degree that offense became secondary for large portions of rounds, people following that part of a blueprint?
“Mayweather had more boxing skills than Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs). If people are walking out in your hometown, you gotta look in the mirror,” he said of the 27-year-old boxer from Newark, NJ. “He’s been trained in the art of “hit and don’t get hit” and doesn’t take chances. He’s made a profession of that. He could maybe fight Tank Davis, who is the bigger draw, as he should be.”
And, yes, Larry allowed that “Mayweather influence” lingers. “Shakur doesn’t want to take risks. It shows in how he’s been matched. I didn’t know the other guy (Artem Harutyunyan), was he ranked? He was brought in as a stiff. Shakur didn’t really want a test. That’s part of boxing today. There have been similar periods in the past. It’s when the money multiplies, and everyone doesn’t want to take a chance, in not getting to that $$$ fight. People go to boxing events to cheer for their guy and be thrilled…not to go see an exhibition of (technical mastery). Shakur is what he is. It’s been embedded in him since he was a kid. That’s hard to override.”
We delved into the pugilistic sphere of the USA’s “political scene,” and Merchant made me smile when he said, “I’m 93, gonna get to 98, hopefully,” signaling the intensity of his interest in how November and beyond play out. He does those pauses when he’s collecting his thoughts. He put all of it, the politricks, the Ryan saga, etc, in perspective.
“It came to me recently. I’m retired in a beautiful spot in Santa Monica. My wife is bedridden; I am with her. I look out at the beach and the Santa Monica Pier; it’s Coney Island, Brooklyn, to me. As a journalist, for TV, I traveled millions of miles, literally,” Merchant said. “I am in the right place. I figured out at a certain point, I’m never gonna have everything…I’m happy where I am.”
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