Who is Larry Merchant?

It was love at first sight.

The day before Manny Pacquiao fought defending champion Lehlo Ledwaba for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) superbantamweight title in Las Vegas two years ago, the Filipino challenger was brought to a function room at the MGM Grand Hotel to be introduced to the Home Box Office (HBO) cable TV staff.

As Pacquiao breezed into the room, there was a quizzical look on HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant’s face. Who is this kid with a radiant aura, Merchant probably asked himself. Pacquiao had never displayed his wares in the US and was an unknown quantity to Merchant and Stateside fans.

There was a certain flair in the way Pacquiao moved. The way he shook hands with Merchant. The way he sized up the HBO people who were sizing him up. Merchant had never seen Pacquiao before and you could sense he was intrigued by the charismatic Filipino.

Pacquiao was accompanied by business manager Rod Nazario’s son Boying, registered manager Marty Elorde, lawyer Sydney Hall and myself at the meeting.

Although Pacquiao speaks fluent English, he preferred that I translated.

Merchant asked how to pronounce Pacquiao phonetically. Pak-yaw, I said. Not Pak-yoo as Merchant initially muttered.

Then Merchant got down to business. He sat behind a long table with Pacquiao on the other side. The silver-haired Merchant pointed to Pacquiao’s knockout loss to Medgeon 3-K Battery in his record and wondered what happened. He tried to get Pacquiao to commit to a prediction–would he beat Ledwaba? And he asked if Pacquiao could be another Flash Elorde.

Pacquiao answered without hesitation, in English and Pilipino. He failed to make the weight against Medgeon and the effort left him drained for the bout, which ended in three rounds. Pacquiao explained that he had outgrown the flyweight division. That’s why, he continued, he jumped several weight classes and wound up in the 122-pound category.

Pacquiao declined to predict the outcome, saying only that he’ll do his best for his country. Merchant reminded him of Ledwaba’s reputation as one of the world’s top 10 best pound-for-pound fighters. Pacquiao said he doesn’t scare easy. As for the comparison to Elorde, Pacquiao said his dream is to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, Pacquiao’s confident delivery suffered in the translation.

On whether Pacquiao could be another Flash Elorde, I told Merchant that the late world junior lightweight champion’s son Marty was in the room. I said Pacquiao’s popularity in the Philippines is phenomenal and that he’s in line to become one of the greatest Filipino fighters ever.

An HBO publicist said he heard Pacquiao likes to play billiards and invited him to a pool hall near the hotel. No thanks, replied Pacquiao. Maybe after the fight, he’ll celebrate in the hall, I said. Nobody hits harder than Pacquiao in the superbantamweight division, I added. Forget Ledwaba’s credentials–he won’t be able to take Pacquiao’s power.

Pacquiao didn’t like to brag so somebody had to do it.

That was our cue to excuse ourselves. I took a picture of Merchant and Pacquiao together (the photo was published in yesterday’s Star) before we left. And as we said goodbye, Pacquiao smiled at Merchant as if to say, "watch me fight–I’ll give you a show you’ll never forget."

As it turned out, Pacquiao had no difficulty disposing of the South African. He busted Ledwaba’s nose in the first round, floored him in the second, and decked him twice more before referee Joe Cortez stepped in at 0:59 of the sixth.

Merchant, who covered the fight for HBO at ringside, has since been a Pacquiao fan.

Last Saturday (Sunday morning, Manila), Pacquiao put on another masterful performance as he stopped previously unbeaten Emmanuel Lucero at 0:48 of the third round to retain his IBF crown at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Merchant once more did the HBO telecast.

Filipino fans, however, listened to Dave Bontempo’s TV commentary instead. Merchant was on the panel for the American cable network. Bontempo said it was Pacquiao’s US debut. Obviously, he was misinformed.

Merchant, 68, knows a good fighter when he sees one. He’s been HBO’s boxing analyst since 1978. Merchant got hooked to boxing as a boy in New York where his father worked as an usher at Madison Square Garden so he could watch the fights for free.

Merchant wrote boxing stories for the US Army’s Stars and Stripes newspaper, the Philadelphia Daily News, the New York Post, and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner before concentrating on TV work.

As a boxing writer, Merchant said he draws inspiration from Ernest Hemingway, Red Smith, Jimmy Cannon and A. J. Liebling.

"Some of the best writing in newspapers was about boxing," said Merchant, quoted by Stephen Totilo in International Boxing Digest. "Writers have always been attracted to boxing, I think in part because how interesting boxers are as guys who are out there naked, putting themselves on the line and revealing who they are as well as the world that they operate in with its colorful personalities and venal politics."

Merchant said in covering a fight on TV, "I try to present what I feel are the options of what can happen in a fight and the strengths and weaknesses of fighters–and tell their stories."

Outspoken and unafraid to go against the fight game’s bigwigs, Merchant has relentlessly fought corruption and illegalities. He has made enemies out of Don King, Mike Tyson and World Boxing Council president Jose Sulaiman for his bold comments on their alleged shenanigans.

"I think Sulaiman is the most shamelessly, brazenly, blatantly corrupt (head of a sanctioning body)," once said Merchant. "The boxing organizations have replaced the mafia as the mobs of boxing. Their rankings are for sale and rankings matter."

Merchant said retirement is far from his mind. "I continue to be enthusiastic about my work," he noted. "I don’t think I’m getting jaded. I find the boxing scene and prizefighters to be unendingly interesting with unending twists. You would think that there would be a finite limit to how much can happen in a ring between two guys but the limits are often broken and I like boxers. That’s the salvation of it. As long as I love it, I’ll be at it."

Clearly, Pacquiao is one of the reasons why Merchant remains addicted to the fight game.