Legendary boxing broadcaster Larry Merchant was rushed to the hospital Thursday and is reportedly in critical condition.
The 92-year-old broadcaster was taken to the hospital at 6 p.m. on Dec. 21, according to TMZ.
Merchant was a fixture on HBO’s boxing coverage and served as an analyst on the network’s World Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark shows and its pay-per-view matches.
The broadcaster started as a sports writer for the New York Post in 1965 and wrote three books on boxing. He even had roles in the films Rocky Balboa and The Fighter.
Merchant was awarded the Sam Taub Memorial Award for Excellence in Boxing Broadcast Journalism by the BWAA in 1985.
He retired in 2012 after 35 years in broadcasting and, in 2018, called his career “an incredibly amazing journey.” However, he did make a few appearances afterward.
ESPN’s Dan Rafael has called Merchant “the greatest television boxing analyst of all time.”
But not everyone was a fan. Merchant was criticized on the air by boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr., who refused to talk to him and pointedly insisted, “HBO need to fire you. You don’t know s–t about boxing. You ain’t s–t … All of these boxing experts—how can you be a boxing expert if you never had a fight before?”
Merchant was nonplussed and replied, “I wish I was 50 years younger, I’d kick your ass.”
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