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Longtime boxing commentator Larry Merchant was rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles last night and is in the critical care unit, according to a report.

The 92-year-old broadcaster, best known for his long stint with HBO, was taken to a Los Angeles hospital around 6 p.m./Pt Thursday, according to TMZ, which sites sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Merchant was a staple of HBO’s boxing coverage from 1978 until his retirement in 2012. He provided commentary for such HBO programs as HBO World Championship Boxing, HBO Boxing After Dark and various HBO pay-per-view boxing telecasts. He offered expert analysis opposite his longtime partner at the mic, Jim Lampley, who provided the blow-by-blow.

After HBO discontinued its regular boxing coverage in 2018, ESPN boxing analyst Dan Rafael, who considered Merchant among the all-time great boxing broadcasters, quoted Merchant as saying about HBO’s boxing coverage, “Once upon a time we were a promising kid.

March 30, 1970. Racing champion Secretariat was born.

After Citation in 1948, Secretariat became the first U.S. Triple Crown winner in 25 years and became the stuff of legend.

New York Post columnist Larry Merchant said:

“Secretariat is the kind of Big Horse that makes grown men weep, even when they are flint-hearted bettors, even when he goes off at 1-10. He is the apparently unflawed hunk of beauty and beast they search for doggedly in the racing charts every day, and never seemed to find. His supporters rhapsodize over him as though he is a four-legged Nureyev, extolling virtues of his musculature, his grace, his urine specimens.” If he were to lose the Belmont, Merchant warned, “the country may turn sullen and mutinous.”

As of 2015, only 12 horses have won the Triple Crown: Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978), and American Pharoah (2015).

Just as with Secretariat,...

Last year, they engaged in the best boxer-on-octogenarian fight ever ... but now legendary sportscaster Larry Merchant says he and Floyd Mayweather are "the best friends ever."You'll remember ... Merchant and Mayweather really got into it during their post-fight interview last September ... when Merchant famously screamed, "I wish I was 50 years younger and I'd kick your a**."But Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, Merchant said he and Floyd buried the hatchet over the weekend in Las...

Mayweather vs Cotto as it Happened!

Live text feed from all the world championship boxing action Las Vegas, Nevada. Floyd Money Mayweather and Miguel Cotto face off for Cotto’s super welterweight world Championship. There is a stellar undercard including Sugar Shane Mosely vs Canelo Alvarez. Post and comments below, andtweet to @ChrisLloyd2012

GMT 0342 – So the time is finally upon us folks, an evening of world championship boxing live from Las Vegas. Chris Lloyd here bringing you all the action, blow by blow.

GMT 0346 – with all the hype on the main event, it was almost totally lost in the midst that Sugar Shame Mosely and Canelo Alvarez face off over 12 rounds as part of a stellar under card. It really says something about the quality of the main event to this evening, that Mosely vs Alvarez is an undercard fit.

GMT 0354 – Ok so far Alvarez has boxed well, spent much...

You have to give it to HBO's elder boxing commentator Larry Merchant, he isn't afraid of a riled up prizefighter. After Floyd Mayweather's controversial finish with Victor Ortiz, who he knocked out cold while it seemed he was apologizing for a head butt, Mayweather turned on HBO's Larry Merchant in a post-fight interview that he knew sh*t about boxing and should be fired. "You don't never give me a fair shake...so I'm gonna let you talk to Victor Ortiz, alright? I'm through. Put somebody else up here to give me an interview. HBO need to fire you because you don't know sh*t about boxing. You ain't sh*t." Merchant, age 80, was bug eyed and fired back at Mayweather:...

Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather knocked out Wbc welterwight champion Victor Ortiz in controversial fashion last night, throwing two mighty punches at a defenseless Ortiz after the champion had lowered his gloves following a pause in the fourth round. While boos rained down on Mayweather after the fight, he redirected his fury at Larry Merchant, HBO’s infamously meandering 80-year-old analyst, who persisted with questions about the fight’s climax that the new champ tried to sidestep. Finally, Mayweather exploded, “You never give me a fair shake. HBO needs to fire you. You don’t know sh– about boxing!”

Merchant shot back,...

Rank the week of August 23rd’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Blitz

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #9439

Win Percentage: 51%

Times Ranked: 215

Top-20 Rankings: 5

Directed By: Elliott Lester

Starring: Jason Statham • Paddy Considine • Aidan Gillen • Zawe Ashton • David Morrissey

Genres: Crime • Crime Thriller • Police Detective Film • Thriller

Rank This Movie

The Beaver

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #5199

Win Percentage: 52%

Times Ranked: 858

Top-20 Rankings: 6

Directed By: Jodie Foster

Starring: Mel Gibson • Jodie Foster • Anton Yelchin • Jennifer Lawrence • Zachary Booth

Genres: Comedy Drama • Drama • Psychological Drama

Rank This Movie

Win Win

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #2107

Win Percentage: 61%

Times Ranked: 2455

Top-20 Rankings: 6

Directed By: Thomas McCarthy

Starring: Paul Giamatti • Amy Ryan • Bobby Cannavale • Jeffrey Tambor • Burt Young

Genres: Comedy Drama • Drama • Sports Comedy • Sports Drama

Rank This Movie

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #5643

Win Percentage: 49%

Times Ranked: 725

Top-20 Rankings:...

A few weeks ago, we pointed you to "High on Crack Street", the real documentary we watch being shot in director David O. Russell's film "The Fighter." Today over at Fandor, critic Kevin B. Lee posted "Micky Versus Marky -- The Same Fight Twice," a superb video essay that goes deeper into the gulf between fact and fiction in the film. It compares the original fight between boxers Micky Ward and Shea Neary with the fictionalized version that serves as the climax of "The Fighter."

That comparison is important because Russell and producer/star Mark Wahlberg's visual approach to the boxing matches in "The Fighter" is to mimic reality: to approximate the look and feel of televised boxing matches. That choice, in turn, suits the entire film, which gets deep into the gritty realities of working-class Lowell, Massachusetts and crack addiction.

To shoot his fights, Russell used the...

On July 6, 2011 Sylvester Stallone will turn 65 years old. At an age when most Americans are considering their Social Security benefits, Stallone's career is the healthiest it's been in decades. He recently revived his long dormant franchises, "Rocky" and "Rambo," with new entries that were received to modest critical acclaim and less modest financial success. His latest film, "The Expendables," was the first he's headlined to gross over $100 million in the U.S. since "Rocky IV" back in 1985. Ten years ago, Stallone's career was dead and he was a joke. Now he's the world's leading manufacturer of viagra cinema, movies designed to showcase the aging male frame as it performs unnatural but remarkable physical feats.

What Stallone's done is basically without precedent. All of his former rivals for action film supremacy have faded away or moved on; all of his predecessors turned to moodier and more reflective work by the time they were his age.

Boxing fans are watching and waiting to see the outcome of what has become a contentious lead up to one of the most anticipated televised boxing matches of the new decade. HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant was interviewed by USA Today and said that the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. match-up could still be saved by .cooler heads. from both fighter's camps. .I find it unimaginable that either the Pacquiao camp or Team Mayweather would let this fight slip away,. Merchant said. .I have never seen any fight this big fall apart on an issue like drug-testing.. Read Manny's statement here Merchant shared that it was usually issues of money that blew up hyped pairings like the Pac-Man and...

I had an exclusive interview with boxing's premier analyst, Jim Lampley, before the Pacquiao vs. Hatton World Light Welterweight Championship fight in Las Vegas. A candid conversation, Jim revealed some of the boxing world's secrets, shared his impersonations of Larry Merchant and Harold Lederman and we even got him to call our own bout. Here I am with Lampley gearing up for the roast beef sandwich showdown. Watch the episode of Got No Game with Paul Mecurio below to see who won in the epic battle, Paul Mecurio vs. The Sandwich. Enjoy! New episodes of HBO's Got No Game with Paul Mecurio will post each Friday through September 4 on www.hbo.com/gotnogame. Check out www.paulmecurio.com for behind the scenes photos and more. ...