and day of Rosh HaShanah and Yom
Kippur, he quickly mentions that both
events take place after sunset and the
conclusion of the holidays.
Boxing may seem like an unlikely
sport for a Jew to immerse himself in,
but not to Merchant (who was born
with the surname Kaufman and
Anglicized his name).
"When I grew up, boxing was one
of the main sports. Almost everybody
knew somebody or had a distant rela-
tive who was a boxer. I had an uncle
who had been an amateur and a dis-
tant relative who had been a pro.
"My father once worked at Madison
Square Garden as an usher so he could
see the fights. As I matured, I realized
that boxing was a writer's sport — for
the drama of the event and for the col-
orful characters and hustlers and
rustlers. Like Hemingway and Red
Smith and others, I was attracted to
boxing — but no more than to other
sports.
"I looked upon writing sports as a
way to see human behavior under
duress. How people were and how
they were formed and what it revealed
about them. Boxing has always been
popular with writers because you can't
hide in the ring. Who you are is
revealed, and for writers that is gold."
Merchant attended the University of
Oklahoma where he played football
— until he was injured. "I was always
a reader, having been raised before the
Complete Trays
age of television, and eventually I
studied journalism in college and took
that path."
He worked for the Philadelphia
News, the New York Post and the Los
Angeles Herald Examiner before start-
ing in television. At first he called
fights for NBC, but the fit with the
broadcast network wasn't right. At
NBC they "wanted a glib professional
or a famous athlete to be cheerleaders.
Cable television came along and I got
some opportunities," Merchant said.
He's been with HBO for 26 years
and does between 20 and 25 fights a
year. On Sept. 18, he'll be in Las
Vegas for the Oscar De La Hoya-
Bernard Hopkins Pay-Per-View
($54.95).
On Sept. 25, it's light heavyweight
Roy Jones Jr. vs. champ Glen Johnson
on HBO.
And Merchant will continue to ask
the tough questions.
"There's no greater stage to get the
truth of which guy is the better man,
the better athlete than the ring. I owe
them my version of the truth or as
close as I can get." P1
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