Mayweather & Pacquiao Ready to Rumble.
SMERCONISH: Welcome back. All eyes are on Las Vegas and what will be the richest bout in boxing history. Mayweather versus Pacquiao and there's a lot at stake. Floyd Mayweather, the overall favorite, is an 11-time world champion and currently undefeated. While Manny Pacquiao is looking to defend his WBO welterweight crown. Tonight will no doubt be a fight for the ages, the winner tonight will be viewed as the best boxer of his era. There's nobody better to preview the big match-up than Larry Merchant, considered the greatest TV boxing analyst of all time. And you might remember his famous interview with Mayweather back in 2011 when he questioned the boxing great over the fairness of his knockout punches.</s>MERCHANT: You were in charge of the fight. You were aggressive and try and taking advantage of what --</s>MAYWEATHER: You don't ever give me a fair shake, you know that? Someone let you talk to Victor Ortiz, all right? I'm through.</s>MERCHANT: What are you talking about?</s>MAYWEATHER: HBO needs to fire you because you don't know shit about boxing. You ain't shit. Here you're not shit.</s>MERCHANT: I wish I was 50 years younger and I'd kick your ass.</s>SMERCONISH: Larry Merchant joins me now. Larry, here's the question, if Mayweather gets past Pacquiao, will the people finally get to see Mayweather v. Merchant?</s>MERCHANT: It's been talked about. We know it took a long time to make Mayweather and Pacquiao. It may take as long or longer to make Mayweather and Merchant.</s>SMERCONISH: Were you surprised by the life that that took on, of its own? I mean people were making t-shirts. It's been viewed, Larry, more than a million times on YouTube.</s>MERCHANT: A grandson of mine told my I was trending past Justin Bieber. I -- I thought it was a momentary thing, something that would have a very short life. But wherever I go, people throw that line back at me and we all get a smile out of it. It would be no lower than the second paragraph of my obituary.</s>SMERCONISH: Hopefully, that will be 100 years from now. For the uninitiated, what's the story line of this evening?</s>MERCHANT: Well, that it's a huge event. And that boxing like all sports needs these big events that transcend the sport, that reach out to people who aren't necessarily interested in it. As a game, but get attracted to what is a popular culture event.</s>SMERCONISH: It shows that boxing, what I prefer to call prize fighting still has some resonance and is still important to some people and can still galvanize people around the planet.</s>SMERCONISH: Are these two worth the hype or is the interest in this fight more reflective of the fact that the boxing has been in decline, that it's been facing challenges from an MMA crowd that it never had to compete with before?</s>MERCHANT: There have various opinions on that. You know, boxing has been a cable television sport for 20 or 25 years, but very active in that realm, with its own subculture of viewers. And occasionally something breaks out. These have been the two best or best-known fighters of the 21st century. And people have been awaiting this fight for five years, since Pacquiao broke through as an international star and celebrity. And Mayweather had been a well-known name from a family of fighters and had been an outstanding fighter himself. I think of Mayweather as the best pure boxer of his time. And Pacquiao is the best fighter of his time. And so, a lot of people want to see what happens when they test each other.</s>SMERCONISH: I know that you're providing analysis for my favorite beer, Tecate, the one I drink with the lime, because I've been watching you with Sylvester Stallone. When -- Larry Merchant, with your trained eye is watching the fight tonight, what are you looking for?</s>MERCHANT: You know, usually the excitement in Mayweather fights end at the first bell, because he is a controlled fighter, a virtuoso, defensive technical fighter who can control the action or inaction in his fights. He's brilliant at that. Whereas Manny Pacquiao is the more active fighter and who will take some risks. And so, I'm just curious to see how that scenario plays out. How the relative speed of them plays out. The relative size, because Mayweather is the bigger man. He is the favorite. I think he probably has in mind of looking for an opportunity to do something dramatic. But he is one of those fighters who would normally rather watch a dramatic fight than be in it.</s>SMERCONISH: Larry, can I just say that when I was a kid, Howard Cosell's voice made it an event. I'll never forget March 8, '71 at the Garden, I had to wait and watch the highlights on "The Wild World of Sports." But for me as an adult, you have filled that void, it's Larry Merchant's voice that makes it an event. Thank you so much for being here.</s>MERCHANT: It's been an honor, thank you.</s>SMERCONISH: I'll be right back.