Larry "Vodka Breath" Merchant Will Call His Last Boxing Fight on HBO Saturday

Larry Merchant, 81, is hanging up his microphone. HBO announced today that the legendary boxing announcer will call his final fight for the network Saturday. He’d been with the network 35 years. This remains the funniest thing I’ve ever read about Merchant:

"It was Larry Merchant whose inane lipid-eyed commentary damages more brains than Pacquio’s right hook. Larry Merchant, the tuxedoed stooge, is boxing’s old joke told over and over again … It’s time to send the blue-eyed devil out to pasture and save us all the added indignity of watching a buffoon drown in the verbal mire of his own make."

Whoever coined the nickname ‘Vodka Breath’ needs to take a bow. I maintain it is the best nickname in announcing history.