Education Quote by Larry Merchant

Merchant’s name is practically synonymous with the hard stare of televised boxing: the interviewer who won’t flinch, won’t flatter, won’t let the moment wriggle away. Invoking James Cagney, a star built on kinetic honesty and streetwise precision, is a clever way to smuggle a code of conduct into what sounds like simple acting advice. “Hit your mark” is craft, discipline, the boring professionalism that makes the rest possible. You can’t “tell the truth” if you’re not where the truth happens on camera, on the page, in the ring of public attention.

Then comes the real pivot: “look the other guy in the eye.” That’s not about blocking; it’s about power. Merchant is describing the ethic of confrontation that good interviewing, like good fight reporting, demands. Eye contact means you’re not hiding behind narration or reputation. You’re insisting on accountability in real time. The “other guy” could be the boxer, the promoter, the audience, even your own fear of being disliked.

“Telling the truth” lands last because it’s the hardest and most loaded. In Merchant’s world, truth isn’t a lofty abstraction; it’s an earned outcome of preparation and nerve. The subtext is a rebuke to performance-as-evasion: the polished sound bite, the promotional script, the diplomatic dodge. By framing honesty as Cagney-style professionalism, Merchant makes truth sound less like moralizing and more like the job. It’s a writer’s credo disguised as stage direction: show up, stand your ground, and don’t blink.