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Merciless Ray Mercer-The Great Wasted Talent


BoztheMadman
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Ray Mercer was perhaps the greatest wasted talent of the 90's heavyweights and the 90's boxers in general. He could have achieved a lot more than he did, such was his talent, fighting ability and chin. Though at 6'1 somewhat short for a heavyweight of that era, he possessed a very hard punch, very good boxing technique and IQ and as mentioned, a great chin. He has only been stopped twice in his long career, both times after the age of 40. He later made a foray into kickboxing and MMA, but was largely unsuccessful. Despite winning the WBO title with a stunning and brutal ko over Francesco Damiani and defending it with the even more brutal ko over Tommy Morrison, those two wins would remain his crowning achievement. He however got on the wrong end of some very close fights, like the one against Lennox Lewis and also Evander Holyfield. Also, his loss to Larry Holmes was controversial and he lost to Jesse Ferguson in a very disappointing performance. Let's hear it for Merciless Ray Mercer!

 

Raymond Anthony Mercer was born April 4 1961 in Jacksonville, Florida. His father was a non-comissioned officer and he grew up an army brat in Fort Benning, Georgia, and later Hanau, West Germany. As a kid, he descibes himself as "a little hardheaded" and he got into trouble in school often, until his father Raymond sr got him straight. He tried to engage the young Ray in several sports, but he found no interest in team sports. He enjoyed fishing and hunting with his father. At high school however, he played as a linebacker at the local football team. After graduating from Richmond County Military Academy in Georgia, he served with the infantry in Baumholder, West Germany, reaching the rank of sergeant. It was in the army that he started boxing. He learned quickly and won several military titles, as well as the US Boxing Federation title. In 1988 he won the national amateur championships and then, despite first turning down the offer to join the Olympic team, he did so and participated at the Seoul Olympics. He defeated Tommy Morrison in the trials and they would meet again later in the pros. He won all his fights in the Olympics by ko, including the final one against Baik-Hyun Man, the home favorite, by KO1, thus winning the gold. His amateur record is 64-6. He then turned pro in February '89 and won his first fight by TKO3. In his 12th fight, he decisioned Ossie Ocasio and won by SD8. He won the IBF Inter-Continental title against Kimmuel Odum by UD12, in March '90. He then fought Bert Cooper for the NABF title in August and again won by UD12 after dropping Cooper in the first round. He was 16-0 when he signed to fight the WBO-champion Francesco Damiani of Italy. Damiani was 27-0 and a candidate to face Tyson. He was also a great amateur who won the 1984 Olympic super heavy silver medal. The fight happened January 11 '91 at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, promoted by Bob Arum. The 6'3 Damiani took control of the fight after the first couple even rounds and established his jab while Mercer seemed passive or confused by his jab. Going into round 9, Damiani was well ahead on the scorecards, 6 points on one, 5 on the other and 4 on the third. It was then that Mercer finally got his mojo together and nailed Damiani with a tremendous left uppercut which put Damiani down with a broken nose. The fight was over with 13 seconds left of the round and Mercer was the new WBO champion.

 

His first defense would be against none other than Tommy Morrison, then 28-0 and a famous ko artist. The fight was originally scheduled for August 9 but Morrison had to pull out after cutting his right eyelid in a sparring session. Therefore, they fought on October 18 at Convention Center in Atlantic City. The fight was a pay per view with the price of $ 19.95. Morrison was in great shape and he started the fight better, hurting Mercer with a head-snapping left hook to the jaw in the first round, which he was famous for. Morrison also dominated the second round and scored frequently with his hooks to the belly and uppercuts to the head. But, Mercer was made of iron and took the punishment pretty well. He rallied in the fourth and hurt Morrison with an overhand right to the jaw. Morrison seemed like he had punched himself out at the end of that round and in the fifth Mercer went all out and caught Morrison flush with a huge overhand right. As Morrison fell against the ropes defenseless, Mercer rained blows on him until the referee jumped in to end it. It became remembered as one of the most vicious and brutal knockouts ever. After this victory, Mercer was mandated to fight Michael Moorer but he refused and instead signed to fight Larry Holmes. In doing so, he got stripped and thus lost the only title he would ever hold. He faced the 11-years older Holmes again at the AC Convention Center, February 7 '92. Mercer had Holmes in trouble in the first round, when he sent him across the ring with two right hands and a jab. Holmes fought well and bounced back, but Mercer was most often the aggressor. In the end, after the 12 rounds were over, Holmes was proclaimed the winner, despite Mercer looking (in my eyes anyway) like he had won more rounds. It was clear the popularity factor had affected the outcome, especially as two of the judges gave laughably wide scores for Holmes, 117-111 and 117-112. The fight had surely been MUCH closer than that, no matter who you think won. Whatever the truth, Mercer had suffered his first official loss as a pro and he was back to the drawing board.

 

He came back with two stoppage victories over Mike Dixon (RTD7) and the veteran Jerry Wimpy Halstead (RTD2), before fighting journeyman Jesse Ferguson February 6 '93. Mercer had been promised a title fight against Riddick Bowe if he beat Ferguson, but he came in at his heaviest yet at 238 and was outboxed to everyone's surprise, by the 18-9 Ferguson. They had a rematch on November 19 that year and this time Mercer beat Ferguson by SD10 in a supposedly close fight. However, in his next fight against Marion Wilson, another journeyman, he came in at 246 and struggled to a draw, once again showing he had discipline problems. He got down to 224 for his next fight which was against Evander Holyfield, May 20 '95. Mercer opened a cut on Holyfield in the 6th round but was knocked down for the first time in the eight round, or rather, took the knee after absorbing a hard left hook. The fight was competitive till the end, but the knockdown went against him and he lost after 10 rounds with the scores of 94-95, 93-96 and 92-97. In the postfight interview, he expressed dissatisfaction with the decision and shouted "I'll be back!". And he was, but after a whole year. When he finally came back, it was against another future hall of famer, Lennox Lewis. Lewis was hunting a world title fight with Mike Tyson and this was meant to be a sort of eliminator, even though it was for 10 rounds. It was May 10 '96 in Madison Square Garden when Mercer fought his last great fight in a classic brawl which was a slugfest from the beginning to the end. It was a back and forth war where Mercer just went straight at Lewis and hurt him against the ropes several times, only for Lewis to bounce back and hurt him back. It did seem like Mercer had perhaps just edged Lewis but the popularity vote went to Lewis, as well as the political vote. Everyone wanted to see Lewis fight Iron Mike and Mercer had already wasted his opportunities and was considered unpredictable and undisciplined. So, Lewis was the victor, but only on two of the scorecards and each only by a point, while the third was even. In his next fight, Mercer got to fight and beat a former world champion, Tim Witherspoon, winning in a very close fight by UD10, by too wide scores. He fought sporadically after that, until 2001, when he came back and scored 3 knockout victories, against Jeff Pegues, Don Steele and Brian Scott. He was then given his last world title fight against the 15 years younger Wladimir Klitschko, who was the WBO-champion and the new rising star. It was June 29 '02 in Atlantic City and Klitschko at 6'6 and 243 pounds simply overpowered the 6'1 and 228-pound Mercer and stopped him by TKO6 after hitting Mercer at will for the last couple rounds. It was Mercer's first knockout loss, but he didn't retire.

 

He came back in 2003 and scored two stoppages and a unanimous decision before fighting Shannon Briggs, another hard puncher who was 10 years his junior, August 28 '05 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL. Mercer held his own with Briggs, who wasn't quite the caliber of Klitschko, until in round 7 he got hit by 3 right hooks to the side of the head which put him brutally out. After dropping a decision to Deric Rossy and then winning by MD6 in an upset against Richel Hersisia in Sweden, in September 2008, Mercer finally retired. He was 47 and had fought in a span of 19 years, on and off, mostly on. His record is 36 (26), 7 and 1. In 2007, he started fighting in UFC and was defeated by Kimbo Slice in the first round with a guillotine choke submission. He however made a big upset in 2009 when he defeated Tim Sylvia, the former UFC heavyweight champion, knocking him out in only 9 seconds with a right to the chin. It was his last victory and the last time he would be in a fight. Mercer was actually scheduled to fight Mike Tyson on January 19 2002, but Tyson pulled out and fought Lewis instead. Ray Mercer was a fighter's fighter, he came to fight always and usually to knock you out, but he had problems staying in shape and staying active enough and that undoubtedly put a dent in his career. He was also in my eyes wronged against Holmes and Lewis and thus was robbed of two more world title fights. I hope you enjoyed this presentation.

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--- Some irony in mid rd he had in essence choked Lar out and in the next step of a fatality before the ref pulled him off. He released in a throwing action that sent Lar stumbling into the corner post choking and gasping for air.

 

That bareknuckler Kimbo ended choking mercer out is the irony.

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--- Some irony in mid rd he had in essence choked Lar out and in the next step of a fatality before the ref pulled him off. He released in a throwing action that sent Lar stumbling into the corner post choking and gasping for air.

 

That bareknuckler Kimbo ended choking mercer out is the irony.

 

I scored that fight 115-113 for Mercer. I wouldn't argue with a draw, but NO WAY could I see Holmes winning that! I've seen people write about Holmes "taking Mercer to school", that's just BS and major fanboy-ism.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Focus and discipline was a huge problem. He was cursed/blessed with a good chin and a big punch. It meant he relied on both rather than improving his skills or maintaining his fitness levels. As a result fights slipped away from him while he waited to land a big punch (Holmes, Ferguson I).
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Focus and discipline was a huge problem. He was cursed/blessed with a good chin and a big punch. It meant he relied on both rather than improving his skills or maintaining his fitness levels. As a result fights slipped away from him while he waited to land a big punch (Holmes, Ferguson I).

 

I agree with that. He had natural talents and so didn't work enough on developing the rest.

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