Damn - Mercer's Handspeed

[Russell]

Anyone seen any of Mercer's obscure earlier fights?

He didn't come in under 220 for very long, but when he did (A little over 210) he had damned good handspeed.

Never thought of Mercer that way. Kind of suprising.

Anyone else remember any of his older fights, as opposed to when he fought Lennox and was almost 20 pounds past his best fight?

[TBooze]

I would say the Lewis fight was arguably as good as it got for Mercer, maybe the Holyfield fight was his peak, but weight wise there was what a stone between each fight.

As for the pre 220+lbs Mercer; I remember the Olympics and some of his early fights, he fought like a young Foreman, thus hand speed was not all that important, or indeed that impressive IMO.

[bxrfan]

The Bert Cooper fight showed his handspeed, and I think that was his most impressive performance in looking good victory-wise. He was losing to Morrison before he turned it around with that brutal knockout.

[kenmore]

Originally Posted by Russell

Anyone seen any of Mercer's obscure earlier fights?

He didn't come in under 220 for very long, but when he did (A little over 210) he had damned good handspeed.

Never thought of Mercer that way. Kind of suprising.

Anyone else remember any of his older fights, as opposed to when he fought Lennox and was almost 20 pounds past his best fight?

Yes, Mercer exhibited outstanding handspeed when he wanted to. His left jab was truly a whiplash-buzzsaw of a weapon.

Watch Mercer's 2002 bout against Vlad...he consistently catches Vlad with the jab, snapping his head back often. As much as I like Vlad, I must admit that had the two fought eight years earlier, Mercer might have knocked Vlad out.

[Russell]

I'm damned near positive Mercer would of knocked Wlad out years ago.

Mercer's a bit more than Peter.