His win in 2002 over Mercer, was it an important "event" and is it a significant win in his resume? I mean...Mercer was a contender until 1998 and this was in 2002.
Mercer was in very good shape and still was a very dangerous fighter. Wlad's offense that night was absolutely amazing. It wasn't a "great win" on his resume, but it was a good win, and a very impressive performance.
That's some funny **** your smoking, Mercer was a corpse by then, 10 years before he was tough mofo who was difficult to beat, go ask Lennox.
At the time I was impressed that he managed to stop an iron chinned Mercer but with hindsite I look at it a lot less impressivly. He was 41 and had not fought a live body since 1996. He also got knocked out by Briggs 18 months after the fight.
Hell no. Wlad almost ran out of gas, and his face was swelling up too. AND that was a shot Mercer at that.
The win was not significant in terms of impacting the world ratings. The victory did not establish or build upon Vlad's credentials as a world-beater, either. Vlad had already made his mark by whipping top rated Chris Byrd in 2001, and he would build upon that win by KO'ing top contender Jameel McCline later in 2002. Mercer was deeply faded, aging, and no longer world ranked when he fought Vlad. However, the fight was significant because of the decisiveness of Vlad's victory. Although no longer a contender, Mercer was still durable, and had not yet been stopped by anyone. Vlad got the job done in exciting, devastating fashion, blasting Mercer into oblivion in six rounds. The Mercer win supplemented, but didn't match, the cred Vlad established by clobbering Byrd and McCline.
Wlad was supposed to win this fight, but the way he won it was superb - he looked absolutely devastating. Hence why nobody wanted to fight him after that, except a certain Corrie Sanders !
That Mercer was still able to stop Tim Silvia by one-punch even at 50 was awesome. Wlad's win over Mercer was nonetheless impressive. I know, it's unrelated bull****.