George Foreman vs Ray Mercer

Mercer was an inconsistent operator, but at his best I think he would grind out a late stoppage.

He is the only guy that walked straight through Lewis' ****nal and tussled with him on the inside successfully. Yeah, Foreman hit like a mule, but so did Lewis, and that night he looked like an absolute animal putting together fluid and accurate combinations that George could only dream of.

 

For me Foreman is just too damn big and tough and Mercer would be slugging it out with almost a bigger version of himself in some respects.

But: some good arguments have been put forth for Mercer. I particularly liked the suggestion that young Foreman might just blow his wad early and be ripe to take out late. Cool. I'd like to think that he'd have a bit of a chance in this one.

 

Regardless he used a different strategy to fight Foreman than he did Mercer. So how does that help mercer's case?

 

Mercer beat prime Morrison. Morrison beat prime Foreman. Doesn't take a genius to work out the rest.

 

Thing is every shot Foreman lands is soul destroying, even those short shots he threw. I'd even say Foreman had better stamina than Lewis and a better jab.

 

Nor does it take a genius to figure out that styles make fights. and morrison used a totally different strategy for fighting Foreman than he did Mercer, which makes comparing their performances against Tommy useless.

 

The Foreman that Morrison beat was not prime. Are you kidding?

 

You should know that prime age for boxer is 44 years, and George was 44 at that time :good

 

Mercer had a very tough fight with Cooper but won the decision convincingly. He lost 7 out the first 8 rounds vs. Damiani but stopped him in the 9th round with a sweet uppercut on the top of his nose. He lost 3 out of the first 4 rounds vs. Morrison and are plenty of leather but hurt Morrison in the 4th round and finished him in the 5th. He was dominated by Holmes and lost a lopsided decision. He lost a clear decision to Ferguson but tried to get him to take a dive... Ferguson got the shot vs. Bowe and was stopped in the 2nd round. He beat Ferguson by SD in their rematch. He walked away with a draw vs. the iron jawed Marion Wilson. He gave Holyfield a rougher than expected fight but was dropped for the 1st time in his career. He went toe to toe with Lewis and lost by MD, very impressive! He won a hard fought decision vs. Witherspoon. He had his moments but he ain't beating Foreman, 70's, late 80's, or 90's version.

 

Was it or was it not before his title victory?

 

If we're talking about 90s Foreman, I think Mercer would shred him. The guy struggled enough with Stewart and Morrison.

 

Funnily enough I gave Mercer a shot, but you're most likely right. :good