This one was scheduled and didn’t happen. Who do you think would’ve won and how? It’s such a tough one to call for me…I can see Bruno succumbing to Mercers right hands late in the fight, and I don’t seem him cracking Rays chin. That said, Bruno was more consistently motivated than Mercer and may have been more “on” on the night. I wish this one had happened!
A motivated Mercer stops Bruno late on in the fight between 8-10, if Mercer can out jab Lewis then he would be able find a way to get past Bruno's jab aswell, and eventually land the right hand.
Agreed, hang and trade with Bruno for over 6/8 rounds and most durable HWs would stand a better than even chance, his stamina drained like sand from a hourglass, all the muscles counted against him in the end.
I can see it happening one of two ways. Either Mercer stops him late or Bruno managed to survive to win a decision. Ray Mercer wasn’t doing all that great from 1992-1995. Meanwhile Frank Beat Oliver McCall and gave Lewis a good fight.
That's the crux of it. Mercer has the durability to hang in there and take his chance late when it most likely comes. I'd favor the late stoppage of your two scenarios personally.
Depends on Mercer ! Disinterested Ray gets completely out boxed on Franks jab which is powerful enough to keep Ray from pushing to hard fried up Ray might stop Bruno late as he ran out of puff ! Good fight
It's worth noting that Bruno had been out-jabbing Lewis, as well. Moreover, in '94, Mercer was still re-inventing himself and hadn't quite put all the pieces together at that stage. Bruno also freight-trained Ferguson (who had just come off a split-decision loss against Mercer) in less than a round. Bruno was all fired up in this, his last return, to get back into world title contention Mercer needed a little more time, as his poor showing against Marion Wilson showed. In 1994 - all the portents were good for Bruno to be the victor against Mercer.
I could see Frank building up a lead going into the stretch, but him standing upright against the ropes after being tagged late on and Mercer reigning down blows until the ref steps in- or he collapses to the canvas- is definitely where my money would be.
It all depends on which Mercer turns up, a point I didn't think of which @Man_Machine brought up is that Mercer in 94 wasn't in the best of form. But i tend to think if Mercer was fighting Bruno, he'd take that fight more seriously rather than someone like Jesse Ferguson. The only possible way I see Bruno winning this is if it's a 10 rounder, but overall I tend to think a motivated Mercer stops Bruno late on.
Given what happened against Ferguson, when Mercer faced him the first time, I strongly suspect he was very motivated for the rematch. His official weight coming into that fight seems to indicates the same. Just saying...
Maybe Ferguson just had a style that bothered Mercer, I mean look at Mark Wills he beat Greg Page twice once when he was slimmer aswell. Quite a contrast though struggling vs journeyman like Marion Wilson, Jesse Ferguson x2. And then going on to give two of the best Heavyweights of 90s Holyfield, Lewis, two very close fights.