Tim Witherspoon & Ray Mercer in the 1930s-1940s

They would be bosses.

 

I don’t want to be a downer in this thread but it’s impossible to imagine that if born in the early 20th century that they’d be the same men. Now, assuming that they WERE the exact same fighters that we saw in their actual time then I imagine they would do quite well.

 

Everyone but him

 

I believe so too, but, the exact fighters that they were would be guys who were inconsistent with their conditioning and performance. In that case, they probably lose to guys they shouldn't lose to here and there. If they're in shape and motivated all the time, then they (especially Witherspoon) should do extremely well, and beat just about everybody aside from Louis.

How they'd do against Louis exactly is hard to say. They both present match-ups that would look a lot different than Louis would normally see in his title defenses in the 30s & 40s. Not sure what effect Louis' power would have on either of them, and vice versa.

Don't see Mercer getting it done, but perhaps he goes the distance.

Witherspoon probably causes more problems than Mercer does, but likely comes up short as well. No idea if it goes the limit, or anywhere near it though. Really difficult to say.

 

weatherspoon to me is the 'modern heavyweight' in size, pop, technique and just general ability. the most 7/10 fighter of all time.
good choice to throw him in the mix. Mercer is just unstopable in his prime.

do i think Tim beats Jimmy Braddock. Yes. Decisevly.
Ray Mercer outgun Lou Nova? even more so.
Max Baer. tougher. but Max is exactly what Mercer would want.
Buddy Baer would of got poleaxed by Tims overhand right. obliterated.

but it turns to things like. would farr outbox Tim...probably out jab and move him but he is tiny in comparison. and i guess Farr would of been a light-heavy or less. would they even meet each other during different eras?


is galento even a contender in different Eras. Mickey Walker was in the top 5 at heavy in the early 30's. imagine that match up.
i think both of them would be dominant forces. not just the hieght, width and length but just because of their sturdyness and range of shots. last few modern heavy's to know what 15 rounds were.

this is not a knock to the 30's. those guys were fighting at a disadvantage through injuries and had to fight off the bounce of losses and wins sporadically. gaining traction to a title shot is more 'spiritual' than a randomised IBF ranking. so would tim or ray be promoted well. would they have been given train tickets to travel or would they have to tract around different parts of the country trying to gain fights.

flip the script, Lee Savold in the 80's would of been a super heavy with different traits and abilties? or is he a light heavy sparking out marvin johnson


sorry lads....bit of a long winded. "phh ffk knows"


i think Merciless would be perfect for the 40's and The Terrible One for the 30's.

 

They would both become Champions. Idk if they would beat Joe Louis tho, but they would certainly give him a tougher challenge than anyone who has ever faced Louis

 

Champions how, exactly? There is only one belt.

 

Witherspoon takes the belt off Mercer

 

I can’t make predictions like that either way. I would certainly hope not

 

Agreed. I can see Mercer get out slicked by guys like Pastor