Better best win in the 1990's - Tyson or Holmes?

Tyson over Ruddock in absolute terms, Holmes over Mercer when factoring in the age of the victor.

 

This. Being 43 and taking a gold medalist's 0 while the guy was in his prime, and making it look easy, was pretty impressive.

When Mercer took that fight, he was thinking Joe Louis against Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson against Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali against Larry Holmes, etc. He was thinking relatively risk free fight and he gets a big name on his record. Unfortunately for him, Larry had other ideas about the fight.

 

Mercer was an Olympic gold medalist who was undefeated and beating guys who were in their prime. Meanwhile Holmes was considered by most as finished and he put on a master class. So I have to award Holmes with the better win

 

I think beating Ruddock was more impressive.
Ruddock was seen as a top class fighter who was feared since the frightening KOs of Dokes and Smith.
Tyson vs Ruddock was a fight between the n°1 vs n°2 of the division (outside Holyfield) , both of whom carried huge power.
The two fights were spectacular clashes of styles (and personalities), so it contributes to them being more memorable.

Having said that, Holmes' win was also very impressive, especially given his age. But I don't think it bore as much significance as the former since Mercer was "just" a very good contender among others (Bowe/Lewis/Foreman ...).

 

It's Ruddock. Mercer had been totally outboxed by Damiani before bailing himself out. Ruddock was scary, more highly ranked, and coming off career best performances. Ruddock could've reasonably been seen as the next guy to carry the torch at heavyweight, whereas Mercer was just a solid guy.

Regarding age, Holmes already knew he was fighting a guy who couldn't deal with a jab so knew he had good odds. It's not like Holmes stepped up to Lewis.

 

Donovan had already been stopped by Dave Jaco and fought to a draw with 7-21 Phil Brown. My memory is that he was knocked down by Bonecrusher and behind on points when Razor rallied for the stoppage.

To say ‘well Mercer beat an undefeated Damiani by KO after being behind on points’ isn’t a resume breaker at all — it’s impressive to KO someone when behind — but if it is, it’s on par with one of Ruddock’s two meaningful wins at the time he fought Tyson (Bonecrusher) and a helluva lot better than being stopped by Dave Jaco or drawing with a ‘professional opponent’ like Brown.

Ray was the WBO champion until stripped for fighting Larry, so Holmes was beating a guy who held a belt but for politics. If the WBO hadn’t stripped Mercer, Holmes wins another world title to further bolster his already-remarkable string of accomplishments.

I’d say the Holmes win is better without question.

 

You’re being a revisionist. Nobody cared about Ruddock’s early career screw ups; he had just knocked Dokes’ head off after Dokes had FOTY with Holyfield. Nobody cared about WBO either. Mercer wasn’t viewed or ranked like Ruddock was.

 

Could the Holmes who beat Mercer also have beaten Ruddock?

 

Are you implying that a 30 year old Holmes would beat a 30 year old Mercer???

 

He could, imo, but it would be a dangerous fight. Ruddock had a longer reach and was more explosive than Mercer, whilst Holmes advantages in ring IQ and footwork would have also applied. I could see Holmes on points, but wouldn't rule out a Ruddock stoppage.

 

Holmes the elderly vet, impressive win.

 

This content is protected

 

No question about it.