It would be a good fight, if were saying the Mercer that had close decision lose to Lewis vs the Tyson that fought Holyfield? I would say it's a 50/50 fight IMO, but I would lean more towards Tyson, who could still punch with power on the inside and possibly stop Mercer in the middle to late rounds. Though if Mercer could use his top notch jab to keep Mike off, he may win the decision in the end. My money would still be on Iron Mike.
I got Tyson by mid rounds tko. Tyson still had some speed on mercer than matchup is perfect for iron mike
It would be a good fight. Mercer was a heck of a fighter (then), and Tyson wasn't the same, of course. I'd pick Mercer to win a UD.
It took a devastating wlad 6 rounds to take out a shot Mercer..the 96 mercer doesnt flinch at anything tyson has at that time, and takes his heart, and legs by 8 rounds
Mercer could take a punch yes, but Mike would be landing combos on a Mercer who loved to languish on the inside(like he did at times against Lewis)...Tyson TKO 5 Mercer in a ballroom brawl...matter of fact '96 Tyson stops Lewis also...
I think Evander had a much tougher time with Mercer than he did with Tyson (and I believe that was in the same couple year time frame at least). Yes Evander did drop Ray in the later rounds (of course Ray got up) and Mike probably did still punch harder than Evander at this point so its possible he could have stopped Mercer. But by this point in time Mike had stopped his head and body movement and I think that would have left him open for Ray to control with his jab and stop Mike in the later rounds.
:nono tyson would be tailor made for mercer at any stage of tysons career 1986 to 2006. lewis hit much harder than tyson ever could and he could not make mercer flinch and he hit mercer cleanly many times and an out of shape mercer lost a highly desputed majoraty desion and when tyson fought an older lewis it was a total mismatch and tyson was hurt with almost every punch that landed somewhat cleanly and was brutaly kod. anyone that had no fear of tyson and had a bit of a chin and had a bit of power beat tyson in a non competive mismatches douglas, holyfield(twice),lewis,and even class c fighters that he did not have the power to stop and like set up fights and had a tougher time than expected he was brutely kod or just quit on the stool williams, mcbride. or in his so called prime when he was avoiding fighters who had REALLY could beat foreman, witherspoon, MERCER, holyfield (remember holyfield was the number 1 contender for almost 2 1/2 years when tyson was savagely kod by a set up fighter named buster) and in his so called prime he was given two gifts agianst feather fisted tillis and tony tucker that broke his hand in the 2nd round and basicly fought with on hand. just watch tysons greatest hits both 1 and 2 and although fun to watch(so are butterbeans greatest hits with about the same grade of compition)you will not see ONE all time great heavyweight in there prime on there being kod by tyson at any stage in his career and no souski, mercedes,fresh out of rehab thomas,fergerson,biggs,marvis frasier,johnson,jaco,gross, green,shelby,etc..., are not all time great heavywieght in there primes. the BEST fighter that tyson BEAT was rudduck in a fight i was very surprised they took. yes the same rudduck that was stopped by a much harder punching lewis in two. so as far as tyson at any stage of his career vs 96 mercer, once tyson hit mercer and mercer walks right through his punhes(like the lewis,morrison,cooper,holyfield fights) it would be the begining of the end for the weak minded tyson mercer would give him a complete one sided beating until tyson gets brutally kod in round 5.
