How do you know that Syliva didn't intend to do all of those things? I mean, the fight lasted less than 10 seconds. Was he supposed to attempt and execute all of those moves in that short time period? EVen if he did, how do you know he wouldn't have gotten cracked just like he did?
So you're measuring everyone in MMA's style and tactics to what Sylvia did? Speechless. What you should have said is if an MMA guy tries to trade with a boxer he'll most likely get blitzed, that's obvious. Most MMA fighters would feel the fight out at a safe distance before shooting. Show me a boxer beating a top MMA fighter on the ground, only then will I be impressed.
I'm bumping this, cus people need to get the point across, that this may as well have been a fluke victory. Fedor or Barnett or any of the top guys, if they went to grapple Mercer would beat him easily.
He still has a very good chin, he was only knocked out later in his career after he turned 40, against Wlad in 02 and Briggs. Which are 2 of the heaviest hitting fighters in the division.
People who want to compare Fedor to Mercer? Why not be fair and compare Fedor, who is the big shot in MMA, to a top heavyweight in boxing, one of the Klitschko brothers? Saying that Fedor would easily toss around Mercer is one thing; saying that he would do it to either Klitschko is something else. He might be able to do that, but his chances of doing so would be much less against either Klitschko brother than they would be against Ray Mercer. All these MMA guys would have to get close enough to the boxer to do their things.........I'm sure some boxers would get easily taken down and submitted; others would not. It's not like every boxer is just going to stand there, lead-footed and immobile, and just allow himself to be grabbed or tackled.
Mercer was never the most dangerous or the best striker in heavyweight boxing either. He was always very strong, very durable, and hard to hurt. He took some absolute bombs from Tommy Morrison, Lennox Lewis, and many other big hitters. He was outboxed by 42-year-old Larry Holmes in 1992, when Mercer was 31-years-old, but he has always been hard to hurt and/or knock down. Holyfield put him down, but that was more of a case of Mercer going down voluntarily to avoid Holyfield's brutal assault. Guys like Lennox Lewis, EVander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe - those guys could really do damage to an MMA fighter if they connected cleanly. They were much more effective punchers than Mercer.