Bowe v witherspoon, lewis, tyson and bonecrusher that bruno fought?

Mercer's power IS a bit overrated. A stoppage is a stoppage as it pertains to a "loss" on the blotter. I failed to read all of the posts before my last response - so in that regard, there is a difference as it pertains to why a fight is stopped. My response was aimed more towards "at the end of the day".

OK, we can defend Riddick all we want regarding his intentions and what a good manager may or may not do, but it is suspicious how his record is relatively devoid of big punchers relative to that of his so-called arch nemesis, Lennox Lewis.....who seemingly took on a better array of fighters in and about the time Riddick spun his wheels and grew tits. :smoke

We can also argue the semantics as to why Bowe tossed a belt after talking big to Lenny's face just after exiting the ring after winning the title. Bowe seemed mad and out to prove something for Lenny's big talk, telling him, "you better watch your mouth"......but in the end where was that payback?

Bowe had the axe to grind and the embarrassing loss to avenge....not Lennox.

So what happened and where was that "business be damned, this is about pride" mentality???

 

Well reading the article, I quote " until the 9th round when Ray landed a miracle punch, a left uppercut that seemed harmless, but grazed the tip of the italian's nose, breaking it and putting the Italian down for the 10 count"

According to that source he was down for the full 10 count after having his nose broken.

 

Not to be a nit picking ass, but from what I've heard, Damiani's win over Biggs was not really decisive.. Apparently, Biggs suffered a major cut, due to an accidental head butt that resulted in the fight being stopped.. I don't know what each man had looked like up to that point, but from what a commentator said while I was watching one of Bigg's other fights, Tyrell was actually doing pretty good against him..

 

Damiani was good.

Anyone who hasn't seen Mercer-Damiani should understand that the KO was somewhat flukey in that the nose-breaking finishing punch was virtually a "miss", and just caught the tip of Damiami's nose and caused the end of the fight. If the punch had landed as intended, ironically, it probably would not have done much damage. Damiani had soaked up some of Mercer's best already.

All credit to Mercer though, he kept coming forward throwing shots and he created his own bit of luck here.

 

All I can add to this is Lewis beats Bowe, anytime any place.

When a fighter is mentally crushed before stepping in the ring he's already lost.

 

There's no evidence that Bowe was actually afraid of Lennox Lewis.

 

I don't know if I agree that Mercer's shot wouldn't have caused much damage, but I do agree with your points about this being a good fight and Damiani being a decent boxer.. I have this fight somewhere on VHS in a box someplace.. The undercard consisted of Morrison vs Tillis and Seldon vs Ribalta..

The only times I ever saw Damiani fight were in the Mercer and McCall fights, both were losing efforts.. I did appreciate however, some of the footwork and boxing ability that he appeared to have.. His record also suggests that he had a pretty decent punch as well.. Had he gotten hooked up with a good American trainer and gotten things going at a slightly younger age, I think he might have gone a tad further.. He was definately a rather unheard of entity and one that few people in the States know anything about.

 

Although I haven't seen the fight since the night it happened (wasn't Morrison on the under card with Qucik Tillis?), I remember being struck by how ineffective Mercer seemed up until the point where he nailed Damiani.

 

Yes, Morrison blasted him in one round, by flooring him 3 times... Seldon vs Ribalta was actually a fun fight.. Bruce got decked in the first, then came back to pound Ribalta in the third. The Damiani fight kind of exposed Mercer somewhat, and probably provided the blueprint for how he'd later lose to Holmes.

 

This thread is getting all blown out of proportion. I just always felt "The Mercer is a big puncher" talk was a bit overated. He really doesnt have explosive KO power and aside from the Morrison knockout which was dramatic, its often overstated. It was about a ten punch combination once Morrison froze anyway. Im not disputing that Damiani was KO'd by Mercer, but like Unforgiven said, it was fluke type punch, and if Buster Mathis Jr. would have landed that shot it would probably have had the same effect, since the nose can easily be broken if its hit in the right spot.

 

Oh please......

 

The thread has morphed.

 

Although I can certainly credit Mercer as being able to crack, I tend to think that his power is a bit overrated as well.. I watched his fights with Jerry Jones, Bert Cooper and Kimmuel Odum.. He was unable to finish any of those guys despite having them in trouble on numerous occasions.

 

Seriously, it's just childish to say he was actually scared. There's no question that Lewis was avoided in early '93 for easier opponents, but when people say "Bowe was scared", "Bowe was spooked", "Bowe was mentally crushed", that's just childish bull****.
Bowe is actually a fighter who we know was not exactly one to retreat from a hiding anyway, and performed fearlessly in the ring when tested.

It's a usually cheap shot thrown out by pencilneck gobshites when a fighter with such proven warrior credentials in labelled a "coward" or a "chicken".

 

To be honest I agree. He clearly had solid power but wasn't a devastating puncher.