Bernardo Mercado,,,,, With a small amount of Luck,,,,,,,, Could have been the WBC Heavyweight Champion. In September 1979, Earnie Shavers came within a 'whisker' of dethroning WBC Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes. 6-Months later, in March 1980, #1 WBC Earnie Shavers takes on 6' 4" 28 year-old Columbian Heavyweight, #5 WBC Bernardo Mercado 24-2-0 (20 KO's). After getting clobbered, and then floored in Round 3, Bernardo gets up and then utilizes his strength to wear down the 'getting-old-fast' Shavers, and lets Earnie burn himself out. By the end of Round 6, Earnie was 'spent'. In Round 7, after a few moments, Mercado lands a couple of 'mediocre punches' on a off-balance Shavers, who falls backward to the canvas. An exhausted Earnie gets up, but is battered by Mercado, until Earnie is saved from further punishment at 0:41 of the 7th Round by Referee Paul Venti. It could have been for the WBC Heavyweight Championship. List of Champions, Bernardo Mercado fought; * John Tate * Mike Weaver * Trevor Berbick * Leon Spinks List of Ranked Contenders Bernardo Mercado fought; * Fili Moala 2x * Tony Pulu * Henry Clark * Earnie Shavers * Tom Prater * Randy Cobb April 3, 1979 (Halifax, Nova Scotia) Bernardo Mercado 21-2-0 (18 KO's) 'flattening' Trevor Berbick 11-0-0 (10 KO's) in the 1st Round. This content is protected
Luck being either stuffing Senor Sulaimán with serious $$$'s, or the premature retirements of the top 20 or so finest Heavyweights of the late 70s/early 80s.
I think Pepe means that the fight with Shavers could have easily been scheduled as a WBC Eliminator/Title fight. I've told the story here before about seeing Tom Prater dismantle local heavy's at the Indianapolis PAL as a teenager and, not thinking much of Mercado as a contender, asking Prater's trainer Champ Chaney how Prater could lose to Mercado in Columbia. He said plainly that Prater took a deliberate dive both for the money and so "we could get out of there alive".
I know what he meant, but come on we all know if my Aunt was my Uncle, I would of been World Heavyweight Champ, rather than some Cruiserweight alphabet title holder...
Hard to believe he beat Berbeck in far greater fashion than Larry Holmes but with heavyweights anything can happen as the old saying goes.
I could definitely see Bernardo giving Larry Holmes some problems in the ring, especially in the 1979-1980 time frame.
Yeah I could see that too. Would Larry be able to get out of the way quick enough when Mercado does a Duran and falls face first after tasting some of Holmes' right hands? If not Bernado could of caused Holmes serious harm, as he collapses on him.