Mercer blew hot and cold. At his best he was a handful for Lewis and Holyfield; at his worst he couldn't beat Jesse Ferguson and Marion Wilson. You can't pick for or against him with complete confidence as his level tended to oscillate even more than the typical underachieving heavyweight. One theory (which may or may not be true) is that he needed a fire in his belly to bring the best out of him, both in training and in the fight itself. He rallied well with adversity against Daminai and Morrison, and was on it from the opening bell against Lewis and Holyfield. It seemed that fighters he had every reason to fear brought the best out of him, and he struggled to get out of first gear when he didn't. With Spinks, you have one of the best strategists of the era. He was as good as anyone at setting a gameplan and executing it. He wasn't a natural heavyweight, and probably couldn't soak up big punishment against powerful, natural heavyweights - the lack of fights at heavy means this isn't conclusively proven though. Mercer has the tools to win, but I would lean towards Spinks giving him angles, minimising the exchanges, building up enough of a points lead, and surviving a late rally.
very good point .The thing.about fire in the belly was something mentioned by many fighters .I read an interview with Tony sibson who said similar .He said he could feel the fear in him like an energy when he lacked it he struggled .Tyson was similar I believe.
Spinks is a better quality fighter, and that makes a difference. He would try to outbox Mercer and land punches and win the rounds and a decision. Mercer has the power, but I don't think he is going to land on Spinks. If he did he would do one of those landing several punches after he gets a man hurt deals as he always did. The refs didn't seem to step in on time. Mercer would always crank up with home run punches when he had a guy all but out and make the knockout even worse.
I would bet heavily on Spinks. I don't think Mercer hit as hard as people think. He was strong but very average other than chin. A 41 year old Holmes clowned Ray Mercer. A 35 year old Holmes lost to and beat close Spinks. He had his hands full both fights.
I don't think we saw enough of Spinks at Heavyweight to really tell if he could sustain a run in that division. How many Heavyweights in their prime, of any note, did he face and beat? Holmes was past best (and probably won the Spinks rematch). Tangstad?... ...??... ...? Cooney, as a title defense, was laughably shocking. Then came the Tyson blast out in 91 seconds (nice hourly rate, if you can find it...). Nothing about Spinks tells me that he had more in him than one, exceptional Heavyweight performance, against a jaded Champ, having an off day. If we got the best version of Ray Mercer then I'd back him to beat Michael Spinks.
Mercers claim to fame is beating Tommy Chin while gettin used as a Heavybag for several rounds..... Mercer is as basic as bread and butter.....he never won a meaningful fight and has some of the most embarrassing losses on his record... If you get literally clowned by Grandpa Holmes you aint beating Spinks.......he would follow him around like a puppy never landing anything meaningful.....loop sided decision for Spinks. Insert Mercer instead of Spinks against Prime Tyson and yes, it would last longer than 91 sec but he would be beaten to a pulp within 2 max., like Berbick....if you think you can hold off Prime Tyson with your chin as your only form of defense I have some Ocean Front Property in Arizona I would like to sell you.
I'm not sure why people keep brining up the fact that Mercer blew hot and cold and that he could have off nights. Generally on this forum, we take a fighter at their best when pitting them against another unless otherwise specified. Here, the TS even gives us a version of Mercer to use based on his performance against Lewis. So he further affirmed we are using a good version of Mercer. Yet I still see comments about how Spinks would win because Mercer wasn't always there. If we're using the version and mindset of a Mercer who fought Lewis. He's going to stop Spinks eventually. I see that as the most likely outcome.
I agree. I think Spinks would simply be too smart for Ray. As for Marion Wilson, I think he had one of the best chins of all time.
