They were both inconsistent. The Mercer who fought Lewis might beat most versions of Douglas; but the Mercer who bombed v Jesse Ferguson wouldn't. The Douglas who beat McCall, Mike Williams & Berbick would likely beat any version of Mercer; the Douglas who lost to Holyfield couldn't beat an egg (although he could eat many - lol!). Even the Douglas who lost to Tucker MIGHT beat Mercer... Douglas & Mercer could fight 5 times with 5 different outcomes...when you even things out, I reckon Douglas comes out on top overall...
Can't go wrong with this. But best version of Buster, which is Tyson v best version of Mercer, which we could say Lewis, I'll pick Douglas by slim decision.
The best Douglas beats the best Mercer, although there's obviously a wide range of possible results if you start applying any other versions of each fighter. Douglas handled McCall pretty comfortably, and Mercer would have real trouble with Buster's movement. I suppose if you made it a 15 rounder, Mercer would have more of a chance to get a stoppage late on. Douglas didn't have a great chin, and could fold under pressure the longer the fight goes on. Mercer could be one-paced though, and I don't see it as one of those fights where one fighter wears the other down with volume and workrate. He either would need to land a bomb, or have Douglas break mentally.
Douglas had better movement that loses showed v Mercer, Douglas was far more skilled than Mercer and better than the oldder Holmes that beat Mercer, Tyson floored Douglas with an uppercut because he kept overcommiting with the jab but Mike was more well schooled than Mercer who didn`t have that kind of uppercut in his locker, still he could catch Douglas if he made the same mistake that he did v Mike, but I`ll go far Buster because he was a lot more elusive than Ray.
