How come Ray Mercer fought better against Lennox Lewis than he did against an older Larry Holmes?

The answer to these 2 questions could be in the Lewis Vs Holmes fight that would take place:
1. After the fight Holmes - Mercer
2. After the fight Lewis - Mercer

 

I remember Holmes-Mercer cause it was my first ever PPV fight I bought. I was 18 and at that time, 20 dollars for a PPV was reasonable to me.

Holmes was always a very smart fighter. His career was interesting in that it was in three acts basically. First the 48 fights when he was undefeated and people, myself included, disliked him towards the end of that because he seemed to duck certain boxers. Then, the three losses in a row and he seemed to be done, beyond the fact that the two Spinks defeats were close and some even say he was robbed. I actually gained respect for him after the Tyson fight cause he boxed well for the first three rounds, against a man seen by many, myself included, as invincible at that point.

Act three was the comeback in which he darn almost crowned himself world heavyweight champion again (and he would have but the WBO did not recognize Holmes-Mercer as a title bout, something which was hidden from us in those "Greg Haugen was found a substance after he beat Camacho" sneaky boxing promoters' days) and he cemented his status as a Hall of Famer.

All that being said, he showed us all his tricks in that fight with Mercer. Even my then 12-year-old brother who does not like boxing, was amazed at what this "old" man was doing in there!

 

Because their approaches to engaging with Mercer were totally different

/Thread