Ray Mercer vs. Joe Joyce

Considering Mercer was faster and had a head of granite, he has a great chance to win, but considering he never won over a top, except Morrison, as much as he was a top, I'll go for 50:50.

 

Joyce has yet to beat any top names either. Mercer fought a good version of Lennox Lewis on even terms, and that was a Mercer who was out of shape aswell.

Whilst Mercer doesn't have any great wins, his peak level is a handful for most Heavyweights. Mercer is also a better boxer than Joyce with a very good jab, he out jabbed one of the best in Lennox Lewis.

I'm going with Mercer by decision unless Joyce proves me wrong later on in his career, I still think Joyce is very overhyped atm and cracks could show vs Zhang.

 

I agree and I'd say Joyce is so far overrated.

 

Yeah people have gone a bit OTT with Joyce, whilst the Parker fight was a decent performance. Parker is not a top Heavyweight, hes always been a bit below the very top guys. I'm actually interested to see the Zhang fight, people think Joyce's chin is unbreakable. I'm curious to see how he reacts when Zhang hits him flush.

 

Mercer more than likely.... He wasn't always on his A game though.

Foreman vs Lyle 2.0

 

Mercer, in a rubber match? Nobody is knocking any remotely decent version of him down. That chin was half the reason he was dangerous at his best -- he was well aware of his durability, so he took risk after risk, even against big punchers, trusting that if/when he was caught it wouldn't be a big deal. Give him a real fear of being KO'd and he'd never have fought Lewis the way he did, for example.

 

Mercer was a late bloomer and Joyce is an EXTREMELY late bloomer. Joyce is the bigger man by far. Mercer showed a ton of heart. Neither were/are masters of the sweet science. Both probably fought comparable opposition while having under 20 fights. Not sure who I’d take.

 

I was referencing the two getting into a firefight, not necessarily ending in KO.

 

I don't see how Mercer wins this if he can't stop Joyce (which is also highly unlikely imo).

 

We live in a day & age of instant world-wide communication & gratification, I guess it would be unnatural if there wasn't a tendency towards earlier hype than normal.

We hear it all the time - "is (recent) fighter x the goat? could he beat srr? etc etc. We need to see what JJ does for the rest off his career.

Who knows, maybe one day we'll be wondering if Joyce would've beaten Ali.

 

If Ray didn't bring his "A" game JJ would probably outwork him for a decision.

 

Joyce is a guy who hasn't achieved that much, but he may have a high ceiling.

Mercer is a guy who had every opportunity to achieve a lot, but didn't. He had talent but was so inconsistent and mostly relied on his toughness to seize victory more often than not.

So it's a mystery how this fight would turn out, but it would probably be exciting. Neither guys likes to back up and both love letting their hands go.

Power-Even
Chin-Mercer
Hand speed-Joyce
Foot speed-Joyce
Stamina-Joyce
Technique-Even
Experience-Mercer
Defense-Irrelevant lol

Gun to my head, Joyce takes a close decision in an exciting slug fest. Joyce's edge in reach, height, and speed make a big difference as he can get to Mercer first. Joyce could occasionally show intelligent lateral movement and picks his shots very well compared to the often very straightforward and unimaginative Mercer.

 

If Mercer shows up fully focused and in shape, he takes a split decision imo.