Ray Mercer early 90s. Tough guy, iron chin, great power, good jab. How that Mercer would do against current HW top guys like Wilder, Joshua and Parker?
Tough call primarily due to Ray's inconsistency. He only ever beat one world rated fighter (at the time), and in that fight, he was down on the cards when he knocked out Damiani. The Morrison fight was another good come from behind KO. That said, he also took Lennox to the brink (it was a rematch worthy fight), and gave Holyfield a good scrap. You just didn't know which Mercer would show up. I could easily see him going 0-3 or 3-0 against this group.
Mercer was a tough SOB but inconsistent. At his best he's very dangerous but Mercer's biggest problem was always his fitness, he'd struggle to win a decision simply because he couldn't fight for the full 3 mins for 12 rounds. He faded against Holyfield and fought in spurts against Lewis, he'd struggle to win a decision. Mercer beats Parker. We know Parker isn't good on the back foot and Mercer would walk through Parker's best shots and even though Mercer wasn't the best conditioned heavyweight he could still apply more pressure than someone like Ruiz Jr. So either Mercer stops a tired Parker late or win a decision. I think Parker would have his moments though when Mercer takes a rest allowing Parker to let his hands go. It's hard to favour Wilder when fighters like Molina can get to him and fighters like Szpilka are competitive. Maybe Wilder can stay away enough to win a decision but I think he makes too many mistakes to not get chin checked. Might be similar to the Morrison fight with Wilder having success early and gets emboldened by his success only to have his glass chin be his undoing. Joshua is such an unknown quantity at the moment it's hard to really know how he will do until we really see him tested more. But based on what we know I still favour Mercer. Mercer has the better jab and if anyone can take Joshua late into a fight and test his stamina it's Mercer.
Good post. Of the three, I believe Joshua would have the best chance. Not to mention is clearly the best of the three.
Mercer at his best beats Wilder, probably beats Parker in an epic slugfest and might beat AJ, though there's a lot of size stacked against him. A disinterested Mercer could lose to all three.
He was a damn tank no doubt but one that had a limited gas tank a lot of the time. Hence why he lost to Ferguson and even struggled badly in the rematch when 15lbs lighter. His next fight after Ferguson was Wilson where he showed up 23lbs heavier and was gassing by the 6-7th rounds. Anything other than a fully fit Mercer could very well lose a decision to all of them if he can't get them out early. An out of shape Mercer by the 6th or 7th would be vulnerable and even a fit Mercer would fade late in the fight like he did against Evander and Lewis.
