In the week leading up to the doomed Henry Akinwande v Evander Holyfield fight, Ray Mercer and Henry were both diagnosed with Hepatitis ... Who was Ray supposed to box on that particular card.. I can't remember...
Holyfield (and Chagaev) has hepatitis too. As did Joe Frazier (as did Carl Williams and Richard Ihetu ?). Hepatitis is more infectious than AIDS, and can also be acquired by those same means ur usually told that u can not get AIDS from. A potentially lethal disease either through its (mandatory if 1 lives long enough) cancer stage or not. But then there is a vaccine to hepatitis but not to AIDS.
Mercer was scheduled to fight Jerry Ballard, who was 19-1-1 at the time. Mercer had just signed with Don King and was ranked #2 by the World Boxing Association. Ballard was coming off a draw with Greg Page (on the Tony Tucker-John Ruiz card). Ballard was one of those guys who was in the lower end of the WBA ratings, but you never really saw him fight on television. He ended up meeting John Ruiz (a couple months after he was supposed to fight Mercer) and got stopped in four. That was kind of the end of his "run."
Yes... It's strange I never remembered this.. I was friends with Ballard.. He died a few years later in Baltimore ... He was stabbed in the neck after a fight in a bar... Jerry had a horrible temper...
Akinwande had allot of ability and had landed the jackpot with this fight as he had the perfect style to nullify an old Holyfield. Akinwande was outboxing McCall way ahead when McCall caught him and put him out in the 10th. Both became outcasts after their fiascos against Lewis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efEroYPfOM
