Anthony Joshua vs Ray Mercer primes (Poll added)

More or less this. Joshua can actually box OK in addition to having huge power. AJ doesn't have a history of blowing his gas tank badly so in my opinion Mercer can't even execute the Tommy Morrison plan here. He's gonna look like an extra from a zombie movie if he sees he final bell.

 

Sgt Mercer with that solid chin, that took the best shots of Lewis, would walk through AJ.
Mercer ko 6

 

Don't often disagree with your takes , but it's Mercer for me.
Overall he really underachieved , but if we are talking on ' their best night ' this is definitely Mercer.
Joshua is Frank Bruno with movement.
Mercer too strong and durable .
Joshua doesn't make it , mid to late stoppage.

 

Who are all these amazing boxers Mercer beat to favor him over Joshua?

His best wins are...wait for it...

Ancient Witherspoon
Tommy Morrison
Damian
Cooper

Would anyone say these men have comparable resumes or boxing ability to Joshua? Other than a punchers chance, would anyone be willing to bet money that they would beat Joshua?

Keep in mind Mercer lost to old journeyman Jessie Ferguson, old Holmes, and lost his two biggest fights when he stepped up. Mercer is the poster boy of hot/cold fighters. Yes he gave Lewis a rough fight, but Damiani and Cooper also gave him rough fights!

 

To be fair Cooper gave alot of good fighters tough fights he come close to dethroning prime versions Holyfield, Moorer.

Mercer actually beat Cooper pretty handily on points winning near enough every round. Mercer got a freak injury with the broken jaw very early on in the fight against Cooper and had to adjust on the fly. Mercer had to smother Cooper in close so he could protect his broken jaw. All in all i think Mercer did pretty well to deal with that major crisis.

As for Joshua/Mercer it depends on how Joshua approaches the fight as I said earlier. If Joshua comes in aggressively looking to exchange punches like he did vs Ruiz in their 1st fight. I favour an inform Mercer to be too durable for Joshua in a firefight and win by TKO.

If Joshua boxes smartly like he did vs Ruiz in their 2nd fight he can win a decision pretty handily as Mercer has slow feet.

 

If Joshua fights, he gets knocked out. If he cautiously and carefully boxes, as he did in the second Ruiz fight, he likely wins a decision. Not so sure Ray would catch a disciplined, motivated, in-shape Joshua who went into the fight only looking to win a decision. Regardless of style employed, if Ray catches him flush on the jaw, it could be good night.

 

Don't think anyone is saying Mercer is the better boxer, or has the better resume, but that his style, physique, attributes are all wrong for AJ. Kenny Norton wasn't a better fighter than Ali but sometimes ya just end up fighting 'that guy', the one you don't have an answer for. I think prime Mercer, the one who gave Lewis fits, is that guy for AJ.

 

Usually the better boxer with the better resume wins.

Physique? Attributes? Joshua is taller, faster, hits harder, and is more athletic. The only physical advantage Mercer has is chin.

I brought up Mercer's resume to point out he hasn't beat a single boxer as good as Joshua. That does matter. I don't see how Mercer has some sort of stylistic advantage either. If you want to compare Mercer to Ruiz, that's a bit flawed because Ruiz had MUCH faster hands and better fundamentals than Mercer.

 

Usually, yes, always? No. It's something we can happily agree to differ on but I'm thinking of Mercer giving Lewis, peak Lewis at that, absolute fits. And Lewis was a much better fighter than AJ. Hey, there's no 'right' answer, but it's fun chatting!

 

That wasn't peak Lewis. He looks 2x better in later fights against Holyfield, Grant, Tua, etc and became a more mature and skilled outside fighter/technician.

 

Fair point, but I'll never count 'safety first' Lewis as peak, and he looked much better against Grant, Tua and Holyfield because they were pretty **** for different reasons!! For me the young lion who walloped Ruddock, turned the Bruno fight etc was the peak Lewis...I concede I may be getting my time lines mixed, I was never a fan of big Len, and I can't count beating a faded Holyfield and making it look very difficult in fight 2 as anything near peak...for me the Mercer fight comes right in the middle of his peak, between Ruddock and, say, Briggs, when Len still had a bit of the devil in his detail.

 

If Joshua boxes sensibly like he did Parker and Ruiz II, he should win a UD but if he get's reckless as he has a few times, Mercer could KO him.

 

Does a victory over Nagannou carry that much weight?
Nagannou with two losses in two fights in boxing matches?
Or, is it a better indication of how overrated Fury actually
is having to go life and death with him just barely getting
a split decision victory.
As for the question of Mercer vs Joshua, the very best
version of Mercer beats any version of Joshua, probably
by ko.

 

Let's forget about Francis for the time being.

What has Mercer done to deserve you confidently favoring him over Joshua? You do realize Joshua is bigger, stronger, more athletic, better defense, has more tools at his disposal, and his resume is easily 2-3x better than Mercer's...?

 

I'll answer first with you're the one who made Joshua's ko victory of Nagannou as something special.
I just pointed out it really isn't when the entirety of it is looked at without blinders.
Second point, Joshua was bigger, stronger , faster , more athletic than Ruiz......
.But how much did it help him? All those tools you mentioned couldn't get him past a short fat guy the first fight. The 2nd fight he basically ran against an even worse version of Ruiz.
All those tools you mentioned, and he's 0-2 against a blown up cruiserweight....
But Joshua's biggest problem is, and we can joke about Ruiz weight issues and Usyk heavyweight competition, but in the skills department they were simply better than Joshua. That simple fact totally erased all of Joshua's bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic arguments you're making.
Your third argument is even easier to take apart
Because sure Joshua has less losses than Mercer.
Because he never faced the caliber of competition Mercer faced.
Larry Holmes (Even the version of Holmes he faced probably would be heavyweight champ today) Lewis, Holyfield, W Kleichkos, Briggs, Cooper , Witherspoon, all were better fighters and would have a very good chance of beating Joshua. Hell. Even Tommie Morrison would have a good chance to beat Joshua if one looks at how he reacted to Ruiz's power. He basically quit in their 1st fight.
Face it. Joshua is a body builder with some boxing skills . But theirs nothing special about him. His athleticism and physicality has carried him most of his career against the low level and old competition he feasted on.
But he's 0-3 against fighters with better skills.
So all his physical advantages mounted to a hill of jellybeans in a boxing match.
It may if they were wrestling, or if he was playing offensive or defensive tackle in football.
But in a boxing match he was beaten by a fat guy and a heavyweight that spent most of his career at cruiserweight.
To think that the best version of Mercer would have no chance against any version of Joshua is wishful thinking.
At least in my opinion.....