I like it. Marvis, as we know, wasn’t granite-chinned but had the workrate and just enough shiftiness to give a more plodding slugger like Bernardo a hard time. On the other hand, Mercado could stuff Frazier and take him out at any point, and he wasn’t easily dissuaded. I’ll take the Leon Spinks-Mercado fight as a model from which to draw and say Marvis swarms Bernardo and outhustles him to a 10-round decision.
Agreed. Marvis was only stopped by Tyson and Holmes. No shame in that. Mercado is a bit overrated in the punching department, IMO.
I'd take Frazier to potentially stop Mercado, just by outhustling him. Marvis actually packed a decent punch, too.
I think Mercado could punch but the difference I see is that Holmes and Tyson — although quite different in style and stature — had speed and were combination punchers. Both rained punches on Frazier after hurting him with the initial blow (Tyson more briefly, but Frazier wasn’t done from the uppercut and was soon swarmed over). I don’t think Bernardo would be able to time Maris quite so well nor follow up if he stunned him as effectively as either Larry or Mike.
Marvis Frazier ouboxes him, he was more naturally an awkward tricky boxer than a pressure fighter which is how he boxed against Smith in his best performance. He had to fight like his dad to live up to the name and draw attention as the new version of Joe Frazier.
