Interesting matchup. Would Mercer fade in the later rounds? Hmmm. I pick Mercer. If Ellis could deck Oscar a couple of times then Ray could. Then again, the Mercer-like Frazier couldn't.
Bonavena was a better fighter than Mercer...in his own clumsy, unorthodox way, he was rather "clever" if you will. He performed better against aggresive, walk-in guys like Mercer, Frazier, and Chuvalo, and was decidely worse vs a mobile sharp-shooter like Jimmy Ellis....though he did give a still rusty Ali a rough evening. Mercer was not in that category to be sure. Oscar would have been more mobile than Mercer and would have done enough to decision him...though a close, hard fought decision....much like he did against Leotis Martin.
close fight, Oscar could bang unorthodox and this would through Mercer off stride but both could hit and be hit my guess is Oscar SD
Good comment about Ellis' sneaky right hand. It was something like Snipes' right that could come out of nowhere and do damage, like what happened against Berbick and Holmes.
Good tough fight. Like everyone else, I'm going with Oscar. Decision bout all the way with these two tough hombres. Oscar would land a ton of right hands just like everyone else who fought Ray.
Like everyone else I agree this fight would be a war but unlike everyone else so far I'm taking Mercer to win a hard fought decision. I think Bonavena would dish out a tone of punishment and damage Mercer badly but like always I'd expect Mercer to stay in there and I see him winning a couple more rounds with his straighter punches and go flurries.
