Sorry if this match ups been done before but how do you think this fight would've panned out if it had've happened when it was supposed to? Mercer was supposed to be Bowe's second defense but Jesse Ferguson (ugh) scuppered those plans when he beat a lethargic and disinterested Merciless Ray.Why Mercer put in performances like these I don't know but he did and it cost him big time on this occasion. Of course Bowe smashed Ferguson but I reckon Mercer would've given Big Daddy all he could handle.Mercer's chin as we know was granite and he had decent power and Bowe at this point was already defensively sloppy and turning up for fights fat.A fit and motivated Mercer could have exploited this and as his fights with Holyfield and Lewis showed, a motivated Mercer was a very tough test for anyone. Plus there was the added edge that as team mates on the 1988 Olympic team Mercer apparently took a very dim view of Bowe's attitude,training and performance in the gold medal fight with Lewis. So does anyone else give Mercer a shot?
That was the problem with Mercer in 1993, he was more inconsistent and out of shape than Bowe. Perhaps the Mercer of 95 or 96 would have given Bowe a better fight, but the non serious Mercer of 93 would have most likely been beat up by Bowe who was leagues above the guys he was struggling with at the time.
Ha, this was brought up on the first Hopkin-Jones fight. He has a chance but I see Bowe taking this by late-round stoppage.
It would be a prime match-up on paper but there are complications that would have undermined it in the real world. Bowe was best over the first six months of 1993. He had three fights over a six or so month span, and his weight wasn't yet out of the box.....as it would be after Ferguson leading up to the Holy rematch. During that period and into 1994, Mercer was out of shape and struggling with inferior, albeit earnest opposition. This fight would have been better in late-1991 when both were exchanging jabs in the media and both arrived for duty in shape. BTW - I believe Mercer peaked in 1995-96.
