An exciting matchup, in my opinion. Both dangerous but sometimes sluggish. I very slightly favor Tua, but can’t really decide.
Mercer wins a decision and he wins it more convincingly than some people would probably believe. Mercer has a good jab he outjabbed Lewis and Witherspoon and they were both forced to fight him on the inside to have success. Tua couldn't deal with a jab and Tua's power wouldn't be able to 1 shot Mercer out of nowhere as Mercer had an iron chin. Mercer wins by UD controlling Tua behind the jab.
Not with a jab in his face he wouldn't see the Rahman fight who won pretty much every round until Tua hit him after the bell and got a bogus stoppage. Mercer has better skills than Tua and if he can outjab an ATG like Lewis who had one of the great jabs he can certainly control Tua with the jab. Tua got outboxed plenty of times in his career and lost numerous rounds but his power was able to bail him out. The issue is here despite Tua having dangerous power he's facing a fighter with an iron chin who he wouldn't be able to 1 shot out of nowhere.
Dependds on which guy puts in the work leading up to the fight. Who has a real good camp and who does not. One of them is coming in under prepared and heavy and with his B game. And whichever guy that is---loses. And likely loses badly on the cards.
Would have been a good, tough and physical fight. I lean towards the more versatile Mercer who had a great jab and the toughness to handle Tua. Then again, I could see Tua out slugging Mercer and winning a decision. As heavy of punchers as both were, I don't see either being stopped. Two of the best chins in heavyweight history from arguably the toughest era.
I think rays the busier fighter here,he can take a great shot. It would be an exciting one where both throw some demon punches. I like Ray by decision, maybe a split one.