How come Ray Mercer fought better against Lennox Lewis than he did against an older Larry Holmes?

I wonder how many times the same thread can be made

 

Yeah it must be cos we have had several hundred of similar threads......then again we have had thousands of posts that say Lennox is an ATG and a H2H monster.

Obviously a quiet day with folks imagination that we get these same regurgitated threads to discredit folk

 

Cos Old Larry was better than Lewis

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Larry had more skills and knowledge. Lennox was forced into a dog fight.

 

Larry wasn't stupid enough to brawl with Mercer.

 

I think by the time Mercer faced Lewis he was better and more experienced. Put on some strength a size too if I remember correctly

 

Well they both had another common opponent in McCall. it was just one of those styles things.

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Lol!! The center of the ring face off made me laugh McCall tried doing his “About to bust a spring” 1000 yard stare at Holmes, and Larry looked like he was very amused by it Wonder what Holmes was saying to him.?

 

Holmes primarily fought on the ropes vs Mercer, and the somewhat still green Mercer was out foxed by old legend. Who really shouldn't of fought Holmes's fight along the ropes.

Lewis was trying to look impressive for an upcoming fight vs Tyson, and was trying to rebuild his reputation after the McCall loss. So Lewis took more risks and stood in trenches more vs Mercer.

 

Because Lennox wanted to beat Mercer at his own game and slugged with Ray.

 

If they had a rematch Lennox would have won much more comfortably.

 

Lewis is 6-1 against common opponents.

Holmes is 3-3.

 

After Ray Mercer lost to Larry Holmes, Mercer said in the ring he (Ray) needed to learn to jab more (because Larry basically beat him with the jab alone). Hell, even Tommy Morrison outjabbed Mercer. So did Damiani.

And Ray did learn to use the jab better. And there's your answer to why Mercer did better against Lewis. Ray used his jab to great effect that night against Lennox. Vitali's jab gave Lewis trouble, too. But Lennox beat them both.

Holmes often took a lot of shots when facing good jabbers, too. (See the Carl Williams fight. The Norton fight. The Witherspoon fight.) But that doesn't mean Larry is overrated.

 

Mercer was a horribly inconsistent fighter if we're honest. He wasn't the most disciplined fighter and would often show up out of shape in fights he didn't expect to be tested, the most infamous being the Ferguson fight where he offered Ferguson $100K to take a dive in the ring. Then of course there was the controversial draw against journeymen Marion Wilson. He likely didn't see a 42 year old Holmes as much of the threat and so of course didn't train and lost.

But when Mercer did perceive a threat and got himself in shape he could put on a good performance as the Holyfield and Lewis fights showed. Though even an in shape Mercer was a fighter who couldn't really fight hard for 3 mins of every round, the man was lazy when truth be told which is why he lost to Lewis, he just didn't do enough.

As for Lewis' performance, he was a fighter in transition at the time, half way between the fighter that got KO'ed by McCall and the fighter that would go onto to be undisputed champion. Also didn't help that they fought in a tiny 18 foot ring so was forced to stand and trade more often than we are used to seeing. But he showed real grit to tough it out with Mercer and fight in a non typical manner and still secure the win albeit one where the result is debated.