How good was Mercer's chin...

Well, he looked well out of shape against Lennox Lewis to be honest. His conditioning let him down, he actually seemed fitter against Holmes.

 

....one of the best, if not THE best chins in boxing when he was active...his fights against morrison and lewis were career highs for me.....jeez, lewis musta started to doubt he was a puncher in that fight......

 

It was definitely gold. Lewis landed hum dingers. Part of the reason that fight was close is because Lewis work was registering the same as it would against another opponent. Another opponent would be stunned, hurt, dropped, stopped, he'd have to take a backwards step, he'd have to a little more defensive, he'd be wary but Mercer soaks it up like a sponge soaks up water.

 

And it wasn't the only one. As Mendoza said, Morrison hit Mercer with every shot in the book but Ray didn't go down. I'm also thinking of the bombfest with Cooper, and the way he soaked up everything Damiani threw at him for several rounds before crushing Damiani's nose for the win.

He did come in heavier against Lewis and I did think that affected his movement and workrate. Ironically, it probably did boost his punch resistance though. Even more of Mercer to absorb shots.

 

I don't mean to go off topic - but Wlad here is clearly favoring the guy he beat (who was 40) against the guy that beat him. Wlad beat the **** out of Ross the Boss but got tired of doing it because Purrity had a great chin (better than FORTY YEAR OLD Mercer) and so he lost. Purrity is one of those fighters that will be forgotten and overlooked because he sucks, but will wrongly be omitted in specific categories like "best chin" because no one knows him. 40 year old Mercer was not the most durable guy Wladdy faced.

 

Puritty is a great example of someone that had one excellent, world-class attribute, but not the rest of the package to make him a champion. But that one attribute could make him a fighter you needed to be careful with!

Marion Wilson is another guy with a great chin but even less recognition.

 

Chuvalo needed only several clean punches to be out on his feet. Even Ron Lyle took more punches from Foreman without going down or being out on his feet.
The greatness of Chuvalo's chin is vastly overrated.

 

Certainly one of the best HW chins since I've been following boxing - post-Chuvalo, only McCall and perhaps Tua were better.

 

Mercer had the best damn chin in boxing in the 1990s. He took them flush and didn't budge.

 

Briggs couldn't hurt Foreman, because Foreman's defense and overall fighting style was better suited for Briggs, than Mercer's. It doesn't say anything about Ray's chin.

Holyfield was 36 when he fought a 33 year old Lewis. Mercer was 35 facing a 31 year old Lewis, and he hadn't won a fight in nearly 3 years. If you're going to use age to make a point, at least do it properly by looking at it from all angles. Also, the Bowe knockout came when he Evander was at a lowe point in hos career. He was coming back after a layoff, during which he was diagnosed with a life threatening heart condition. What's more, he was in there with a guy who had met him on 2 previous occasions, and knew him pretty well.

First of all, you don't necessarily have to walk through punches to have an all time great chin. Cobb, Mccall, Chuvalo and Ali were all top chins, and believe me, they were hurt plenty of times. What's more do consider Tommy Morrison, Burt Cooper, Lennox Lewis and Tim Witherspoon to be cream puffs? Those guys hit like trucks, and mercer survived all of them.

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I don't even want t bother responding to the rest of this.

 

yes i totally agree with u/ he was wobbled pretty bad in the 1st rd.....mercer was starting to fade/

 

Good enough to get floored by Holyfield , his stoppage losses aside and still not watching the 2 Fergusson fights

 

Chuvalo was inhuman ... I've heard it argued that the fight was stopped prematurely which is insane. I've never seen a man hit as hard as often in a round as Foreman hit Chuvalo flush and Chuvalo took it ... for a second he cringed but he simply stood and took bomb after bomb from a prime, fresh Foreman ... it was terrorfying to watch ...

Mercer was exceptionally tough, his chin right up there ... the bombs he took from Morrison and especially Lewis were unreal ... when he went down against Wlad he was 41 years old and Wlad still fought like he had balls at the time ..

Chuvalo, Mercer, McCall were simply monsters when it came to their chins .. a prime Tex obb was right there as well ..

 

Chuvalo had a great chin, but for his chin's reputation, he was lucky the Foreman fight was stopped at 1:41 of round 3. Chuvalo was on ***** Street & taking a clubbing from Big George. I'm very unsure if he could've stayed on his feet for the remaining 1:19 of the 3rd. Personally i think Chuvalo was about to go down from the battering of bombs.