How Would A Prime Foreman Vs Ray Mercer Fight Go?

Mercer's chin is a 10, and 70's Foreman's chin is more like a 7. Everyone loves to give old Foreman's chin (which, I'd add, is a solid 10) to young Foreman, but it isn't true. The biggest puncher he faced knocked him down, and a puncher of above average power knocked him out. Why or how he ended up more durable when older is anyone's guess.

 

I think even prime George was too overwhelmingly powerful. Mercer did get hit, certainly with plenty of jabs...that isn't a recipe for succes against Foreman.

Mercer gives everything but gets stopped in 6 at the latest.

 

Your chin doesn't get better with age. Foreman had a granite chin. He punched himself out against Ali. Frazier, Norton, and Chuvalo hit harder than Ali and couldn't put a dent in Foreman. Styles make fights. In the 90's, Foreman improved his defense and conserved his energy better with a more patient style.

99% of Heavyweights would not have gotten off the deck twice and won by KO in the brutal slugfest with Lyle. How people can use that fight as a way to criticize Foreman's toughness and durability is mind boggling. They were throwing flush power punches at each other for 4 rounds straight. Foreman also maintained that Lyle hit harder than any opponent he faced.

 

I agree that both the Ali stoppage was due to being gassed and that punch resistence doesn't naturally increase from a fighters 20's to their 40's, but I wouldn't be at all suprised if the c.250lbs Foreman from his second career had thicker legs, a thicker core and crucially a thicker neck, than the c220lbs first career Foreman. All of those are correlated with a fighters ability to absorb punches to the head.

 

He brushed off the famed Frazier left hook as if it was a mosquito. Numerous flush Ali right hands simply enraged him when he was fresh.

 

Mercer took it from a much better fighter in Lennox- all he needs to do is last and do what he does best. He doesn’t need a game plan he’ll be there for the final bell and offer enough resistance to win and eventually overcome “Big” George.

 

Ali’s right barely did more then enrage anyone when they were fresh it’s no feat- Frazier wasn’t some puncher of reverence. Really the only puncher he fought in the 70s who hit him proper had him face down and almost out. This is a fact.

 

Foreman breaks Mercer down in a war and his corner retires him in the 6th.

 

Mercer was a strong boxer with an iron chin but nowhere near the power that foreman possessed. But to make it interesting I bet it would a great fight if Mercer faced Foreman v2.0.

 

Well theres a number of factors Foreman in his 2nd career altered his defence, and learnt to pace himself better.

I personally think it's a myth that Foreman had a better chin in his 40s ? I'm also not quite sure how thats possible TBH.

Just look at Foreman's knockdowns in his 1st career, two of them vs Ali, Young, were due to fatigue not his chin letting him down. And the knockdowns vs Lyle well Foreman was just sloppy and rusty after Ali loss, he basically engaged in a street fight with a big puncher with no defence or thought to what he was doing. I don't think that means Foreman's chin was worse though.

Overall Foreman just learnt to pace himself better, altered his defence, and was stronger mentally with better IQ of the game IMO.

 

Two monsters ... you saw what Foreman's power could do to an all time chin in Chuvalo ... I know Chuvalo claims the fight was stopped prematurely , blah, blah, blah but to me it was stopped to save Chuvalo's life ... Mercer, at his best had the same chin and far more skill .. I cannot see Foreman stopping Mercer early nor can I see him going too far in a war as we saw against Lyle when an incredibly game Foreman was exhausted beyond belief himself ... the best Mercer could decision Foreman but if he was anything less Foreman could beat him on the jab alone ...

 

Punch resistance goes down tremendously when you're fatigued. Good point about Foreman eating the right hands like candy when he was fresh. He had zero fear and didn't bother even blocking most of them, sometimes being willing to take 2 just to land one of his own.

 

A SEVEN? Seriously? He shook off Frazier's hooks like nothing ffs. Against Lyle, he was rusty.

"A puncher of above average power knocked him out." Aside from the fact that adding "above average power" (while true) is a detriment to your argument, Ali was literally the GOAT..... and Foreman was dead exhausted.

 

WAR.
IMO peak Ray Mercer is the one who fought Lennox Lewis. This would definitely be a fight I would love to see. And just because of what I saw in the Foreman vs Lyle fight I favor Foreman. A Foreman vs Lyle scenario has not been ruled out.

 

Absolutely. Ali dropped Foreman more out of exhaustion than anything, which was pretty obvious. There was heavy debate over whether he made the 10 tbf, tho he was never going to get anywhere. Really close inspection of the Young KD shows a cuffing type punch and a tired Foreman tripping over vs being concussed. He got up swinging thinking it would be called a slip.

When did we ever see Ali putting such sting early on into his right hands? He really threw them with intent in the first round, something we seldom if ever witnessed from him. The malice was written all over his face. Foreman barely batted an eyelid.