Two Imposing Heavyweights Who;s Enemy was probably Speed, and Mobility but they did not want for strength or Power, Whilst each could look like a Colossus on Occasion..and a Statue on Others.. Whilst Little but quick Heavy's Like Leon Spinks and Marvis Frazier might have been able Buzz all over them, Like a Bee annoying a Bull, Stand in front of them with your Chin on Offer and you may of paid a heavy Price James's Career was a unpredictable Roller-Coaster, From being Miles Behind to Frank Bruno Then Rescuing the fight in the Last Round, To the One Round Ambush of Mike Weaver There were some good nights, ( The Witherspoon Ambush was more to do with Tim ) Bernardo also had his moments, Surviving an Absolute Bomb from Shavers to come back to Stop Earnie, to the One round Blastout of the Young Berbick So Against the Right type of Opposition two Dangerous Hombres on their Best Night Big and Slow..But Powerful, And Rumbling towards each other, This could of been Billed as " The Day The Girth Stood Still..." So who gets "Gort" with the big Shot and who gets the Ref's "Klaatu Barada Nicto " and their Arm raised.. ??? Bern or Bone ???
When two big hard punching heavyweights with limited movement and limited skill meet, I usually go with the one who had the better chin... In this case that would be James.
both were a bit erratic and did some green things, both could hit, Mercado got up from a Shavers bomb to stop Earnie, Smith would hug if hurt, looks like a ugly fight with lots of hugs and single shots thrown, anyone's fight
I'll go with Mercado here, a little more explosive and probably a higher punch output. But I'm picking it to go the distance, lots of big shot trading early and then a crawl to the finish.
Mr Magoo - Darn it - I thought i had given enough clues with the "Gort" and "The Day the Girth Stood Still.." References.. !
LOL.. I saw that movie in a science fiction film studies class many years ago.. I forgot what that Alien's name was though?
Mercado was very average the moment he started mixing at world class, at least Bonecrusher had his moments. Mercado had a punch, but Smith has a chin and would sooner rather than later get the job done, in possibly an awful fight.
Yeah Smith beat better fighters and hung around longer in his losing efforts to elite men. Mercado's only claim is beating a shot Shavers and an 11 fight Berbick.. And losing to Weaver, Tate and Spinks when they had few fights themselves... Frankly I think this is a no brainer.
Yep. Funny to go ahead and say Smith is the better conditioned guy in there. Not exactly an advantage the bonecrusher is accustomed to having. I tend to think of Mercado as a poor man's Kallie Knoetze. Now there's a good fight. Or Bernardo fighting some other guys in that 79 timeframe---I think Dino Dennis was all wrong for him. Bobick should have went after this guy instead of the Knoetze fight. His workrate would have backed Mercado to the ropes. Maybe He can pull it off. Tate had already stopped him, but what about the other up and comers by 1980 or 81? Dokes. Page. ****ey even. Witherspoon. Coetzee.
