Ken Norton vs. Ray Mercer

Well H2H I assume both are at there best?Mercer at his best should k.o Norton and do it sooner than later.

 

Weight is weight!Muscle don't necessarily mean in better shape or the harder hitter.Would you argue 260 foreman hits less than 220 foreman?
The argument isn't who was more dedicated,its who wins at their very best like all threads are about.

 

But it's not. 20 pounds is not a huge difference at heavyweight. Tons and tons of heavies have won fights at a greater weight disadvantage than that.

 

Then let's leave it at that, shall we?

 

20 pounds is big differance when you are fighting guys over 215.Being Heavyweight doersnt matter,the truth is there should be a super heavy weight division for that reason of the smaller 220 minus fighters who aren't even ranked today in a top spot.

Tons of HW's have not beat giants of 220 plus pounds on average..the sole exception to this rule was Tyson that's about it.but like the other thread he wasn't small he was compact and had power.A good 220 pounder didn't even exist really until the 70's era.

Off topic but im not sure what the record is but the wlad vs fury fight may have a recored for championship fight of size combined?

 

If we were to take Ken Norton at his best vs Mercer at his best, then it would probably be the Mercer of the Morrison fight where he weighed 225 and the Norton of the first Ali fight when he weighed 210. That's a fifteen pound difference, and frankly I don't think it does much for Mercer. Ken was always in much better shape than Ray.. There wasn't an ounce of padding on that frame. He was a sculpted statue. He also had the height and reach advantage and was a much better boxer. Ray would have given him some trouble no doubt and rocked him periodically with some of those big right hands. But frankly I never thought much of Mercer as a finisher. He was also slow, limited in skill and sometimes outright lazy in the ring.. If a 37 year old diminished Ken Norton could outpoint Randall Cobb, then I am quite confident that a prime Norton could do the same to Mercer.. And frankly I think that's a lot like what this fight would look like and regardless if Mercer was 225, 235, 245, 255, or whatever....

 

I think ****ey"s KO of Norton and Mercers KO of Morrison is eerily similar. While I do like both guys, I think Mercer gets outworked by Ken for a few minutes before KOing Kenny in the same fashion as he did Morrison.

 

Exactly!

 

Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Ken's the better boxer, but I wouldn't bet on this fight with anyone's money because of his tendency to freeze against punchers once they landed.

That said, generally speaking, Mercer tends to get a little too much mileage off of losing efforts for my liking. If we see the final bell, it's going to be a Norton UD.

It's worth noting that Mercer never outpointed a top 10 heavy. The couple he scored come from behind KO's against, he was losing on the cards. The best boxing performance he had was the fight against Lewis that I'd scored a draw. That's a double edged sword for this one- it means that it didn't take a master to outbox him, but he didn't get discouraged enough to pack it in against better fighters and could come from behind with a KO.

 

It's also worth mentioning that Norton was the much more consistent fighter. These threads aren't designed to credit that quality, but in a real life scenario, it's more likely Norton would arrive at his best.

 

I agree.. I have serious reservations on betting on a man who could beat Tommy Morrison one night then lose to someone like Ferguson on another or draw with Marion Wilson.

 

And I would have even less on one knowing if he gets tagged even once he has the riskof going down!somewhere down the line Mercer is going to connect and you may want to look at his k.o percentage,he didn't exactly hit like a pillow,he was actually bigger than 70's Foreman with less height but more brains...much more!

 

You do realize that there's more than sheer weight and power when it comes to punching, right?

Accuracy, hand speed, lateral movement, technique and overall delivery need to be consdiered.

 

you do realize Mercer had that over Norton right?