Larry Holmes and Lennox Lewis

@Robbi @Totentanz. This is how i had Lewis vs Mercer.


Lennox Lewis vs Ray Mercer

1 Mercer
2 Lewis
3 Mercer
4 Lewis
5 Mercer
6 Mercer
7 Lewis
8 Lewis
9 Mercer
10 Lewis

95-95 Draw

Me and Harold Lederman had the exact same score but we scored certain rounds differently. That just tells you how many swing rounds their were in this fight. The only round that left me scratching my head was the 4th round ? in which Lederman scored for Mercer ? it was a very memorable round and Mercer did have his moments but i thought Lewis won that round pretty clearly so i was surprised Lederman had that round for Mercer.

What's funny about this fight is that it's the exact opposite of what you'd expect. You would expect Lewis to be having success with the jab, and Mercer would have to pull it out with power punches. But actually it was the other way around, Mercer was very accurate with his jab and actually out jabbed Lewis, where as Lewis was the one that had to pull it out with power punches especially the uppercut which was always an eye catching punch for him.

Overall this fight was razor thin close and i think 6-4 either way or a draw would of been fair result it would've been nice had it been 12 rounds or seeing a rematch.

 

I agree with you, but I don't think a rematch would've been a smart move. Mercer was on a quick decline after this match, just look at how easily a past prime Witherspoon outworks him (Before getting completely robbed). Past that he mostly fought club level guys apart from his KOs to Klitschko and Briggs (Which don't mean much, since he was far past his prime at this point. He does credit Wlad to be the strongest puncher he faced, though).

 

Holyfield didn't look much better at 37 than Norton did at 35. Holyfield should lose the next fight against John Ruiz about the same as against Lennox Lewis: 115-113. Prime Lewis' greatest victory was against a big name but not against a great boxer. Lennox has never won a fight this good and at this level.

 

Holmes, clearly

 

Holy's chin still looked stout heading into the Lewis fights (& would continue to be for some time afterward), whereas Norton's looked very shaky in the later rounds vs. Young. Holy was also coming off a string of decisive wins (including the Bean fight), whereas Norton arguably could've/should've lost to Young. In general, Norton faded very fast & quite visibly w/ each successive fight after Ali 3.

 

I think that's an extremely big claim, I mean, Ibeabuchi, Vitali, Golota, do you really think he'd win against these guys in the horrible shape he was in? In addition to that, outboxing Valuev is a good feat on paper, but Valuev was not an impressive champion, and it definitely doesn't showcase Holyfield as even close to Holmes or Lewis while past his prime.
Holmes beat Mercer and Ferguson.
Lewis stopped Vitali on cuts.
And Holyfield outboxed one of the worst champs of all time.
Not all too impressive.

 

I think, for the most part, Holmes never struggled with Norton at all. Perhaps the official scorecards are you safety net but Norton was given extra by the judges for simply coming forward as the aggressor.

Holmes boxed his ears off for most of the first 10 rounds.

That was a 10-5/9-6 type of fight.

 

While I would agree with that score overall there were some close rounds and it was a competitive fight and I have seen some people in the forms score it for Norton.

 

When i watched it years ago without scoring it RBR i thought Holmes won it fairly clearly, but when i rewatched it and done a RBR scorecard i had it very close. Holmes controlled the early rounds with his jab but Norton comeback strong in the later rounds.

Larry Holmes vs Ken Norton

1 Holmes
2 Holmes
3 Holmes
4 Holmes
5 Holmes
6 Holmes
7 Norton
8 Norton
9 Holmes
10 Norton
11 Norton
12 Norton
13 Holmes
14 Norton
15 Norton

143-142 Holmes

 

I've always scored the fight 8-7 in rounds for Holmes & felt most of the rounds were clear-cut for either one fighter or another. Where I thought the judges screwed up is,
1. All 3 had it even entering the last round (I had Holmes slightly ahead).
2. 2 out of 3 gave the last round to Holmes, whereas I felt Norton won it (but still fell short of Holmes' early lead on my card).

 

There is no question they are scoring it for Norton based on him coming forward—extra points for ineffective aggression.

 

Lewis got his ass beat round after round and then got a lucky cut, and you think that he beat Vitali to a pulp? You are crazy.