I like this one, but it’s like a big awkward box that you can’t really get a grip on. This isn’t heavy lifting, but it’s cumbersome. Why? Because Joey Bugs never really fought a strong, rugged right-hand puncher with stature like the big Colombian Mercado, and Bernardo never faced a tall boxer with fancy footwork quite like Bugner. Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers roughed Bugner up, but were more pressure fighters (with a wicked hook in one case and an atomic right in the other). Likewise, scrappy Leon Spinks put his head on Bernardo’s chest and wore him down, while guys like Mike Weaver and John Tate outslugged him … something even the best Hungarian Oak wasn’t wont (nor, probably, able) to do. So it’s two sturdy 6-foot-4 guys with different approaches. I’m going to venture into the dark here and say Mercado is more game, more able to make it a slog than Joe is able to turn it into a game of tag, and say Bernie is more active and lands a few telling rights to get the attention of the judges and wins a decision. (Man, I would so love to see more film of Mercado … vs Randall Cobb, Weaver and Henry Clark, for instance. Best as I can tell, all that’s out there is Leon and Shavers.)
It's a bit hard to know when Mercado was at his peak. I suppose it's a one year period when he handed a young Trevor Berbick his first loss as well as defeating an older Earnie Shavers. I think the 1973-1974 Bugner, who went the distance with Ali and Frazier and followed that up with wins over Jose Luis Garcia, Mac Foster and Jimmy Ellis, would have just been too good for the Colombian brawler. I'll go with Bugner by comfortable decision.
