Prime Ray Mercer vs Prime Alexander Povetkin

I am going to go with Mercer here.

Both guys were the "best of the rest" in their respective era's, but Mercer was taking the greats to the edge of disaster.

People talk about guys like Ibeabuchi and Tua as guys who might have been king in another era, but Mercer really is a guy who was unlucky to share an era with a couple of key people.

 

I hear you... but dont just remember the Lewis fight. There was the Ferguson fight also...

 

And the Holmes fight.

 

You might factor in the Holyfield fight, just to be fair!

 

Mercer's loss to Jesse Ferguson had all kinds of controversy and fishy stuff swimming around in it.. Apparently Mercer had allegedly injured his shoulder prior to fighting Ferguson, but kept it quiet. His trainers advised him not to go through with the fight but his manager didn't want see a May meeting with champion Rid**** Bowe go out the window. They took the fight and Ray looked lackluster. During the fight, cameras caught Mercer whispering something into Ferguson's ear. Afterward Jesse clarified what it was.. Apparently Ray had offered Ferguson money if he threw the fight...

 

I'm surprised to see 6 voters have Mercer by stoppage and one has Povetkin by stoppage.

Regardless of who you favor, I don't see a better than 1 in 4 chance this ends inside the distance.

 

Thats all true lol !!
He shouted fergusson like ten times to threw the fight.and jesse got the title fight

 

Yep. I remember watching the recap of it on ESPN with Al Bernstein and Barry Thompkins back in 93'. Footage was shown of Mercer whispering in Jessie's ear and an interview with one of Ray's people confirmed that his shoulder was injured prior to the bout. Both Thompkins and Bernstein concurred how foolish Mercer was for going through with that fight knowing that he was handicapped going in....

 

Unfortunately Jesse got the title shot against Bowe, and it what became the most FORGETTABLE heavyweight title fight in history, got blasted out inside of 6 minutes:tired..

Mercer i may add comfortably won the rematch against Jesse a year later...

 

I never saw either of Mercer's fights with Ferguson.. Only the ESPN recap of what happened and some footage of the first one. Never knew anything about the rematch until I saw it on boxrec years later and that reads as a split decision. But yes, giving "the boogyman" a title shot should have been a tax deductible charity donation, because there's noway Ferguson had any business in the ring with the champ.

 

Who you are? Aren't you that guy that lost an account bet to me because you can't evaluate talent or pick fights? You are going to try to tell me something about boxing? Bet welching ***.

:hi:

 

Actually no. It was close and very hard won. The announcers had it 5-5, which is actually fair.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEBBJAc_qB8[/url]

I think Mercer just matched up well against Lewis and Holyfield on the nights he fought them, perhaps making him look better than he really was.

 

The second fight is on youtube, I just posted a link. I had it as a draw. Very close fight.

 

This is quality.

 

One I first saw this thread, I immediately thought of Ray as the winner for some reason, but the more I think about it, if I had to pick a winner it would be AP.

I think he has the better skills and can outpoint RM.