Ray Mercer top 5 wins

Rating by quality of opponent and partially quality of win.

1. Francesco Damiani - Best fighter he won against, but the win is questionable. Wouldn't favor Mercer to win over him that often.
2. Bert Cooper - Cooper was at his very best for this fight, was able to break Ray's jaw, but couldn't keep Mercer off of him. Very good decision win, and that right hand flooring in the first was BEAUTIFUL.
3. Tommy Morrison - Tommy was up and coming and undefeated, was outboxing Mercer for a bit, but when he gassed out... Ray pounced.
4. Jesse Ferguson II - One of the better names on his record, and a showcase of what he should've done the FIRST time.
5. Ossie Ocasio - Good win at the beginning of his career and at the end of Ocasio's. Jaws still looked good here and in the rest of his late fights (he was able to decision Pierre Coetzer a bit before this, was able to rock a green Lennox Lewis).

I don't count the Witherspoon win for Mercer cause that fight was a pretty cut and dry robbery.

 

I only call it questionable due to it being an odd case, it wasn't as if Mercer punched him and he was out cold from something like that. KOs coming from behind aren't questionable to me typically, it's just that Damiani seemed to have a specific issue with his nose. Still a fair and square win for Ray, though.

And yes, the Witherspoon - Mercer affair is quite contested... And a damn good fight, too.

 

I’d put Damiani above Morrison. Witherspoon has to be third and it really doesn’t matter after that.

 

Somewhat weak for all the praise Ray receives. Cooper, Ferguson, Damiani, and a disputed win over a 40ish Witherspoon.

 

Povetkin’s win resume is much stronger. It’s true Ray’s reputation is mostly built on his two exciting losses to Holyfield and the debatable one to Lewis.

 

I don't think it's a robbery I watched it recently and scored it a draw.

Witherspoon was the one that actually stunned Mercer a few times and was getting the better of him when they traded punches. So Mercer was forced to become the boxer in the later rounds using his underrated jab.

I do think though that Witherspoon had a better argument to winning the fight than Mercer did and I think it would be a stretch to have Mercer winning 6 rounds.

As for the thread

1. Morrison
2. Damiani
3. Witherspoon
4. Cooper
5. Ferguson 2

I rank Witherspoon lower due to the controversy of the decision.

 

Mercer hit him with an uppercut on the tip of nose and shattered it.

It's pretty clear cut nothing really unusual about it.

 

Povetkin has a lot more depth outside of the top 2, which is competitive.

 

Losing cause your nose shattered, specifically by way of uppercut, is pretty unusual. It's like losing cause you hurt your leg in the ring.

 

No it isn't.

Tyson did the same thing to Ferguson.

 

It's not typical. It's unusual. You see it happen less often than you do a standard stoppage win, or a win on cuts, or a decision. You listing one other instance of it does not make it commonplace.