Mercer for me. On his best night, not his worst, Ray was a ****in headache. He'd give a headache a headache in fact...
Good fight. Mercer was either very good or absolute garbage. Kabayel is a bit unproven but he is an exceptional body puncher. I could change my mind in the future but Mercer on points if he was on his best night in his prime. I think it would be close though.
exceptional anything punching isn’t relevant against any good version of Mercer. Too durable for anything other than scoring points to matter.
One of those missed potential dudes. At his best, he was a guy who could box quite well, was strong, hit fairly hard, had boldness and composure, was almost impossible to hurt and tougher than old boot leather. If he could have stayed in the form he was when he fought Lewis and iterated on it, man he’d have been a problem for everyone. How do you deal with a guy with good timing and skills, who can throw damaging shots, and walk through all but the biggest bombs in the division like he was being hit by a fluffy pillow? Ok, Zhang and Dubois could keep him honest, but Usyk? Parker? Not a chance. Interesting problem to deal with.
It depends on how Kabayel fights. If Kabayel tries to go forward, i don't think it will work. Mercer has a granite chin and he took the best punches off Morrison and Lewis and still kept attacking. Kabayel doesn't hit as hard as either of those guys. Kabayel's body punching will have some effectiveness but it also leaves him open to Mercer's potent uppercut at close range. The uppercut that broke Damiani's nose was a fight ender - it made it extremely hard for Damiani to breathe. IMO Kabayel will need a mixed strategy - spend majority of the fight jabbing and boxing off the backfoot and making Mercer come to him. Then spend some portion attacking Mercer's body and then backing away again. If Kabayel chooses to fight on the front foot from the start the way he has done in the last 2 fights, i think he will be shocked at Mercer's durability and his power at close range. IMO he will get worn down and stopped. I am leaning towards Mercer by late stoppage or decision. I need to see more from Kabayel - i need to see him vs a guy like Parker before i favour him over Mercer. We are talking best version of Mercer here. Mercer competitive UD 12.
Come back with this question when we know when Kabayel was in his prime. I don't think he is there yet.
Based on the Chisora fight (which was very close), I think Kabayel has his work cut out for him. Mercer will give him all he can handle and will really test that chin and his will to continue fighting in the trenches up close. The biggest x factor is Kabayel's body punching. It's conceivable he slows Mercer down using that, and then using hit and run tactics or flurries to keep Mercer off balance and tire him out more. I think it would be a good fight that could potentially go either way depending on which Mercer shows up and how Kabayel approaches things. I would slightly lean towards Kabayel for now. He has better fundamentals and defense. Mercer has zero convincing decision wins against elite opponents and could be so inconsistent.
The fly in the ointment is the body shots & accuracy of his other punches as well. He'll land 70% against the plodder Mercer. But where it can backfire is because he is so successful at hitting Ray, he stays in offense mode too much. He will hit him w/ the kitchen sink. So when Agit lands, he is in range of Mercer. And that could be just a little too long. I'd like the bout much better if Kabayel would turn him or back away after landing combos. Do not be there for the returns. But he has the habit/style of just continuing to hammer away. Now he does not have to move and punch like Pryor against this guy but just get out of range slightly so that return firepower is negated. That's Mercer's only chance. Basically, I think Mercer gets hammered and hit for like 2:30 of every single round. But he hangs in there. And it just could be the 5 second flurries/efforts from Mercer does the damage. An Interesting bout and a classic monday morning type result. And so much depends on Mercer's conditioning and pre fight preperations. Sure is not an issue with the other corner.
