1993-02-06 : Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY, USA : This content is protected lost to This content is protected by UD in round 10 of 10 Mercer had been promised a title shot against Riddick Bowe and a guaranteed 1.5 million dollar payday if he beat Ferguson. However, things didnt go his way and Mercer was completely outboxed in this fight. Mercer repeatedly offered Ferguson a 100,000 dollar bribe to go down both before and during the bout which Ferguson refused according to his testimony under oath in court.This bout led to charges of sports bribery being filed against Ray Mercer by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. This content is protected Retrieved from " This content is protected "
Ray Mercer was always a badass. A great fighter lost in the 90's...he really was today's George Chuvalo...with bribes.
Mercer's confidence really got hit hard after he lost to Holmes. He put on a lot of weight, had problems sweating it off for fights, and apparently had a bit of a substance abuse problem around that time as well. The Ferguson I and the godawful draw against Marion Wilson must be the lowlights of Mercer's career. He had awful problems with Ferguson in the rematch mind you, even in better shape. The Marion Wilson draw was his 'wake-up' call and he rededicated himself, resulting in giving Holyfield and Lewis hell and beating a comebacking Witherspoon. And then he got struck down with a hepatitis infection, only fought once in the next 3 years, and was never quite the same again. No luck for Ray.
Mercer is always been very overrated...his never be top class puncher and his outboxed by many opponents.
atsch All I think about when I hear Ray Mercer now is him getting his ass kicked in a MMA fight against a internet street brawler... Goddamnit Ray
In his prime he only lost to Ferguson and old Holmes. And also to Holyfield. His fight against Lewis was damn close. He was already old when Wlad beat the **** outta him, and was a corpse when he fought Briggs.
Mercer's two best efforts were losing efforts against Lewis and Holy. He was very inconsistent and his dedication and work ethic left something to be desired, which cost him throughout his career. As for Ferguson, he was a decent fighter at one point. Not great, but decent, and he usually only lost against top-rated contenders.
That's Mercer in a nutshell. He look great one fight, and be out of shape and unmotivated in the next. From what I understand, the guy didn't particularly like to train, which accounted for some of the **** poor performances he turned in like the Fergusson fight. It's unfortunate, because if Mercer had dedicated himself to his career, he might have been right up there with Holyfield, Tyson, Lewis and Bowe. As it was, even with his lack of dedication, he had a decent career.
Kenny Adams (who helped the olympians prepare for Seoul Korea and LA) told me that Ray was actually a *****, an absolute wuss as he put it, He said when he came back from the Olympics and set himself to turn pro Kenny tried everything to toughen him up, he threw him at every hard sparring partner that he had within reason, he had no savvy and turned away from tough confrontation. Ray went away for 8 months for something, i think he went travelling or something as he put it get his **** together. When he returned Kenny could not beleive it , he said Ray was like a different person, he never questioned a thing in the gym and never even flinched when hit with devastating shots.. Ray as Kenny put it did some soul searching and came back like a hungry wolf. Kenny always likes that tale, Ray could be a terror like the guy who faced Lennox in NYC. But on an off day (like Damiani ,Ferguson, Holmes) he could be medeocre at best. The most savage affare i saw Ray in was the Bert Cooper fight.. WTF.. Kenny said the only reason that Ray wanted to win the side bet in Seoul was because he didn't like pressure, he liked to scrap and tear his way through a short KO win.. The sidebet was "Something the team captain Ray came up with in the games where the man who could hold the longest KO streak in the USA team won the bet.." Ray himself actually won it by stopping all of his opponents..
Fergusen had more than peole realize, too. He also beat Buster Douglas, should ahve got decisons against Dokes and Holmes, and late in his career, lit up Sampson Pa'hua. Jesse is my all time favoite clubfighter, along with Bert Cooper. He could have had a great carreer, but early on ran into a human wrecking ball named Mike Tyson.
