Ray Mercer vs Kubrat Pulev primes

That's not really accurate. He got a fight with Joshua in 2017, based on a single decent win - after loss to Wlad - over Chisora. He just got injured and then had to go back in line. He was never considered particulary risky on championship level, rather He was not that commercially appealing.
Mercer got more high profile fights since He was American Olympic Gold Medalist. In practice He also proved more risky for elite opponents.

 

Not true. “ On 7 June 2017, the IBF granted Joshua an exception for him to rematch Klitschko instead of fighting mandatory challenger Pulev.” Pulev injured his shoulder in training for this fight and Hearn managed to never reschedule it after already making him wait.

Pulev eventually beat Hughie in an eliminator to force the fight and Joshua finally fought him in 2020. Breazeale , Miller and Whyte both avoided that eliminator. Like I said, nobody wanted to fight him.

it’s all on Wikipedia.

 

So what's not true?
I remember some talks about Klitschko rematch - it was a major fight and then it delivered in terms of action, so it makes sense They would prioritise it over mandatory defence against less marketable opponent. When Klitschko retired, Joshua signed to fight Pulev without any hesitation.
I don't remember anyone picking Pulev, it was looked at as pretty ordinary title defence against respectable, but not particulary dangerous contender. Something to deal with and get out of the way before moving over to bigger fights.

I don't remember the story with second eliminator. I guess nobody wanted to travel to Bulgaria or Germany, but in general it's not uncommon for IBF to struggle to convince top fighters to take part in their eliminators. There was something similar at welterweight division when Kell Brook was the champion. They went down the lists with Devon Alexander, Shawn Porter, Tim Bradley and some more, with everyone refusing to participate - before They had to settle for Jo-Jo Dan and some other Canadian to fight for mandatory position. Promotional issues, other career plans etc.

 

I’m saying he was avoided after Wlad. Just read the Wiki entry. Joshua/Hearn got out of a match with him and Breazeale, Whyte, and Miller avoided eliminatiors with him. The end result was that he beat Hughie in an eliminator and was past it for the Joshua fight. And of course he wasn’t on the radar of Povetkin or Wilder.

 

Joshua signed to fight him twice, so taking about him avoiding Pulev is not serious. When Kubrat pulled out, Josh just moved to bigger and more lucrative fights. Everyone He fought after the Pulev fight originally fell through - and before the fight eventually happend, was considered more dangerous and appealing by the public. Probably even Andy first time around, although He was late replacement anyway.
So We just get 3 fighters turning down eliminator with Pulev on one occasion:
- One was Breazeale, who was with PBC and We know their philosophy at the time. Everything stays in house.
- Second was Whyte, who took bigger fight with Parker at home instead - after his promoter lost the purse bid. Parker fight was on PPV if I'm not mistaken.
- Third was Jarrell Miller.

So that's how much He was avoided. Some contenders chosed not to travel to fight him. Hardly a Jack Johnson story.
I wasn't following Mercer's career in real-time, so I don't know about what kind of opponents turned him down over the years - but it's certainly strange that He only got another major fight 6 years after many people thought He beat Lennox.

 

In a fantasy best versus best scenario, I'd favour Mercer.

Had their careers and respective primes aligned, then in reality I'd probably give Pulev at least a 50% chance of winning. Mercer was pretty damn inconsistent, even during his prime years.

 

Mercer is better in everything, Pulev with his pillow fists and KO ratio worse than fighters in the lowest divisions has nothing to ask for against Mercer...

 

I like Pulev in this. Decision of course.

I cannot picture Mercer doing anything other than half-assed condition for this guy. He'd watch tapes and would not be impressed whatsover. Then good luck getting Ray to do roadwork. Or doing a lot of sparring or pre-fight preperations. And he goes in w/ one of those flat efforts of his against the 2nd tier opponents and comes out with the L.