He fights Hopkins to a draw and is still the only man to put him down and twice at that. After Hopkins beat him in the rematch he only won 1 out of his next 9 fights. What happened to him? I mean he must of had something going for him at some point considering how well he did against Hopkins in their first fight. What do any of you know about him? :think
good thread. I've never seen the fight and would also like to know how did mercado manage to drop the best defensive fighter in the world twice?
It was at high elevations and Hopkins just didn't adjust to it as well and had trouble with stamina. Hopkins beat him up in normal elevations.
He was shot pretty early. Frankie Liles went to Ecuador to fight him and told me he didn't have much. He now works in Ventura County, CA as a boxing coach
Mercando was a good contender, but like others said, he faded out pretty fast. A decent fighter with good power, not really spectacular in any facet of the game as I recall, but pretty solid in most of 'em, as I recall.
don't underestimate the effect the altitude of Quito has on those not accustomed to it. There's a reason FIFA were recently looking to ban football matches from being played at above 2500 metres. Mercado was a journeyman level fighter, nothing more. As soon as he started fighting on a level playing field he got his ass handed to him. He was just another handpicked guy on Hopkins' record.
