Could he earn his respect, keep the fight low volume and take it? Or would Mercer make him work regardless, tire him and just catch up with him later anyway? He was beating him to the punch, and had even landed several clean punches. Who wins this matchup?
Mercer was quicker and more agressive than the plodding Foreman, besides, Morrison v Mercer wasn`t an important fight at the time, it was just for the WBO belt, I don`t think the fight did good TV ratings, Tommy was just starting out and gaining a bit of traction and Mercer was pretty crude in the early 90`s.
It was a pay per view fight that a lot of boxing fans cared about. Many thought Morrison would win. And the winner would have been right within challenging position for a title shot
Foreman was just slow and old, it wasn’t boxing it was running. Few times I’ll say ever say that, but it got him the win, it wouldn’t work on Mercer who wasn’t a glacier with boxing gloves… Morrison was meant to be a guy who would’ve ran straight into Foreman and shattered but he flipped the script.
Old Foreman had feet of concrete so Tommy could get away with turning his back and running sloppily away. Mercer would zero in on that retreating Morrison and bomb him into Bolivian.
I think Morrison could win a decision. He messed up by trying to blast out one of the best chins in boxing and not only blew his wad but blew his chances when Mercer showed that he had power as well as a chin. Tommy had better skills than Mercer and Mercer never really had the best workrate. Mercer's 'pressure' usually consisted of plodding forward in the hopes to lure the other guy into an exchange. If Tommy had taken his time he could have picked his spots and taken a rest as needed too. Instead he fought Mercer's fight and paid the price.
Mercer was a vulture with Morrison. He waited for the moment Morrison was a little bit tired and not able to counter him to put him in the corner and start to bomb him.
