Who was the better heavyweight : Michael Moorer or Ray Mercer ?

At the time of his first retirement Moorer had 1 unavenged loss at HW he was winning on the cards and got caught in.

Moorer is the best LHW/HW combo fighter of the last 70 years.

 

Moorer was better and accomplished more, but would be useless against a guy like Sanders or Tua (actually happened), whereas Merced would at least be competitive.

 

Moorer was better/more skilled but I wouldn't count out Mercer head to head. Both had excellent jabs and and tons of heart. Mercer had the better chin for sure but Moorer was a great combination puncher. I was a big fan of both but I like Moorer more.

 

Moorer probably achieved more but Mercer was a more dangerous fighter . At his best he is a dangerous fight for any HW .

 

Moorer is better technically but his chin has to factor in here as it would cause him to lose to guys that Mercer likely wouldn't. (ie Tua)

I'd also favor Mercer H2H on most nights.

 

Depends what you mean. Neither are what they are made out to be, with Moorer having the better legacy, and Mercer doing the better actual work.

Many people cite Mercer as some sort of elite figure because he almost killed Tommy Morrison, he had a cracking fight with Bert Cooper, and the many felt me should have beat Lewis. Morrison and Cooper were less than elite, to be fair, and Lewis...well...he officially got the decision. They conveniently forget that Mercer lost to Jesse Ferguson, lost to post-40 Holmes, got only a split against Ossie Ocossio, and got a gift himself against Tim Witherspoon. Wasn't that good. A flat-footed stalker who plodded forward, and could do damage if he got you pinned. What made it work was the iron chin.

There is no way to make Moorer anything other than a guy who was in the right place at the right time. Moorer's legacy at heavy is Holyfield, period. Holy had a heart attack in the fight, and still probably really deserved the win. Moorer didn't even hit that hard at heavy. He had respectable power, the faux-southpaw stance, and someone pointed out to me that he had a nice punch selection, and I'll give him credit for that. His chin was AWFUL, which is why outside of Holy, his best wins were Schulz, Botha, Stewart, and Cooper, and a washed Bonecrusher Smith.

Neither guy is really a special fighter, and I think in a head-to-head, it probably plays similar to the Foreman fight, with Mercer coming from behind with one punch. But with all the asterix-es, Moorer will always be the guy who sort-of beat Holyfield, and Lewis will always be the guy who sort-of lost to Lewis.

Moorer for legacy, Mercer for performance, and neither by a country mile, or anything.

 

Moorer would probably be KO'ed by Lewis in the middle rounds.

But then Moorer was more consistent in regards to beating B and C class type Heavyweights. Where as Mercer could have bad performances vs the likes of Ferguson, Wilson.

Both fought a Holyfield who was on a run of bad form although I think Holyfield was better against Mercer but Mercer still lost where as Moorer won.

I don't think there's alot between them but I prefer Moorer's consistency even if the opposition wasn't amazing at Heavyweight. But Moorer has the big win over Holyfield and made a few title defences which gives him the edge.

 

Hi Buddy.
Excellent post and breakdown of the fighters attributes and failings, thank you.
stay safe , chat soon.
Mike.

 

Not sure I agree with your last comment. I believe Spinks would have stopped Moorer at Light Heavy, and would have likely outpointed Moorer at Heavy.

And, in regards to the original post: Although I can see arguments both ways legacy wise, I am quite confident that the best version of Mercer would have stopped Moorer head to head.

 

You have saved me some time there. History will probably be kinder to Moorer, but Mercer on his night was a proper handful. The best Mercer beats the best Moorer, but Moorer achieved more, certainly in a logical binary way.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel confident betting on either one. One thing that Moorer did well was take away the jab from a conventional fighter. I could see Mercer struggling to mount a effective offense but then again, Moorer could get lazy which could spell disaster against a banger like Mercer.

If it goes 12, I like Moorer for sure. I don't think Moorer could stop the iron chinned Mercer but Mercer for sure had the power to get Moorer out of there. 50/50 fight too me.