Who would Francesco Damiani have fought Had be beaten Mercer?

In 1991, Francesco Damiani was 27-0 and holding the WBO title. He was around 32 years of age, and fought Ray Mercer on the same card as Morrison vs Tillis and Seldon vs Ribalta. He boxed well for most of nine rounds, until Mercer landed a left uppercut that broke Damiani's nose, ending the contest. Now suppose Damiani had managed to avoid that shot and finished the fight ahead on the cards. Who would he have fought next? What would his placement in the division be? Would he have taken on Morrison, Seldon, Bowe or Lewis? Or would he have continued fighting a few journeyman and veterans until maybe an unexpected offer landed on his door from say Evander Holyfield? He was afterall lined up to be Tyson's replacement for Evander in late 1991, after Tyson was forced to pull out due to his **** charge, but Francesco was injured in training if I recall, and Bert Cooper took his place.

 

You're right. My bad. 20 years has faded my memory. Yeah I suppose Morrison might have been a logical pic for Francesco, but who knows. Although I think a meeting with Lennox Lewis may have been a possibility as well, given that they would have been two Euro fighters coming off of big wins, with Lewis's victory over Mason that spring and Damiani's ( hypothetical ) win over Mercer.

 

Perhaps, and I agree that Damiani certainly could win.. But it was a left hook from Mercer that broke his nose and ended the fight and Mercer was a right handed fighter... Tommy Morrison's best punch was the left hook, and probably had the delivery system to land it more frequently than Mercer who more or less got lucky in my opinion... Still, a good matchup.