Why did Lennox Lewis have so much trouble with Ray Mercer?

Exactly.

 

Mercer was truly hurt by the decision. And to some degree a sigh of relief came across Lennox face when he heard his name called.
Answer was given. A little bit of ring size, plus Mercer's alcohol problem was under control allowing him to shine. Truly one of his best performances if not the best was similar to Holy's 1st great performance at HW: A loss to Bowe.

 

Lewis was also still a work in progress, Mercer was motivated and had an excellent jab, and Lewis may had a bit of an off night, it happens even to the ATGs.

 

If this bout happened today you'd hear how Lewis is an overrated bum because he didn't dominate every second lol.

 

I think Lewis was more than aware of Ray's one punch knockout capability (especially after what had happened to him) and was just a bit too cautious.

To this day it amazes me that was a close fight...Holmes actually did better against Mercer...much.

 

Three reasons:

1. Mercer was a bad man

2. It was a 10 round fight

3. The ring was tiny, therefore negating Lewis's biggest asset which was his long range artillery.

 

The thing with Lewis is that he was not champ at the time. And he did not have the HBO love like they had for their other fighters.

So unlike other heavies around at the time waiting for a title shot, Lewis took on guys like Morrison and Mercer in non title bouts. Those 2 would have been better than some of the guy's getting title shots at the time.

So Lewis signs contracts for these guys. What he does not do is force them to go to England for the fight. Instead he goes into Marc Roberts backyard and takes on Mercer in Jersey. The other factor is Lennox was in a position where he had to impress. To force HBO to give him recognition. So he fought trying to outslug Mercer.

Hardly the Lewis style. I was surprised he wasn't boxing his ears off and jabbing and turning him. Jab and move and have Mercer try to catch him. Mercer has such slow footwork and does so much better with targets right in front of him.

So I think anyway, Lennox going for the ko was the best possible scenario for a Ray Mercer and gave him opportunities. One thing it did show was Lewis having the arsenal and the willingness to go toe to toe. Prior to that it he was looked at as a guy not capable and unwilling to engage in that kind of fight.

 

...and Lewis did show that his chin wasn't a complete loss; he took a shot or three from Mercer flush. Overall though, I think Lewis had a bit of PTSD from his shock-knockout by McCall.

 

I don't think so. That was the Lewis bout against Lionel Butler.

He sure looked tentative in the first round or two in that one. But tentative does not actually mean the guy loses a fight. It means nothing more than giving a round or 2 away is all.

The other thing with that fight is the huge risk Lewis took. He was taking on a DKP fighter with 16 straight ko's. For a WBC title eliminator or something. What other heavies are signing up to fight the King fighter in a WBC fight? Coming in off a loss? The risk factor of that kind of opponent is quite a bit different risk than other fighters were taking or would consider taking.

 

Definitely showed LL wasn't afraid, the man had heart.

 

I have it:

Lewis
Bowe
Holyfield
Mercer
Ibeabuchi
Tyson

An unorthodox list I know

 

Except he turned down a $20 million dollar opportunity to make that rematch. Manny Stewart felt it was too dangerous a fight to gamble on when more lucrative options like the winner of the Holyfield vs Moorer rematch were on the horizon.

 

Lewis thought his power would get to Ray and when you rely on that then you put yourself in a hard fight when the power does not work. Larry used his skills to outbox Ray. Had Lennox used his jab and dropped in the right defensively it would have been different. Although Mercer took more hell in the Lennox fight than the Holmes fight.