I would because: 1) I wanted to see what Lewis could have accomplished in a 12 rounds bout, with Steward around, against Mercer in order to remove any doubt about who was the better fighter, maybe KOing him in the process. 2) I wanted to see Mercer takin' the fight more seriously and gettin' out that dawg in him, presentin' himself at least in shape for the fight. In their actual match he was plump or sumthing iirc, never understood why blud was so inconsistent.
Lewis would never KO Mercer - neither in 12 rounds fight, nor in 120 rounds fight. Lewis landed everything and kitchen sink on him in the first fight and Mercer barely flinched. I actually think Mercer took far more clean punches from Lewis than Oliver McCall did. Far more. Dude just had an ATG chin. I think that if Mercer and Lewis fought in 12 rounds fight lets say one year after their actual fight, Lewis would win more convincingly than he did in 1996. Lewis was in his prime and Mercer was getting older. Plus Lewis would likely command bigger ring the second time around which would enable him to use his legs more. I'd expect him to win by 116-112, 116-112, 115-113 UD in the rematch. But Mercer's jab would always give him a lot of problems
Absolutely. Great fights like that deserve rematches. I could see that one having been scored for Mercer. Or a draw.
I would've rather of seen Witherspoon get a shot at Lewis instead quite alot of people thought Witherspoon beat Mercer and he had a dangerous overhand right which Lewis could be vulnerable to.
Yes absolutely. Would have been interesting to see how Lewis goes in to a rematch knowing how tough a fight Mercer gave him.
Yes and no. It should have happened due to how close it was but I think Lewis probably takes a wide UD in a much less exciting fight.
Yes and no. Would like to see Lennox win more decisevely the second time around, but it would be awful not have to argue against "Lennox wasn't that good since he done worse against Mercer than washed up Holmes". Rematch not happening made a history of boxing more interesting and greyish.
A saying that comes to mind is to not mud wrestle a pig because you'll get dirty and the pig will enjoy it. Don't get into a war with a durable guy who loves a war. He made the same mistake with Holyfield.
The Lewis after the Mercer fight was when he suddenly improved a lot, he had nearly a year out and came back and fought McCall in the rematch, he was way more balanced, better at range and decision making, I feel like the rematch would’ve been less entertaining from a fan perspective when you take that into account, Lewis would’ve boxed his way to a decision and Mercer may even go into survival mode due to his neck injury that he never recovered from.
Me too, not a good fight rematch for Lenny, He would win again, but a hard fight and he would know it. Even for Lennox being and atg and top 5 heavies ever for me. Mercer is one mean MF
