Ray Mercer? what could and might have been

[billeau2]

So first, lets suppose you wake up in a parallel universe somewhere.... You go grab your cup of....Tea? what the heck?! go to kiss the wife....What? I married her!? Knowing what happened with your sense of adventure and inquisitive nature, you check into the Boxing History section where Alex is the most knowleagable poster along with his wellspring Tommo (I said alternate universe!) you come to find out the following:

Ray Mercer got the nod in that fight with Lewis (which many of us think he won) and just to make it interesting he beat Holmes....

Is Mercer an ATG? The guy was good we all know that. I mean calling Mercer a gate keeper seems a bit disingeniune.... And more to the point, it seems that he was a few victories, breaks away from being really really good.

How good was Ray? man of the Iron Chin and renaissance combat skill (MMA, KickBoxing,etc).

[titanium]

Mercer would have done better against todays lot. But wasn't he lazy in preparing for fights and not always in the best shape?

[Scott9945]

Any clever boxer would always be hell for Mercer. He got his ears boxed off by ancient Larry Holmes and journeyman Jesse Ferguson and falls far short of greatness.

[Sugarj]

He certainly had a good amateur pedigree. But his problems came threefold:

1) He could be outboxed by the best boxers
2) He could be outfought by the best fighters
3) He had motivation issues and was prone to turning up for fights in less than perfect condition

[rightsideup]

He certainly had a good amateur pedigree. But his problems came threefold:

1) He could be outboxed by the best boxers
2) He could be outfought by the best fighters
3) He had motivation issues and was prone to turning up for fights in less than perfect condition

correct me if I am wrong but did Ray make the 200 amateur limit at an advanced age in the Olympics?

[Sugarj]

correct me if I am wrong but did Ray make the 200 amateur limit at an advanced age in the Olympics?

I'm not sure. He did take gold in Seoul when he would have been in his late 20s.

[billeau2]

Mercer had other problems:

He never had a really solid area where he was superb. He could do a lot of things well, very well in fact.

Was he sort of a child of circumstance? I mean he sort of came around just at the apogee of the division... Thing is he almost managed to beat Lewis in so doing, no small feat!

It intrigues me that with a few more victories though....Like a lot of guys but more so with Mercer.