Why did Mike Tyson duck Ray Mercer?

[robertzimmerman]

Post prison he signed a huge $$$$ deal w King to feast on scrubs and Holyfield derailed it. Fact is Mike made a fortune from NOT facing all
comers plus he was/is a notorious head case. Having written this, I would’ve loved to have seen him vs Tua, Mercer, Vitali, Vlad, etc and I wouldn’t count him out against them neither. Even in the 90’s, depressed & unmotivated, Mike could fight!

If that was the case, he’d never have fought Evander. Evander was never considered a scrub, even after the trilogy with Bowe.

[robertzimmerman]

One critisc m of Tyson is he avoided iron chin fighters. Even if they only hit as hard as Paul malignaggi. He liked you to fall once he hit you.

Did he purposely avoid them though?

He fought Evander.

Evander was renowned for having a good chin.

[robertzimmerman]

Which means he would have lost to:
Foreman
Mercer
Tua
Vitali
McCall
Ibeabuchi

All of these men have ATG chins, and all of these men were fighting when Tyson was one of the top HW's.

Tyson never dared to face them. They would have taken his shots, survived, dragged him into later rounds and finished him.

He never dared to face them all?

Behave.

[robertzimmerman]

The top 4 in your list possibly would have beat tyson

I think it all depends on when the fights would have taken place. But I think that Vitali would definitely have beaten him.

[2Shotz]

If that was the case, he’d never have fought Evander. Evander was never considered a scrub, even after the trilogy with Bowe.

Evander was considered past prime due to “heart problems” and the prevailing belief at that time was that he was easy work for Tyson. Obviously not the case.

[robertzimmerman]

Evander was considered past prime due to “heart problems” and the prevailing belief at that time was that he was easy work for Tyson. Obviously not the case.

Past prime, sure. Obviously, Mike was a significant favourite. But I don’t agree with the notion that Evander was chosen because they thought that he was completely finished and that it was going to be a walkover.

Mike could have taken easier fights than that.

[CasperUK]

Because he was in prison?

[robertzimmerman]

Because he was in prison?

Bingo.

These guys are forgetting that he was out for over 4 years. His last fight before prison was in June, 1991, and his first fight afterwards was in August, 1995.

By the time he’d fought Bruno, it meant that he hadn’t fought a top 10 HW for almost 5 years.

If you look at the timelines, he can’t be accused of ducking guys like Morrison, Foreman and Bowe.

[CasperUK]

Bingo.

These guys are forgetting that he was out for over 4 years. His last fight before prison was in June, 1991, and his first fight afterwards was in August, 1995.

By the time he’d fought Bruno, it meant that he hadn’t fought a top 10 HW for almost 5 years.

If you look at the timelines, he can’t be accused of ducking guys like Morrison, Foreman and Bowe.

That fact that this thread has gone on for 7 pages and Tyson's prison stint has barely been mentioned shows how clueless some "fans" are

[BangEM]

Because he was in prison?

Seal yer piehole. Prison had nothing to do with it.