Why did Mike Tyson duck Ray Mercer?

[robertzimmerman]

So Tyson fans don't believe he ducked opponents in the 90s. Lets look a little deeper into his 90s record. He went 9-3.

He lost to Douglas and Holyfield. The only other good fighters(debatable btw) he faced were Ruddock, Bruno and in 2000 against Golota which was a NC. Only the latter 2 were after prison, when Don King clearly paved an easy road for Tyson even with the Holyfield fights which they only accepted because they thought Evander was way past it and an easy win.

Looking at all the scrubs he faced inbetween you're gonna say he couldn't have faced Tua, Ike, Bowe, Wlad & Vitali, Mercer, Byrd, Foreman, Moorer? Who were all good/great fighters, all held a title at some point and almost all of them were a bad stylistic matchup for him.

But Mike was instead content with taking out scrubs like Savarese, Francis, Nielsen, Norris, Botha etc. Good lord.

Tyson was the biggest name in boxing, everybody wanted to fight him plus this was after Douglas and Holyfield ruined his aura. It wasn't a coincidence. Tyson ducked dangerous opponents. He faced a bunch of scrubs(save Golota who was a known mental case) to get a title shot against the undisputed HW champion FFS.

It was already well known that Tyson ducked a young prime Holyfield and an old Foreman and later Lewis. Why not more? Because the 90s were filled with dangerous HW boxers and Tyson was insecure in and out of the ring.

You are being way too harsh here.

His 3 year exodus was huge with regards to who he missed.

In the late 90’s-early 00’s, yes, he was definitely steered away from the top fighters in order to cash out against Lennox. There’s no doubt about that. There’s a reason he fought guys like Julius Francis.

Yes, in the 90’s, he missed lots of guys. But most of the timelines didn’t match up. Again, his 3 year absence was huge. Upon his release, he was then built back up into title contention before fighting Evander. The fight with Evander should have happened in 1991.

If Mike hadn’t have gone to prison, then I’m sure he’d have fought most of those guys. Likewise, if he’d have beaten Evander in 1996 and 1997, I’m sure we’d have seen the Lewis fight earlier amongst others.

You can’t hold it against him for missing guys like Foreman and Bowe when he fought Evander twice, before both of them went on to retire shortly afterwards.

[BKM-]

Mercer, Tua and Vitali could all have beaten him. I’m certain that Vitali would have beaten him. But it’s ridiculous to criticise him for missing lots of guys when he was in prison for 3 years and he fought Evander twice before fighting Lennox. Those 2 were the best opponents of the era.

You're speaking nonsense and missing a lot of information. I will just repeat the post I made earlier in this thread. Try to learn if you can:

So Tyson fans don't believe he ducked opponents in the 90s. Lets look a little deeper into his 90s record. He went 9-3.

He lost to Douglas and Holyfield. The only other good fighters(debatable btw) he faced were Ruddock, Bruno and in 2000 against Golota which was a NC. Only the latter 2 were after prison, when Don King clearly paved an easy road for Tyson even with the Holyfield fights which they only accepted because they thought Evander was way past it and an easy win.

Looking at all the scrubs he faced inbetween you're gonna say he couldn't have faced Tua, Ike, Bowe, Wlad & Vitali, Mercer, Byrd, Foreman, Moorer? Who were all good/great fighters, all held a title at some point and almost all of them were a bad stylistic matchup for him.

But Mike was instead content with taking out scrubs like Savarese, Francis, Nielsen, Seldon, Mathis Jr, Norris, Botha etc. Good lord.

Tyson was the biggest name in boxing, everybody wanted to fight him plus this was after Douglas and Holyfield ruined his aura. It wasn't a coincidence. Tyson ducked dangerous opponents. He faced a bunch of scrubs(save Golota who was a known mental case) to get a title shot against the undisputed HW champion FFS.

It was already well known that Tyson ducked a young prime Holyfield and an old Foreman and later Lewis. Why not more? Because the 90s were filled with dangerous HW boxers and Tyson was insecure in and out of the ring.

[robertzimmerman]

So you are trashing Tyson for not fighting Mercer,Moorer,Cooper,Tau and Morrison. That's 5 guys he supposedly ducked FFS. How do you know he ducked Mercer? Maybe Mercer ducked him. Did any heavyweight fight all 5 of those guys? No. There is no heavyweight that fought all 5 of those guys. Lewis did not fight all 5 of them and neither did Holyfield and Mercer did not fight all of the other 4. So why single Tyson out? Tyson fought both Lewis and Holyfield who were better than Mercer and Tyson fought lots of other tough guys. Nobody can fight every damn contender that ever fought in their era. A boxer only has so many fights in a career and he can't fight everybody. I am no big Tyson fan but you are nit picking and trashing him in an unfair manner.

Great post.

[robertzimmerman]

I lived through the period and remember it well. There were multiple moving parts. Tyson was already long a superstar and in rebuild mode after Douglas. Holyfield held the crown and the expectation was that Tyson and he would clash. Meanwhile, there was a mild clamor for Bowe/Mercer which fizzled and gave way to Mercer/Morrison. While this was happening you had Ruddock decapitating 80's names like Dokes and Lewis steadily gaining experience defeating Mike Weaver. Larry Holmes seemed revived with his surprise win over Mercer, about the time Tyson gave us two high stakes wins over the streaking and dangerous Razor Ruddock. Back then nobody was crying about Tyson's path to redemption, nor was there any call for a Mercer bout. Enter Desiree Washington and Jesse Ferguson.

Great post.

Mike’s 3 years in prison made a huge impact in the division.

Look at all of the relevant fights that happened in the division between late 1991-1995.

If Mike hadn’t been inside, he’d have been in the early 90’s mix with Evander, Mercer, Lewis, Morrison and Bowe etc.

[buddyr]

Mercer was fighting everyone but Tyson didn't want that smoke.

Look at the names he skipped:

Moorer, Tommy Morrison, Tua and Bert Cooper.

tyson did skip a lot of guys, but Moorer isn't one of them. He would have stretched him in 2 rounds or less

[PRINCEKOOL]

Did you even watch Mike’s career?

Mike couldn’t beat a European level fighter in Danny Williams after he’d lost to Lennox.

He only had 3 fights after Lennox, which saw him retire after quitting against another European level fighter in Kevin McBride.

Mike Tyson was bashing Danny Williams up, until he injured his knee 'Williams was all over the place'.

There was a distinct drop in Tyson's performance, soon after he injured his knee 'Which he later needed treatment'.

[robertzimmerman]

I agree with this part, even though I’m a fan

He was a very exciting fighter and obviously notorious for everything surrounding him. He’s a great highlight reel KO fighter and the casual fans idea of the best.

The reality is like you say, he rarely fought the best and come up short when he did.

He’s not one of the best HW’s of all time, no matter how much attention he drew for boxing.

He is probably one of the most important fighters in history but not one of the best

Of course he’s one of the best.

He’s a lock for anyone’s top 20 HW’s of all time.

Anybody in the top 20 is a great HW.

He had no longevity due to a loss of focus and dedication, not because he wasn’t good enough.

[PRINCEKOOL]

Mercer, Tua and Vitali could all have beaten him. I’m certain that Vitali would have beaten him. But it’s ridiculous to criticise him for missing lots of guys when he was in prison for 3 years and he fought Evander twice before fighting Lennox. Those 2 were the best opponents of the era.

None of them fighters would of beaten Mike Tyson in the 90's.

[robertzimmerman]

Old Foreman would have crushed him. David Tua at that point could have knocked him out. Mercer could have taken him to deep waters and stopped him late. Ibeabuchi same story. Late 90s Vitali would have crushed him too.

It's true that Tyson fought in the strongest or second strongest HW era ever and barely fought the best, and the few he did face mostly beat him up. I don't rank Tyson as a top 10 ATG and many historians don't either.

Mercer, Tua and Vitali could all have beaten him. I’m certain that Vitali would have beaten him. But it’s ridiculous to criticise him for missing lots of guys when he was in prison for 3 years and he fought Evander twice before fighting Lennox. Those 2 were the best opponents of the era.

[robertzimmerman]

Mercer was fighting everyone but Tyson didn't want that smoke.

Look at the names he skipped:

Moorer, Tommy Morrison, Tua and Bert Cooper.

You are talking nonsense and obviously possess no knowledge of the era.