Why did Mike Tyson duck Ray Mercer?

[robertzimmerman]

But he could've fought him after Lennox. Mercer didn't retire until mid-2000s.

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.

[robertzimmerman]

Tyson also didn't fight Bowe, Foreman, or Briggs.

post 1989 Tyson just wasn't that good.

He didn’t, but the timelines didn’t match up.


Nobody really took Foreman’s comeback too seriously until he put in a great showing against Evander. But Mike then went to prison for 3 years. Upon his release from prison, he then took a few tune ups before he beat Bruno and fought Evander twice. Foreman then retired shortly afterwards.

Bowe was a great fighter when he was on form. But his prime was during Mike’s exodus. By the time Evander had fought Mike, Bowe had fought Golota twice in those horrible DQ matches. Then afterwards, Bowe retired for almost a decade.

Briggs would have been a dangerous opponent. But by the time he’d made a name for himself by fighting Foreman, Mike had already lost twice to Evander. Briggs then went onto lose to Lennox, after which he fought mostly low level fighters like Mike did. There was no demand for the fight.

Mike’s 3 year exodus from the sport made a huge impact in the division. If that hadn’t have happened, who knows what would have happened. But what we do know, is that Mike and Evander would have met 5 years earlier.

[Tatabanya]

Still wondering why Tyson never fought Francesco Damiani, who was dominating Mercer until he was knocked out.

That would have been a legacy-enhancing fight for Mike.

[robertzimmerman]

That would've been a great fight but it's funny how Mercer fought Lennox and Holyfield back to back but somehow didn't fight Mike Tyson.

Also, Mike Tyson also somehow escaped fighting Moorer, Tommy Morrison, Tua and Bert Cooper. Shocking, isn't it?

No, it’s not shocking at all.

Look back at the circumstances and the timelines.

Mike was in prison for 3 years. And an awful lot happened in those 3 years.

When he was released, he was always going to fight a few low level guys due to inactivity, before being lined up for a title, in the hope of building a huge fight afterwards.

After he’d beaten Bruno again for his belt, he fought a huge fight against Evander, which had originally been scheduled in 1991.

Moorer lost to Foreman whilst Mike was in prison and beat Evander. If Mike had’ve beaten Evander, there would have been a demand for the fight. But after Evander had beaten Mike twice, he went on to fight his own rematch with Moorer.

Tommy Morrison lost to Mercer just prior to Mike’s prison sentence. He then beat Foreman and lost to Bentt whilst Mike was in prison. Upon Mike’s release, Morrison then lost to Lewis before retiring for more than a decade.

Bert Cooper lost to numerous fighters whilst Mike was in prison.

Mercer lost to Evander and Lennox before Evander beat Mike twice. Although many people think that Mercer deserved to beat Lewis. After Mike had lost twice to Evander, Mercer only fought once or twice a year against mostly low level guys.

David tua was dangerous. In the late 90’s-early 00’s, Mike was steered away against top level guys, in order to try and cash out in a huge fight against Lewis.

[Earl-Hickey]

Mike only listened to Cus so wrong on this one , you cannot be at your best if you aren’t listening, see Wilder .

Rooney also did a great job but Mike was a loose cannon and why he went downhill by the 90”s big time even with wins over Ruddock .

All I know is this Tyson Fury would pinch Mike Tyson cooont right in for him.

[REDEEMER]

The idea that Tyson was this perfect fighting machine at 20 and then at 22 he was totally washed up and not half the man he was before is just ludicrous.

As is the idea no other man but Cus D'amato could train him.

Mike only listened to Cus so wrong on this one , you cannot be at your best if you aren’t listening, see Wilder .

Rooney also did a great job but Mike was a loose cannon and why he went downhill by the 90”s big time even with wins over Ruddock .

[Earl-Hickey]

I guess Mike Tyson is the first boxer in history to peak at 20 and fall off a cliff at 22, no?

And people still think he's the baddest. LMAO. I won't be surprised if he gets sparked by Roy Jones in the pensioner bout despite all the fancy videos he keeps releasing. LMAO.

The idea that Tyson was this perfect fighting machine at 20 and then at 22 he was totally washed up and not half the man he was before is just ludicrous.

As is the idea no other man but Cus D'amato could train him.

[REDEEMER]

That would've been a great fight but it's funny how Mercer fought Lennox and Holyfield back to back but somehow didn't fight Mike Tyson.

Also, Mike Tyson also somehow escaped fighting Moorer, Tommy Morrison, Tua and Bert Cooper. Shocking, isn't it?

MIke was in prison as he still was when those guys were relevant and some undefeated .

Tommy Morrison lost the Bentt fight which killed the Tyson mega one .

Nothing shocking if you did research on when those guys had some fights ,Mike came back in 1995 and was fast tracked to Holyfield,why would he have fought some of those guys over a huge pay per view that was the biggest fight then ?

Mercer lost to Holmes in 1992 ,you can troll better then this can’t you ? Ha

[BKM-]

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.

[chirorickyp]

That would've been a great fight but it's funny how Mercer fought Lennox and Holyfield back to back but somehow didn't fight Mike Tyson.

Also, Mike Tyson also somehow escaped fighting Moorer, Tommy Morrison, Tua and Bert Cooper. Shocking, isn't it?

The next Great White hope blew his chance when he got KO'd. Bert Cooper was not ducked, and he would have been an easy style for Mike. Not sure about Mercer, but a guy that can that can eat any punch is all wrong for Tyson. Moorer was in the Holyfield Foreman fights. A 90's version of Tyson prior to 1996 vs Moorer would have been a great fight. The only possible duck was Mercer. Not from fear but more from selecting an opponent with just as much risk but for bigger money, and that was Evan Fields.