Why did Mike Tyson duck Ray Mercer?

[QueensburyRules]

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.

- -U rank with the stench of you own stink...

[QueensburyRules]

- -He didn't.

Post prison Tyson signed to use Mercer as a tune up for Lewis who sued.

Net result is Lewie sweetened the pot so he could fight an unprepared Tyson.

Boxing 101

[boliodogs]

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?

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.

[Cobra Curry]

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.

This is it right here.

[SN!PER]

I guess Mercer would've beat him if they fought after Lennox, but it wouldn't mean much because a lot of heavyweights would've beat him at that point in his career.

More exciting would've been a battle against Foreman in 1990, or fights with Bowe and Ibeabuchi in the mid-to-late 90s.

[champion4ever]

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

I know but Lennox beat all the life and spirit out of him. After that he was a broken man.

[Hooded Terror]

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.

[PRINCEKOOL]

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

Mike Tyson is one of the best heavyweights of all-time, he is not the Anna Kournikova of boxing 'Mike Tyson was a two times world heavyweight champion, and Undisputed heavyweight champion of the world'.

Be honest with yourself, and sort it out.

[PRINCEKOOL]

I love how this guy puts his grammatical error in bold. As if to show it off So fitting that Tyson's fans are like this.

were: past tense, big deal.

[deathofaclown]

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.

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