Why did Mike Tyson duck Ray Mercer?

[GhostofDempsey]

He passed on Mercer to get a title shot at Lewis, which was as tough or an even tougher fight for him. If he fought Mercer instead, his haters would accuse him of ducking Lewis.

[QueensburyRules]

Would have been great fight. It used to bug the hell out of me when Tyson was No1 and he stopped everyone so fast. Left me thinking the physiology of humans neck muscles hadn't evolved to take hits as hard as Tyson dished out.
With mercer I'd have no fear of fight being over in 1 round.

- - Getting back to the OP question, pretty much proof he was in diapers then.

Tyson had finally agreed to fight Lewie after the Nielson TKO in Copenhagen, but Mike knowing he still needed some work signed to fight Mercer who promised much needed rounds. Lewie remembering how Mercer beat him up sued, so in an out of court settlement Tyson agreed to fight Lewie straight away after Lewie sweetened the pot for Tyson.

The rest misanthropic history on BS...The End

[hugh grant]

Would have been great fight. It used to bug the hell out of me when Tyson was No1 and he stopped everyone so fast. Left me thinking the physiology of humans neck muscles hadn't evolved to take hits as hard as Tyson dished out.
With mercer I'd have no fear of fight being over in 1 round.

[Ropss]

You know you have a strong case when you have to resort to hyping up world beaters like Tony ****ing Tubbs and Pinklon ****ing Thomas Fighters who weren't close to great and were cokeheads by the time they fought Tyson.

Evander Holyfield resume since you hate on tyson

Tyson-a tomato can beating bums most overrated HW ever nothing special

Moorer-Blown up Lightheavy beat Holyfield ass

Rid**** Bowe-the most overrated fighter beat holyfield who run like ***** from Lewis

Larry Holmes-a washed Larry Holmes who Schooled him in some rounds tomato can tyson destroy him in 4 rounds

Foreman-grandpa a 5-4 record in title fights lost to bums like Morrison and briggs and still manage to broke holyfield teets

Mercer-gatekeeper who was schooled by grandpa Holmes and lost to TOMATO can Jesse Ferguson

Qawi-5'5 washed midget

[PeasantCrusha]

Whether he fought those guys or not, Tyson had the ability to beat each and every one of those guys. To claim he was overrated is nonsense.

[removed]

Why is this thread always on page 1?

[thebrownbomber_]

Are you that same clown I debated this exact topic with not too long ago? You are aren't you? You sound just as vehement with the Tyson fanboyism, this is probably your alt account after getting banned or something.

I name a long list of names and you pick and choose which ones you want to respond to and pick and choose a random point in time to claim Tyson had no time or was too busy raping beauty pagents to face them. You also keep ignoring the blatant fact that when Tyson did have time to take fights, he faced journeymen who never posed a threat to him instead of any of the killers I mentioned.

All in the guise of making Tyson some innocent victim/bystander, like it's the biggest coincidence in boxing history that there were like 10 punchers with granite chins in Tyson's era and he never faced ONE of them. Who the hell do you think you're fooling other than the fellow Tyson fanboys?

Douglas was nothing special, nobody ever thought he was untill he beat the living hell out of Tyson. All he did was not wilt when Tyson hit him. That was just another cherrypick gone wrong for America's favorite rapist.

Douglas was another ideal Tyson opponent: a guy who wilts when he gets hit. The opposite of what Tyson ducked his entire career: Punchers with granite chins. Can you name me any of those types of fighters he faced at any point in his career? The only punchers he beat were glass chinned frontrunners like Ruddock and bruno.

Always avoided the guys who wouldn't just lay down after taking his punches and could dish it out. Except for Evander(who wasn't a true puncher) who he only faced because he thought Evander was shot. And don't ever bring up Evander's name in a comparison, as this man ducked no one unlike that coward you worship. Evander was even the only one(Lewis, Bowe and Tyson refused) who faced George Foreman.

Someone your idol feared since he was a kid. Here is an article that tells the truth about Tyson's ducking ways, how he ran away from a lucrative Foreman fight.

https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/articles-of...-foreman-tyson

That's the real Tyson. No more excuses.

Woah calm down there buddy:
1. I am new to this forum, I have no idea who you are talking about.
2. I am not a Tyson fanboy, as, believe it or not, I actually rank Holyfield and many others above him. I am a Larry Holmes fan. I just like Mike tyson, simple.
3. I have responded to your points about McCall, Tua, Mercer. Ibeabuchi was certainly a good matchup that did not match up. He really only fought journeymen in 1999 and twice in 1995 to get his ring rust off. He wanted to make alot of money from the Holyfield fight (according to him in his book) and that was a mega fight that had been building since 1991. According to an ABC documentary of that time, Alex Stewart had "given Evander holyfield a tough fight" and ik that he lost a controversial decision with old foreman. Razor Ruddock was no journeyman and was ranked #2 by all sactioning bodies, while tyson was ranked number #1. Tyson beats Ruddock and then is scheduled to fight holyfield on November 1991, but pulls out due to a rib injury, then the fight has to be postponed until Tyson's **** trial is finished, but then Tyson gets sentenced to prison for 6 years, but gets released on parole on 3. After prison, hes basically washed up and fighting for money (once again, according to Tyson). He unifies 2 titles, gives up one to fight holyfield, gets beat twice and suspended and then just becomes a depressive. Make of this what you will.

On a second thought, I agree with u on foreman, but i read on wiki that members of tysons team tried to get a foreman, but ina interview in 95, he clearly didnt want to fight him

That "cokehead" tony tubbs outboxed rid**** bowe in 1991 lol. Larry Holmes ducked pinklon thomas.

try and keep this convo civilized please, thank you

[BKM-]

Im pretty sure Tony Tubbs outboxed Prime Bowe lmao. His prime ended at 25, btw, would have continued for a bit longer. David Tua struggled with Hasim Rahman and Oleg Maskiev's jab as well, and it was his power that bailed him out. Pinklon has the tools to beat David Tua, and unlike Maskiev and Rahman, he had an iron chin.

You know you have a strong case when you have to resort to hyping up world beaters like Tony ****ing Tubbs and Pinklon ****ing Thomas Fighters who weren't close to great and were cokeheads by the time they fought Tyson.

[BKM-]

>Calls me the stereotypical Tyson Fanboy while being one of the biggest Tyson haters to ever exist lol, all becuase hes salty that Mike Tyson, despite being 15 years retired, is still more relevant than his favorite boxer.

How am I making him the external victim lmfao? First of all, I never tried to overhype his competition. Buster Douglas was no journeyman, but a contender who had fought for the title 3 years earlier. Tyson fought the number 2 contender Razor Ruddock twice in 1991, being the number one contender, and was lined up for a shot at Evander Holyfield. The Winner of that Holyfield-Tyson bout was supposed to also fight foreman as well (according to the build-up footage for the 1991 Holyfield-Tyson fight). If Tyson beat holyfield, he wouldve regained the titles and fought Bowe, Lewis, Old Foreman from 1992-1995. If not, then he wouldve certainly been in the mix. Like I said for the 1000th time, when Tyson returned, Bowe was at the end of his career and had other plans.

Oliver McCall? You really telling me that Tyson was afraid of McCall? Lol. I am of the opinion that Tyson should have actually fought Lewis in 1996 instead of holyfield, since he looked sharp in the Bruno fight. But then again, he listens to Don King, who wanted Tyson to fight Holyfield instead. Thats Mike's stupditiy. He fights and loses to Evander, gets an immediate rematch, loses his cool and gets suspended for another year. Had he been allowed to fight in 1998, then I can see where you are coming from. Im pretty sure after 2000 he didnt really care about fighting any top guys and just did it for the money, but you can be the judge of that.

Bottom line, he wouldve fought most of these guys had he not gone to jail, and Tysons prime was from 85-91, and would have continued until around 93.

EDIT: Cant the exact same thing be said about Holyfield?

Are you that same clown I debated this exact topic with not too long ago? You are aren't you? You sound just as vehement with the Tyson fanboyism, this is probably your alt account after getting banned or something.

I name a long list of names and you pick and choose which ones you want to respond to and pick and choose a random point in time to claim Tyson had no time or was too busy raping beauty pagents to face them. You also keep ignoring the blatant fact that when Tyson did have time to take fights, he faced journeymen who never posed a threat to him instead of any of the killers I mentioned.

All in the guise of making Tyson some innocent victim/bystander, like it's the biggest coincidence in boxing history that there were like 10 punchers with granite chins in Tyson's era and he never faced ONE of them. Who the hell do you think you're fooling other than the fellow Tyson fanboys?

Douglas was nothing special, nobody ever thought he was untill he beat the living hell out of Tyson. All he did was not wilt when Tyson hit him. That was just another cherrypick gone wrong for America's favorite rapist.

Douglas was another ideal Tyson opponent: a guy who wilts when he gets hit. The opposite of what Tyson ducked his entire career: Punchers with granite chins. Can you name me any of those types of fighters he faced at any point in his career? The only punchers he beat were glass chinned frontrunners like Ruddock and bruno.

Always avoided the guys who wouldn't just lay down after taking his punches and could dish it out. Except for Evander(who wasn't a true puncher) who he only faced because he thought Evander was shot. And don't ever bring up Evander's name in a comparison, as this man ducked no one unlike that coward you worship. Evander was even the only one(Lewis, Bowe and Tyson refused) who faced George Foreman.

Someone your idol feared since he was a kid. Here is an article that tells the truth about Tyson's ducking ways, how he ran away from a lucrative Foreman fight.

https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/articles-of...-foreman-tyson

That's the real Tyson. No more excuses.

[thebrownbomber_]

Triangularity doesn't hold in boxing.

Most boxers around 1987-88 who fought Tyson stand nowhere near a prime Holyfield, Lewis, Tua, Bowe, etc. That includes your Tubbs, Spinks, and Holmes. I am no fan of Moorer (yes he beat Holyfield) but that's around the time Holyfield was misdiagnosed. But I would definitely like to see Tyson fight against the above list in his so-called "prime" which apparently ended by the time he was 23. Add Ike to that too.

Im pretty sure Tony Tubbs outboxed Prime Bowe lmao. His prime ended at 25, btw, would have continued for a bit longer. David Tua struggled with Hasim Rahman and Oleg Maskiev's jab as well, and it was his power that bailed him out. Pinklon has the tools to beat David Tua, and unlike Maskiev and Rahman, he had an iron chin.