Why did Mike Tyson duck Ray Mercer?

[PRINCEKOOL]

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

Look at the names he skipped:

Moorer, Tommy Morrison, Tua and Bert Cooper.

Morrison was meant to fight him, but things went wrong for him in his career 'With illnesses etc'.

[PRINCEKOOL]

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

Look at the names he skipped:

Moorer, Tommy Morrison, Tua and Bert Cooper.

They all skipped Mike Tyson 'Accept Tommy Morrison'.

Moorer would of been spooked.

[BKM-]

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.

[BKM-]

Why did they skip him? I cannot remember Mercer ever calling for Tyson etc

Tyson was meant to fight Tommy Morrison.

The top guys Tyson fought in the 90s where: Razor Ruddock, Alex Stewart, Francis Botha, Frank Bruno, Andrew Golota, Evander Holyfield.

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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.