The China fight card that never happened

[Boxingnut]

About nine or ten years ago there was a card planned for China that eventually never happened.
One of the fights, I think, was Bruno v Mercer and I think Herbie Hide was due to box as well. Can anyone remember the full bill? There were six fighters in all.
Thanks.

[bennie]

About nine or ten years ago there was a card planned for China that eventually never happened.
One of the fights, I think, was Bruno v Mercer and I think Herbie Hide was due to box as well. Can anyone remember the full bill? There were six fighters in all.
Thanks.

Hong Kong.
Other fights: Billy Schwer-Rafael Ruelas, Steve Collins-Lonnie Beasley and Tommy Morrison against someone.

[stujones]

It worked out well in the end, Mercer was easily Bruno's hardest non-world title opponent and a defeat in that one (I am am pretty sure he would have lost) and I couldn't see Bruno vs McCall happening.

Tommy Morrison would have recaptured his WBO title I am sure aswell - although I don't imagine that fight going more than a round.

[Dutch Windmill]

Tommy Morrison was scheduled to fight Herbie
Wasn't the card called off because of nearly non-existent ticket sales?

[overhand_right]

ray mercer beat bruno?

in 1994 ray mercer was a fat hog who lost to limited journeyman marion wilson.

at the same time bruno was in the peak of physical shape, hungry, and annihilating a man in 1 rd who had issued two severe ass whippings to ray mercer, in jesse ferguson.

mercer can make excuses for the 1st loss, but in the rematch he was in top shape and still got whipped. in fergusons very next fight, bruno did to him in seconds what mercer failed miserably to do in 20 long hard rds.

[stujones]

ray mercer beat bruno?

in 1994 ray mercer was a fat hog who lost to limited journeyman marion wilson.

at the same time bruno was in the peak of physical shape, hungry, and annihilating a man in 1 rd who had issued two severe ass whippings to ray mercer, in jesse ferguson.

mercer can make excuses for the 1st loss, but in the rematch he was in top shape and still got whipped. in fergusons very next fight, bruno did to him in seconds what mercer failed miserably to do in 20 long hard rds.

Mercer went on the following years to give both Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis mighty problems. He had a great chin and great power, a combination that goes against Bruno. I believe the Mercer of 1995 was better than the McCall Bruno faced, but still we all remember Frank holding on for dear life.

Can you imagine Bruno Ko'ing Mercer? Do you think Mercer (an Olympic gold medalist) wouldn't have been able to land against a tiring Bruno? He's alot more cuter than McCall.

Its all hypothetical now.

[bennie]

Tommy Morrison was scheduled to fight Herbie
Wasn't the card called off because of nearly non-existent ticket sales?

Barry Hearns's sponsor failed to come up with the cash I believe. Sponsor was John Daly, a Brit who made a fortune on the Closed Circuit rights for Ali-Foreman, but was a wheeler dealer and lost fortunes as quickly as he won them.

[Eric the Viking]

ray mercer beat bruno?

in 1994 ray mercer was a fat hog who lost to limited journeyman marion wilson.

at the same time bruno was in the peak of physical shape, hungry, and annihilating a man in 1 rd who had issued two severe ass whippings to ray mercer, in jesse ferguson.

mercer can make excuses for the 1st loss, but in the rematch he was in top shape and still got whipped. in fergusons very next fight, bruno did to him in seconds what mercer failed miserably to do in 20 long hard rds.

You have your facts wrong, OR. Mercer drew to Wilson. Except for the loss in the first Fergsuon fight - he won the second, albeit it was close - Mercer only lost to absolute top guys (Holmes, Holyfield, Lewis) in his prime, and never by KO. His only KO loss was to Vlad K., when Vlad still had all his confidence, was in top form, and Ray was clearly way past it. And Mercer gave Lewis all he could handle in '96.

Bruno (who I rate careerwise as similar to Mercer, BTW) was KOed no less than five times in his career, and two of those (Witherspoon and Smith) were to fringe-contender types. Based on their respective careers, no way can you rank Bruno much more highly than Mercer, whereas it's eminently clear that Mercer had a far better chin. True, Bruno had more shots at major titles, but the only one of those he didn't lose badly was vs. "lucky winner of the monthly lottery" McCall.

Uh oh, I feel another "this board has really gone to shit" rant by OR coming on, of the type he's been using lately whenever someone disagrees with him.

[overhand_right]

YOU have your facts wrong eric.

just because atlantic city judges saved ray mercer in his 2nd fight with jesse ferguson and his fight with marion wilson doesn't actually mean he won in reality. his own crowd recognised he had lost clearly both times.

you also call witherspoon & bonecrusher 'fringe contender' types. actually they were world heavyweight champs who gave the great larry holmes hellish struggles. so they were hardly 'fringe contenders' now where they?

a 42 yr old larry holmes beat your man ray mercer with laughable ease.

frank bruno walked over jesse ferguson, immediately after he had twice beat up ray mercer.

had bruno/witherspoon been a 10 rd fight bruno would have won a decision. a decade later ray mercer was once again saved by his hometown atlantic city judges when he was gifted a 10 rd decision over a near-40 yr old tim witherspoon.

im not even saying i believe bruno would beat mercer, but to take this fight as a given is BS. mercer was usually a fat hog who blew all his big shots, whereas frank bruno was a hard punching, hard working true athlete with the determination to fulfill his dreams.

BRUNO: over achiever, admirable MERCER: under achiever/failiure

PEOPLE LIKE MOST: mercer.

[Eric the Viking]

YOU have your facts wrong eric.

just because atlantic city judges saved ray mercer in his 2nd fight with jesse ferguson and his fight with marion wilson doesn't actually mean he won in reality. his own crowd recognised he had lost clearly both times.

you also call witherspoon & bonecrusher 'fringe contender' types. actually they were world heavyweight champs who gave the great larry holmes hellish struggles. so they were hardly 'fringe contenders' now where they?

The only major titles either Smith or Spoon ever won were the following:

1) Spoon beats fellow fringe conteneder Greg Page for the vacant WBC title in March '84; loses it in his first defense vs. Pinklon Thomas 6 months later.

2) beat Tony Tubbs for the WBA title in January of '86, managed to connect on Frank Bruno's fragile chin in his first defense of it 6 months later, then got KTFOed by Smith in December of '86 to lose it. Smith promptly got dominated by a young Tyson 3 months later and never competed for a major title again.

Spoon's greatest hits after losing the WBA title were a razor-close SD win over Carl (De Troof) Williams for the fringe USBA title, the hotly-disputed loss to Mercer you mention, and a KO1 win over David Bostice in 2001. In between Mercer and Bostice fights, he put together an impressive streak of 5 straight losses to all-tme greats Larry Donald, Jimmy Thunder, Andrew Golota, Brian Nielsen and Greg Page in a rematch of their '86 fight. Sure, he was way past his prime at that point, but Mercer was no spring chicken when they met either.

So, yeah, they won legit titles, but the guys they beat for them were no more impressive than (say) Jones beating Ruiz last year. Perhaps "fringe titlist" is the appropriate term.

And while Mercer never got a shot at a major title and was often overweight, unlike Smith, Spoon and Bruno he was never blown out anywhere close to his prime, despite fighting a similar level of competition. Not a great career, but to call him a level below Smith, Spoon and Bruno is grossly underrating him.

[overhand_right]

eric, i like you and usually like your contribution, but your dead wrong. you call guys like witherspoon, page, and thomas fringe contenders but the all time great larry holmes certainly doesnt.

you ignore the fact ray mercer was proven to be on a level BELOW witherspoon. they fought and mercer was gifted a decision over witherspoon by the same obscure judges who gifted shannon briggs his atlantic city decision over foreman (how interesting that mercer & briggs were both from marc roberts camp...)

everybody loses. you ignore how guys like spoon & bonecrusher gave holmes hellish fights, yet a decade later an ancient holmes walked it over ray mercer.

ignoring judges, ray mercer has losses to holmes, ferguson twice, marion wilson (!!!), holyfield, lewis, witherspoon, and now klitschko.

by your own logic that makes him a middling fringe contender too.

[Eric the Viking]

I already admitted that "fringe contender" was too extreme, but stand by my assertion that while Bruno, Spoon, Smith and Mercer were all top contenders in their primes, the fact that the aforementioned 3 briefly held a version of a major title which they won from either a really weak "champ" (Tony Tubbs - please...) or one another, that does not elevate them above guys like Mercer, who had an overall re'sume' vs. the really top guys that was at least as good, but was never granted a shot at a major.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.