Ray Mercer vs Mike Tyson

[Impractical Poster]

This is a fight I would have loved to have seen in the mid 90s. I put my money on Mercer. He was all wrong for any version of Tyson.

[gilgamesh]

Tough one to call. We all know Tyson had a tendency to fold sometimes when he couldn't KO or discourage a guy from coming forward, but he was significantly more talented than Mercer as well, so basically the question is whether or not Mercer could break Mike mentally.

I think Mike would have won a very hard fought decision in a great fight personally, I think he was talented enough to have won the majority of the rounds over Mercer, but Mercer would still be attacking him hard toward the end of the fight, and it would've been rough for him for sure.

Tyson's probably glad he never fought Mercer because win or lose, it was gonna be a very hard night, and a painful one.

[oogiebe]

Tyson would exhaust himself on the much larger Mercer, unable to finish the Merciless one. Mercer survives early onslaught to stop Mike late. That's the way I see it.

[Impractical Poster]

I'm not sure Tyson was more talented than Mercer, much less, significantly. Don't forget, Mercer was an Olympic gold medalist. He had very strong starts against Evander and Lennox. Tyson would have had to pull deep to beat Mercer the way Lewis and Holyfield had to. But, Tyson had never shown that type of fortitude. Merciless by TKO round 9.

[Onetimeonly]

Tyson by decision, too fast for ray.

[DrDuke]

If we talk about the mid 90s, I pick Mercer. He had a great run there despite scoring losses to Holyfield and Lewis, those two were levels above Tyson then and Holyfield proved that a bit later. Tyson wouldn't have knocked Mercer out, Ray's chin was granite. Mercer would have outfought Tyson. Maybe Tyson would have been better early, but Mercer would have taken over.

[Controversial]

Tyson and Mercer were scheduled to fight on January 19th 2002, it was cancelled so Tyson could arrange his fight with Lewis.

[Impractical Poster]

Tyson and Mercer were scheduled to fight on January 19th 2002, it was cancelled so Tyson could arrange his fight with Lewis.

I don't think I would have cared too much to see it at that point. 95/96 would have been perfect.

[oogiebe]

Tyson and Mercer were scheduled to fight on January 19th 2002, it was cancelled so Tyson could arrange his fight with Lewis.

I don't think I would have cared too much to see it at that point. 95/96 would have been perfect.

AGREED!!! Mercer was the proverbial 'immovable object' when he was focused. Biggest shock absorbing neck among top HW's of that era.