BoxRec

Equador 1994

As you know the result was a draw.

114 - 111 Hopkins
116 - 114 Mercado
113 - 113

Hopkins was down in the 5th and 7th rounds.


Other than reading a report on the bout did anyone actually see the fight ?

Yeah, I have it on tape. I thought it was a very close fight, and entertaining. The rounds swung back and forth, with Hopkins imposing himself in one round and then Mercado outboxing him the next. Hopkins was behind going into the last 2 or 3 rounds, but Mercado basically ran away and Hopkins bullied him around to pull out the draw. The two knockdown calls against Hopkins were very critical in the scoring. Hopkins protested both KDs, but both happened as the result of punches - uppercuts, if I remember right, and there was a delayed reaction with one. I seem to recall there was also a time that Mercado went down and probably could've been called a KD as well, but in that case the ref ruled a slip. As it turned out, the ref's decision on what to call KDs and what not to were the difference in the outcome.

There were some differing opinions on the decision, with some people believing Hopkins pulled it out with his late rally while others believe the two KDs were too much for Hops to overcome. I thought it was a very close fight and probably a draw was fair.

Yeah i think this bout was at about 10,000 Feet in Altitude. Hopkins was all over the place times. He was knocked down twice in this bout, and these two are the only times he has been knocked down in his entire career. Pretty delayed, and fairly obvious the Altitude was affecting Hopkins.

That said, i think Hopkins almost won it in the end by KO.

Evander wrote:Equador 1994

As you know the result was a draw.

114 - 111 Hopkins
116 - 114 Mercado
113 - 113

Hopkins was down in the 5th and 7th rounds.
Other than reading a report on the bout did anyone actually see the fight ?

- With relish. Mr. Popkins took an all star beating regardless of the cards.

Mercado was jobbed both fights, winning the first and being stopped completely unhurt way too prematurely the 2nd fight after his best round.

Yeah, something near 10,000' altitude, but remember, Mercado born in a fishing village. Without knowing the training and acclimatisation regimes, hard to know how much altitude played a part of the first fight, but it was a good solid scrap with Mr. Popkins having some good moments.

BroughtonRulesRefuge wrote: Mr. Popkins took an all star beating regardless of the cards.

Numpty, the cards aren't important here but they are of paramount importance in the Holmes - Cooney bout?

Hilarious.

I do love the notion of Mercado getting robbed in Ecuador against an American fighter. Inane logic.
It was a close fight. Hopkins pulled out the draw late, could have gotten the decision. Briscoe said of his first fight with Monzon that a draw in Argentina against Monzon is basically a win, and the same is probably true of fighting Mercado in Ecuador.
Perhaps I will watch the fight again one of these days and score it. Certainly the rematch removes all doubt; Mercado, in the final analysis, was not in Hopkins' league.

I Feel Fine wrote:I do love the notion of Mercado getting robbed in Ecuador against an American fighter. Inane logic.

- I do love the notion of you not knowing that this fight was a title fight, not some local fight with local yokels scoring and officiating. Sam Williams, Al DeVito 111-114, Paul Gibbs 113-113, Francisco Hernandez 116-114, sure don't sound Ecuadorian to me.

I could care less if Mercado ain't in the class of Mr. Popkins, he was jobbed, robbed, however you want to put it. When the two fights are seen back to back, the poor judging, officiating, and boxing commentary stands out like a sore thumb. Had Neon Leon not been an Olympic Gold medalist and instead been a poor Ecuadorian fisherman's son, he never would've been given the decision over Ali.

BroughtonRulesRefuge wrote:

I Feel Fine wrote:I do love the notion of Mercado getting robbed in Ecuador against an American fighter. Inane logic.

- I do love the notion of you not knowing that this fight was a title fight, not some local fight with local yokels scoring and officiating. Sam Williams, Al DeVito 111-114, Paul Gibbs 113-113, Francisco Hernandez 116-114, sure don't sound Ecuadorian to me.

I could care less if Mercado ain't in the class of Mr. Popkins, he was jobbed, robbed, however you want to put it. When the two fights are seen back to back, the poor judging, officiating, and boxing commentary stands out like a sore thumb. Had Neon Leon not been an Olympic Gold medalist and instead been a poor Ecuadorian fisherman's son, he never would've been given the decision over Ali.

Only thing that can be seen is Hopkins almost won on KO alone. Let alone points win. IT was a Draw, end of discussion. The rematch settled it all.

If you want to live in your own imaginary land, making your own conclusions, so be it.

observer1 wrote: Only thing that can be seen is Hopkins almost won on KO alone. Let alone points win. IT was a Draw, end of discussion. The rematch settled it all.

If you want to live in your own imaginary land, making your own conclusions, so be it.

- Thanks for showing your prejudice seeing as Mr. Popkins was the one rolling around on the canvas the first fight, not Mercado.

After jingoistic biased announcing in the 2nd fight, the announcers reluctantly came to the same conclusion, the ref made a grave error stopping the fight and then compounded it by ruling a TKO when by his own admission he stopped because "Mercado wouldn't follow instructions to break." It was obvious it was Mr. Popkins who had clinched up Mercado, but they were at least honest enough to man up that they had miscalled it in the beginning.

Ninny ref, Rudy Battle is still clueless, but he got paid a bonus, no doubt.

When boxing so blatantly screws up, I mention it. You belong to the status quo that goes along with outrageous, incompetent officiating.

I've seen both fights, scored the first one for Hopkins by a few points

Per usual, BRR's analysis shows you where the truth (that is, it'll always lie on the opposite end of his nonsensical rants )

BHop had a bad day at work, is someone trying to make a big deal out of it? Is there really some significant truth that can be derived from this? He seemed to have settled this hash in a quick return to form correct?

Wasn't quite as interesting as Hagler's Willie Monroe moment was it? Monroe actuallly accomplished the feat whereas Mercado fell short.

BroughtonRulesRefuge wrote:

observer1 wrote: Only thing that can be seen is Hopkins almost won on KO alone. Let alone points win. IT was a Draw, end of discussion. The rematch settled it all.

If you want to live in your own imaginary land, making your own conclusions, so be it.

- Thanks for showing your prejudice seeing as Mr. Popkins was the one rolling around on the canvas the first fight, not Mercado.

After jingoistic biased announcing in the 2nd fight, the announcers reluctantly came to the same conclusion, the ref made a grave error stopping the fight and then compounded it by ruling a TKO when by his own admission he stopped because "Mercado wouldn't follow instructions to break." It was obvious it was Mr. Popkins who had clinched up Mercado, but they were at least honest enough to man up that they had miscalled it in the beginning.

Ninny ref, Rudy Battle is still clueless, but he got paid a bonus, no doubt.

When boxing so blatantly screws up, I mention it. You belong to the status quo that goes along with outrageous, incompetent officiating.

Prejudice? Me?

You're kidding me right? I mean seriously !! :

YOU'RE calling me prejudce??

Oh well, i guess the irony is lost on some more than others

The first fight was very close with the knockdowns critical. I recall one being less a knockdown and more a balance issue. The other seemed legit to me. And for the record the fight was at a very high altitude and Hopkins flew in less than a week before (if memory serves). He pulled out the draw. Remember, this was a Don King promoted show and Mercado was a King fighter. The draw is why Hopkins hated and refused to work with King for so long until basically he was forced to in order to get into the middleweight tournament of 2001. The second fight was a different story and while I think they could have let it go on a few seconds more Mercado was getting beaten pretty easily. The right man won ultimately and for Brock to call him Popkins is a joke. The guy is rightfully one of the throwback legends of the sport who earned his championship and status the hard way he was NOT promoted to it like so many other paper champs today.

I watched it live and since(on tape), the altitude was crazy and took it's toll on all the fighters, including the co-feature fighters, Liles and Nunn. I had Hopkins ahead but Mercado was a King fighter so Hopkins had to knock him out to get the decision. kidding! I did have Hopkins ahead as I had Nunn beating Frankie Liles on the other bout but neither fighter got the decision.

klompton wrote:The guy is rightfully one of the throwback legends of the sport who earned his championship and status the hard way he was NOT promoted to it like so many other paper champs today.

- May have ultimately earned his championship status the hard way, but he sure didn't earn it against Mercado.

Moreover, I don't have to respect a guy who deliberately starts a near riot by disrespectful actions, blatantly uses his noggin as a third fist through out his career amongst other standard fouls, and defends his ring belt by crawling around the canvas to buy time against a feather fisted challenger instead of fighting.

What any respect I have for the guy is from his masterful performance against Pavlik, but he could squander that pretty quickly if he continues to hang around.

I had it for Mercado by a point or two, from memory. No robbery. Was a close-run thing.

Im mystified that Broughton somehow thinks Bernard Hopkins got a gift against Mercado while fighting a Don King fighter, on a Don King promoted fight card, in the Don King fighters hometown, while fighting on a network that at that time had an exclusive promotional deal with Don King... IN A FIGHT THAT ENDED IN A DRAW

klompton wrote:Im mystified that Broughton somehow thinks Bernard Hopkins got a gift against Mercado while fighting a Don King fighter, on a Don King promoted fight card, in the Don King fighters hometown, while fighting on a network that at that time had an exclusive promotional deal with Don King... IN A FIGHT THAT ENDED IN A DRAW

Like I said, BRR knows nothing about boxing, so why would we expect any insight from him.

Skimming through records online and making disparaging remarks about fighters and fans does not an expert make.

As granberry, DaveV and Big Bald Jane (aka decagon) have found out.

BRR will tire of the lack of respect that we have shown him before too long and head back to the FunUpTheBum forum where he is accorded expert status.

klompton wrote:Im mystified that Broughton somehow thinks Bernard Hopkins got a gift against Mercado while fighting a Don King fighter, on a Don King promoted fight card, in the Don King fighters hometown, while fighting on a network that at that time had an exclusive promotional deal with Don King... IN A FIGHT THAT ENDED IN A DRAW

- King may seed the clouds, but it don't mean it always rains when and in the amount he wishes it.

Already pointed out as far as I can see, neither the ref nor judges Ecuadorian, so that eliminates hometown bias. Since the fights are back to back and it was Mr. Popkins hitting the deck twice in the first fight, and then the 2nd fight stopped after Mercado's best round for the wrong reason according to the ref, it don't pass the smell test.

Would be at a major disadvantage to contemplate the evil manner of plans and traps King sets, but me thinks he put the fight in Ecuador to ostensibly satisfy Mercado that King is looking out for him, and then set up the rematch in Maryland as a way to get his hooks into Mr. Popkins by proving how fair King could be. BTW, Mercado early career was in the US, so it wasn't like he was in a place he'd never been. King is quite fond of disputes followed by rematches. Weaver/Dokes, Nelson/ Fenech, Tyson/Ruddock, ect. Got a nice little trilogy going with Field/Ruiz.

Mr. Popkins doesn't distinguish himself as championship quality until the 4-5 fights after his official title when he beats JDJackson and untested but undefeated Glen Johnson back to back which in my view is his best showing until the Pavlik fight.

Others give him more credit, so fine, he's very clever at what he does, but it's not like anyone is gonna be staying up late watching his highlights no matter how they may rank him as a fighter and a man.

So who exactly was it that fixed the fight then?

BroughtonRulesRefuge wrote:Already pointed out as far as I can see, neither the ref nor judges Ecuadorian, so that eliminates hometown bias.

Are the referees and the judges for bouts in Germany from the same country? Was Sven Ottke judged by local men?