BoxRec

...for the first time in ages, I still find this not as close as everyone else. 6-3-1 Lewis, IMO. He definitely struggled to contain Mercer, and was very puffy (not to mention puffed - good Lord was Lewis sucking wind at times), but I dont quite see how so many had Mercer winning. Good advice from Mercers corner after round one, too "Just beat the sh!t outta him, Ray" D

Had some great exchanges, this fight. Tell you what though, given this was a near-prime Lewis, you wonder how he would cope with better small men cnming at him, like a Demsey, Frazier or Tyson. Possibly not as well as some believe.

I have to hold up my hand and say I scored it for Mercer, he takes the last rd when Lewis is just spent. Tremendous battle from both men!

Interesting, as I am a big Lewis fan - I've scored this fight twice, first time a 1 point win for Lewis, second time a draw. Mercer gave Lewis major problems with his jab, a punch Lewis was always susceptible to. Also interesting that Lewis's previous fight was against Tommy Morrison, where he won every round and knocked Tommy down several times in one of his most impressive performances, whereas I thought his performance against Mercer was one of his worst.

6-4 for Mercer. Lewis didn't use the jab effectively in this fight. If Mercer gots the decison, it probably would have changed the way we look at their careers.

The more times I watched the fight the more times I thought it was a very clear but close W for Mercer. To me he clearly won the last two rounds (9 and 10), and as IMO he was the winner of rounds 1,3, 5 and 6, I think the worst he should've gotten was a draw. He outjabbed Lewis and while both landed some huge punches, Ray's did more damage.

But I always use round 4 as a great example that Lewis was no punk as many like to proclaim. He was a naturally risk-adverse fighter, but unlike Wlad Klitschko, when he was hurt and forced to stand up and fight, he reverted to the bullied London school-kid and fought fire with fire.

I had it 96-94 for Lewis.

There were some close rounds that could have gon either way. Too bad that Mercer could not have fought that well throughout his career. You could make the arguement that there has not been a better heavyweight fight since this one.

I had it 96-94 for Lewis. However, if all of my swing rounds went to Mercer, I'd have it 97-93 for Ray. On the other side of the coin, if all of my swing rounds went to Lewis, I'd have it 98-92 for Lennox.

jezzamundo wrote:Interesting, as I am a big Lewis fan - I've scored this fight twice, first time a 1 point win for Lewis, second time a draw. Mercer gave Lewis major problems with his jab, a punch Lewis was always susceptible to. Also interesting that Lewis's previous fight was against Tommy Morrison, where he won every round and knocked Tommy down several times in one of his most impressive performances, whereas I thought his performance against Mercer was one of his worst.

I scored it pretty much the same -- 6 rounds to 4 for Lewis, or a draw.

The Irish Assassin wrote:I had it 96-94 for Lewis. However, if all of my swing rounds went to Mercer, I'd have it 97-93 for Ray. On the other side of the coin, if all of my swing rounds went to Lewis, I'd have it 98-92 for Lennox.

i agree.the swing rounds could of been scored any number of ways.
great post

dempseyfire wrote:The more times I watched the fight the more times I thought it was a very clear but close W for Mercer. To me he clearly won the last two rounds (9 and 10), and as IMO he was the winner of rounds 1,3, 5 and 6, I think the worst he should've gotten was a draw. He outjabbed Lewis and while both landed some huge punches, Ray's did more damage.

But I always use round 4 as a great example that Lewis was no punk as many like to proclaim. He was a naturally risk-adverse fighter, but unlike Wlad Klitschko, when he was hurt and forced to stand up and fight, he reverted to the bullied London school-kid and fought fire with fire.

I don't remember all the rounds, but I think it was round 6 that I also score for Lewis - Lewis was certainly the more hurt in this round and started off behind, but for mine he came back to throw and lands more punches than Mercer. All in all I think a draw would have been the most fair result - then we might have got a rematch!