BoxRec

now that we seen a few hl clips of j merritt vs stander and clark ??? how would jeff merrit at 6 foot 5 21l2 skinny and tall but can crack do against a 6 foot 1 1/2 hard punching 210 lbs ernie shavers in 1973? me thinks thou if merrit cant take a shot from a light punching henry clark hows he gonna do against a puncher like shavers

Merritt went the distance/KOd better bangers than Henry Clark so you have to wonder how much heroin was coursing through Candy Slim's veins when Clark smoked him. Remember, he'd previously outpointed Clark.

Merritt and Shavers sparred many rounds, so he would be well aware of the Acorn's punch power and I suspect less cavalier. Similarly, Merritt's hooks shattered Shavers' jaw and delayed a Shavers/Quarry fight, so Shavers would also be wary.

Anything could happen in a fight between these two but I tend to trust the solid, gutsy Shavers over the maniacal Merritt.

Is Merritt still alive?

I think so. There's an fairly recent interview with him.

Although there was a locked article not so long back on here contesting that.

orbtastic wrote:Although there was a locked article not so long back on here contesting that.

Just Tell (or even demand)that the moderator Boxbuzz to unlock the thread-
BOXING MYSTERIES-WHATEVER BECAME OF JEFF MERRITT?
Because a lot of time.sweat and research went into it over the last five years or so.
(even a link to a rare posed photo of Merritt facing Shavers face to face looking like he wants to kick Shavers arse then and there,
with Don King looking on smiling)
There was even a link to the last interview with Jeff Merrit who had suddendly turned up out of nowhere
(some posters refused to believe it was actually him however)
I think the reason the thread was locked because of some various posters here bad attitutes and a clash of Ego's about something.

The interview was suspect because 1) Merritt has been off the map since 1991, and 2) the dialogue rang false like an Il Duce anecdote. There was no explanation of how Merritt had been found or what his present circumstances were. The only thing the 'Jeff Merritt' of the interview seemed to know about Jeff Merritt was from Boxrec and Wikipedia. The whole thing stunk.

There is no reliable first hand account of Jeff Merritt since Jack Newfield was accosted by him outside Tyson/Ruddock II.

Yeah I remember the thread first time round (I posted in it).

It seemed suspicious, given the books detailing his downfall into crack and heroin were written in the 90s. Lot of time passed since then.

Seems nobody really knows where he is, although someone in that thread said they met him in a wheelchair. Or rather, they met him and Jeff was in a wheelchair haha.

There were two Jeff Merritt interviews from what I remember
one was on Doghouseboxing.
and not too long after a another Boxing site had mentioned that Jeff Merritt
had passed away.
How do you explain that then?
was it all just a hoax?

How do we explain what?

Why there was an interview with him, seemingly compos mentis from some unknown internet journalist?

Or why another unnamed website published another interview in the same period?

I would pick Earnie, a 60-40 scenario. By third round knockout.