Most likely, no one will argue with the fact thatthe greatest superheavyweight boxers of our time were Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Klitschko brothers. Undoubtedly, these fighters are the personification of boxing, however in their cohort it is quite possible to enroll one more person, whose name is Ray Mercer. About his difficult fate will be discussed in this article.
The future world boxing champion was born 4April 1961 in the state of Florida, USA. The hometown of the boxer is Jacksonville. Ray Mercer won the gold of the XXIV Olympic Games in the category up to 91 kilograms, won the US championship among amateurs in 1987, and was able to become the champion of North America in 1990 and the world champion among WBO professionals in 1991. In addition, the athlete took part in battles in accordance with the rules of kickboxing and mixed fights.
The debut in Ray's profiling occurred at the beginning1989. Six months later he managed to knock out Dino Homsi, who did not have a defeat at that time. A month later, Mercer wins a technical knockout victory over Eddie Richardson. In November 1989, the Ruthless (sports nickname of our hero) again wins, and once again ahead of schedule. This time, Jerry Jones suffered from his fists. December 1989 was marked by an extremely unconvincing victory by Ray's separate judicial decision over Ossi Okasio.
In January 1991, Ray Mercer met in the square of the ring with the current owner of the belt Francesco Damiani.
The battle took place under the confident dictation of the champion. Francesco worked from a distance and after eight rounds he won on the cards of all the judges. However, in the end of the ninth three-minute event occurred quite rare for boxing matches. Ray threw out his left uppercut and hit the tangent in Damiani's nose. This blow itself was not a knockout, but the severe pain accompanying the fracture of the nose, did not allow Francesco to continue the fight. Thus, Mercer has won the world champion belt, which once again confirmed that professional boxing - the fights are tough enough and not always predictable.
October 1991 was marked for Ray with a meeting with Tommy Morrison, who had previously lost to Mercer during the selection for the Seoul Olympics.
From the very beginning, Tommy went ahead and literallypressed the champion. However, Morrison's bad endurance came to the fore afterwards, and he was exhausted. At the beginning of the fifth round, Mercer knocked him out with a short blow to the left temple.
In February 1992, there was a duel Ray Mercer -Larry Holmes. The winner of this fight became a mandatory contender for the title of the absolute world champion, which was owned at that time by Evander Holyfield. Bookmakers were considered Ray's favorite. Holmes, who at that time was already 42 years old, no one gave chances. Nevertheless, after the battle, Larry won by a unanimous decision.
In May 1996, Ray Mercer, whose biographyThen he had already many difficult fights, he fought with Lennox Lewis. Opponents fought, not sparing each other and inflicting a lot of blows on the opponent. At the end of ten rounds, the victory was awarded to the representative of the Foggy Albion. And not all judges gave the palm to Lennox. This decision was cheered by the public, who believed that Ray should be the winner. The HBO channel in the person of Harold Lederman awarded a draw with a score of 95-95. And the Associated Press also considered Mercer as the winner, showing an account 97-93.
In late 1996, Ray boxed with TimWitherspoon. Despite the fact that Tim was already 39 years old, he was able to kill Mercer. Witherspoon often got, but the judges gave victory to Ray. The very same fight took place within the framework of the HBO television show, the main event of which was a duel between Riddick Bowe and Andrzej Golota.
In 1997, Mercer was forced to leave boxing for a while. Fights for him were impossible due to a neck injury, which forced the athlete to stay outside the ring for about 14 months.
But Ray is a man with a steel will and therefore returned to the sport. And in June 2002 he came out to fight with Vladimir Klitschko.
The battle was dramatic. Already at the end of the first three minutes, the Ukrainian hit two lateral ones in the jaw of Mercer. After that, Vladimir once again added a side impact, because of which the American feet became disobedient, and he began to fall on canvas. Klitschko again hit, and Ray was on the floor. Mercer had enough strength to rise and even hold out until the sixth round, but eventually Klitchko squeezed him near the ropes and began methodically beating the crosses, which the American did not have the strength to answer. The referee stopped the fight and awarded victory to Vladimir.
The professional career of Ray Mercer includesand one fight according to the rules of the MMA. In June 2009, he managed to defeat well-known fighter Tim Sylvia, and knockout already in the ninth second of the fight.
