Ray Mercer

Ray Mercer
Born	Raymond Anthony Mercer April 4, 1961 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Other names	Merciless
Nationality	American
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	255 lb (116 kg; 18.2 st)
Division	Heavyweight
Reach	77 in
Style	Boxer-puncher
Stance	Orthodox
Years active	1989–2008
Professional boxing record
Total	44
Wins	36
By knockout	26
Losses	7
By knockout	2
Draws	1
Kickboxing record
Total	2
Losses	2
By knockout	1
Mixed martial arts record
Total	2
Wins	1
By knockout	1
Losses	1
Amateur career
Total	1
Losses	1
By knockout	1

Medal record
Men's Boxing
Representing  United States
Olympic Games
	1988 Seoul	Heavyweight

Ray Mercer (born April 4, 1961) is an American former professional boxer who held the WBO heavyweight title. He boxed from 1989 to 2008, defeating four boxing world champions in Ossie Ocasio, Francesco Damiani, Tommy Morrison and Tim Witherspoon. Mercer also competed in several kickboxing and mixed martial arts bouts from 2004 to 2009, most notably scoring an upset one-punch knockout victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in 2009.

Boxing career

Amateur

Mercer was the 1988 United States Amateur Champion at Heavyweight while in the US Army^[1] and compiled an Amateur record of 64-6. He won Gold in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul as a heavyweight.

Olympic results

• 1st round bye
• Defeated Rudolf Gavenčiak (Czechoslovakia) RSC 3
• Defeated Luigi Gaudiano (Italy) KO 1
• Defeated Arnold Vanderlyde (Netherlands) RSC 2
• Defeated Baik Hyun-Man (South Korea) KO 1

Professional

Mercer turned pro in 1989 with a 3rd TKO of Jesse Hughes. He scored a series of knockouts and in August 1990 knocked down and outpointed big punching Smokin' Bert Cooper in a spectacular 12 round brawl that earned him Cooper's NABF title. In January 1991 he challenged undefeated Francesco Damiani for the WBO heavyweight title, scoring a one punch knockout victory in the 9th when behind on points. Later that year he brutally demolished undefeated puncher Tommy Morrison in five, and with a major world title fight on the horizon vacated his WBO belt and fought 42-year-old legend Larry Holmes rather than mandatory challenger Michael Moorer. It proved an unwise decision, as the crafty Holmes conned Mercer out of the fight, outjabbing the puzzled youngster and gaining both the points decision, and Mercer's world title fight with heavyweight king Evander Holyfield.

Having split fights with dangerous veteran Jesse Ferguson (Mercer was investigated for allegedly asking Ferguson to "throw the fight" during their first encounter), labored when overweight to a draw with trialhorse Marion Wilson, and seen a proposed 1994 bout in Hong Kong with Frank Bruno fall through, Mercer enjoyed an unexpected run of form in major fights, losing on points in a thrilling brawl with Holyfield in May 1995, losing a controversial decision in another wild punch up, this time with Lennox Lewis, in June 1996, and scoring a controversial points win over ex-champ Tim Witherspoon in yet another high action bout in December 1996. In the frame for a bout with Andrew Golota in 1997, Mercer suffered a neck injury and was out of action for 14 months. He returned February 1998 with a 2 round kayo of Leo Loiacono, but contracted Hepatitis B and was again inactive, this time for 20 months.

Comeback

In February 2001 a 39-year-old Mercer launched a final comeback, knocking out four journeymen before being matched with WBO title holder Wladimir Klitschko in a high profile bout on HBO. Once famed for his incredible iron chin, Mercer looked his age and was knocked down in the first and stopped in the 6th. A brief dalliance in the mixed martial arts nixed a 2004 bout with DaVarryl Williamson, however he did return to boxing in 2005, now aged 44, but was stopped in seven by Shannon Briggs.

Kickboxing career

Continuing to seek a fighting career, Mercer opted to travel to Japan and challenged Musashi in the kickboxing combat sport K-1 on June 6, 2004. Mercer held a reasonable account of himself, but his age and inability to successfully defend kicks was evident as he went on to lose the bout via unanimous decision. On March 19, 2005, he had one more K-1 bout against Remy Bonjasky, to whom he lost via verbal submission, the first and only strike of the night, a head kick, would land on the square on the head of Mercer. It wasn't your typical fight; Mercer took one head kick and then quit in what was one of the most bizarre fights of all time as the kick didn't even seem to hurt him. As Mercer put it, "I got the shit kicked out of me".

Mixed martial arts career

After a series of scheduled boxing matchups fell through (including a proposed bout against former champion Hasim Rahman), Mercer decided to try mixed martial arts (MMA) and approached Felix Martinez, co-founder of Cage Fury Fighting Championships, about working with the promotion. On March 21, 2007, Cage Fury announced that Mercer had signed to face underground street fighter and Internet legend Kimbo Slice at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall on June 23, 2007, as part of Cage Fury Fighting Championship 5. The bout was a non-sanctioned exhibition under the New Jersey Unified MMA rules.^[2]

Kimbo Slice won the fight in the first round with a guillotine choke submission.

Mercer later stated in the press conference at Adrenaline III: Bragging Rights when he was scheduled to fight Tim Sylvia under MMA rules instead of Boxing rules that he had expected Kimbo Slice to box with him and said that he did not really train in any other aspect of MMA and was unprepared for the guillotine choke.

On June 13, 2009, Mercer made a big splash when he defeated former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia at Adrenaline III: Bragging Rights. He won the fight via knockout in 9 seconds with a huge right hand to the chin, becoming the first man to ever defeat Sylvia by knockout.

In March 2010, it was announced that Mercer had signed with the King of the Cage organization.^[3]

Professional boxing record

Kickboxing record

0 Wins (0 (T) KO's, 0 decision), 2 Losses

Date	Result	Record	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time	Location
March 15, 2005	Loss	0–2	Remy Bonjasky	K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Seoul	TKO (Right High Kick)	1	0:22	Seoul, South Korea
June 6, 2004	Loss	0–1	Musashi	K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Nagoya	Decision (Unanimous)	3	3:00	Nagoya, Japan

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
1 match	1 win	0 losses
By knockout	1	0
By submission	0	0
By decision	0	0

Professional record

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	1–0	Tim Sylvia	KO (punch)	Adrenaline MMA 3: Bragging Rights	June 13, 2009	1	0:09	Birmingham, Alabama, United States

Exhibition record

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	0–1	Kimbo Slice	Submission (guillotine choke)	Cage Fury Fighting Championship 5	June 23, 2007	1	1:12	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

Boxing accomplishments

References

1. "Mercer Just May Be Sowing the Seeds for a High-Paying Career". Los Angeles Times. September 29, 1988.
2. "Freak Show or Convert? Kimbo Slice Interview". MMAWeekly. June 22, 2007.
3. "Ray Mercer Returns to Fight Undefeated Ron Sparks". MMAFighting.com. March 12, 2010.
4. Boxing record for Ray Mercer. BoxRec.com.
5. http://articles.philly.com/1993-06-30/sports/25972262_1_mercer-first-jesse-ferguson-ray-mercer

External links

• Professional MMA record for Ray Mercer from Sherdog
• Professional boxing record for Ray Mercer from BoxRec
• K-1 record