Evander Holyfield vs. Ray Mercer | Full Fight HD

[Music] [Applause] ladies and gentlemen from convention hall here on the boardwalk in atlantic city new jersey [Applause] increasing first fighting out of the red corner wearing the black trimmed in gold he weighed in at 224 pounds he's a native of augusta georgia who now lives in newark new jersey and fights out of the mark roberts house of pain in 1988 as a u.s army sergeant he captured olympic gold and as a professional he now has a record of 23 and 2 with one draw and 16 of those 23 victories are by k.o and he's captured a world title ladies and gentlemen introducing the former wbo world heavyweight champion merciless and who's opponent across the ring fighting out of the blue corner wearing white trimmed with black weighing 209 and three-quarter pounds this 1984 olympic bronze medalist has a professional record of 30 victories 22 by ko against only two defeats ladies and gentlemen from atlanta georgia presenting the return of the three-time world champion and former who time heavyweight champion of the world [Music] evander real deal [Applause] gentlemen receive the rules from the commission to avoid any controversy i remind you now to score a knock down be careful with your follow-up punches do not hit a man on the deck if either fighter is in trouble and you do not want me to stop the bout you must show me clearly that you can and want to continue these trunks below here is low below here and these trunks are low no matter what happens out here they might commands let's keep it strictly professional good luck to you both all right dave montefoa sold out atlantic city convention center just under 11 000 people to see evander the real deal holyfield take on ray mercer in what is like a heavyweight championship crowd although there is no title instead of the curiosity holifield coming back mercer people waiting for him to regain his form and what's good about the instructions right there referee telling both fighters immediately what is low what is not low ray mercer with eight career first-round knockouts holyfield has two holyfield says he will box more but when he gets tagged does he resort back to the brawling that we've seen and ray mercer will try to send an early statement in this fight that it's going to be a power match up for him six of holyfield's last seven fights have ended in decisions and he raised an interesting question yesterday when we spoke with him he says he knows how to stay in a fight and not get hurt but he says the big question is can i stay in a fight not get hurt and know how to win because i have gotten older and then somebody respects what age has done in the fact that he needs the supreme conditioning all the time mercer already tagged it with one good short right hand here over a wide left hook by holofield that one was sharper and tighter ray mercer will show the jab but he's looking to drop the bomb in holyfield's first fight against riddick bowe he came out and he boxed early and holyfield was hit with an apparent low blow that seemed to just fire him up and he lost his game plan will he keep the game plan here against ray mercer and work off that jab well he'll do that you would think being that he's had the layoff he wants to get back and sort of feel his legs in this bout first go with the fundamentals the jab setting up his right hand there good body punch by evander good left hook and down and all the field opens up again ray mercer has a cement chin and can get hit with anything he'll keep on coming in well we saw him against francisco damiani here in atlantic city get beaten from pillar to post for most of the fight and then it was one shot that broke down the annie's nose and it was the chin of mercer that kept him in that fight and really a nice pace here in this first round well heavyweights they look like they're in pretty good shape good movement the jabs by both both fighters giving some indication of how they're going to try to win this fight behind the jab and despite some of the early stoppages i guess the camacho fight going the distance enabled both fighters to get properly warmed up and both you know feel quite loose and ready to go here sometimes you see a slow start and guys trying to get loose holyfield has used that jab here in round one and that is the end of his first round of the scheduled ten round bout evander holyfield back to his corner you get a look at the seats here at the atlantic city convention center tommy brooks don turns down in the corner don't you see him again in the reach you see him beginning to reach half a step out quick half his step out then throw the left hook [Music] that's the lane this left hook that's pretty nice a little bit deep in there they'll try to get that little shorter during this fight we start round number two of the scheduled ten round bounty vander holyfield in the white ray mercer in the black and both fighters busier than average holifield 25 for 66 38 mercer 24 for 55 44 strong opening round for ray mercer too mercer feels he paid his dues this is his opportunity now to put all the baggage from his pass behind him and get right into the heavyweight mix and what helps mercer in this type of a situation is he's never been a trash talker the left hand staggered holyfield after holyfield was applying the pressure [Applause] mercer really got his attention with that one let's see if he comes back to it strong shot big statement sent by mercer here in round two counter left by holyfield [Applause] the mercer people felt that holyfield signed against the old mercer and not the new and improved and so far we see a sharp ray mercer well they said he was emotionally into this fight not just physically and he's come out very sharp here very focused staying behind the fundamentals and he always does have a good punch when he's in his good shape mercer camp said that holyfield likes to counter with a jab they hope to double up on the jab and when holyfield jumps and bounces they feel that that's where they can catch him well in the first round mercer looked like he was just aching to throw that right hand counter messed with it a couple times and here in round two got the left-handed on a power situation he's trying to set up a bomb holyfield shows early movement but then he kind of just settles in front of mercy seeing holyfield get turned around completely on a couple shots that mercer has landed here referee ron lipton out of jersey city steps in he should be very busy as this fight goes along if it goes long because of the leaning on each other for the fighters and the tying up which at some point we'll see in this bout pleasing exchange of styles here both fighters trying to set up powerful punches holifield downstairs mercer upstairs holyfield a bit more of the boxer but he could easily be lured into a slugfest and so far as you mentioned some pretty good exchanges holyfield was initially quite a prohibitive favorite but as work got out that mercer was in shape as round number two comes to an end and early field fending off mercer good finish for ray mercer the odds drop dramatically and a lot of people think this pumped up reimburser can win he's certainly showing the look thus far in this bout right when do you see that kind of a bunch out there and take it what he wants to take you make him do what you want him to do right okay give him a little thank you move my hands up then go to him relax you breathe deep in yeah [Applause] getting in his right hand from a distance mercer important for him to answer and he certainly did that the left hand punctuating it on the way out let's take a look at the end of the round and uh merciful applying the pressure he really smells it thus far in this fight he is coming right through evander holifield and really that's great emotion out of ray mercer we start round number three mercer feels he's done everything right as far as putting himself in preparation to get a shot at a title and he feels this will be the first of that few steps it'll take him well thus far mercer and holifield a push with the jab mercer has just been as effective as whole field which is a good change for him and can open up a lot more in his game mercer doing a good job with his jab he's led a lot of these exchanges ray mercer can see it right in front of him here this fight is certainly there for the taking he's had a good start he's gotten to hollow field and he's getting the kind of inside rumble that he wants saw a lead right hand there from mercer and holyfield can get lazy with that jab he'll snap it out but sometimes it just paws it out and mercer could come right over the top with the right has good power when you consider that holifield has been rocked in the past by the likes of bert cooper [Applause] he's an exciting fighter and a vulnerable fighter and mercer just missing with the right hand there he really is trying to set that shot up holyfield did a nice job of summing up his career yesterday when he said listen everyone gets into shape to fight me because everybody thinks that they can beat me but few have [Applause] some puffiness underneath the left eye of russia good counter by holyfield kind of appalling clubbing left that time for mercy he just missed over the top with the right hand again his whole field had him there there's a nudge him down and fans think ray took a little bit of a rest there mercer having some trouble with his by mercer and he's gotten holyfield's attention again yeah he won that exchange significantly and evander rises up as he always has double left hook by holyfield and here comes that brawl we talked about mercer connects holyfield scores with a chopping left right by mercer [Applause] you do see an exciting heavyweight fight once in a while good right by holyfield as well a mercer right there a tremendous round here tell you what mercer has not backed up a step [Music] very entertaining round number three a tough round to score dave how do you see that one i gave it to mercer and more decisive punches seemed to be his he was able to back evander holofield off of those close exchanges also one of those rounds are you looking probably split in the cards you got to stay with the jab as soon as you finish spin as soon as you finish spin half step understand yeah reach okay three three breathe exhale all the way up breathe baby we got three in the back dave let's take a look at some of the numbers and mercer with a slight edge in the connect department through four rounds of this fight exceptional percentage of punches landed for the heavyweights and they've been very accurate right on track yeah they were pinpoint in that round number three and evander holyfield and ray mercer ready to embark upon round four and what is living up to the hype as far as what many expected this fight would be like and in round three there were some bellwether shots there mercer 53 on his jab in that round at holifield 37 mercer winning the battle of the jab is something that the experts would not have handicapped left hand inside by holyfield mercer comes right back wow both guys really digging in and making this exceptional action nomination by holyfield mercer right there so much for the boxing and this crowd which had been low throughout most of the night awakened it was the right fight at the right time as far as and excitement both guys [Applause] a pair of fighters each with indomitable will and this will boil down probably to conditioning it's almost like racing where each guy opens it up a little and says can you match me and they look back and they did a 21-4 first quarter and both fighters in good shape holyfield has been going 12 rounds for so long this 10 rounds may seem like a walk in the park walking in the park for either man is going to be out tonight with the heavy-handedness of both fighters starting to see some of the leaning in from both of these fighters having both coming off long last but so far they seem fairly sharp not one speck of it thus far in the spout what we're going to see the critical factor i believe as we go along in this fast-paced bout will be the stamina question this has been a fast-paced entertaining crowd-pleasing bout mercer two years older than holyfield they both rip off right hand a little bit more discipline here in the latter stages of round four for holyfield a blistering pace to start this very exciting round good hook inside by marcel and that is the end of round four entertaining close and [Applause] all right just keep that right keep your hands up a little more okay for me well this is what keeps fans coming back into the seats good right hand by holding field mercer comes right over the top hollow field loads up mercer tighter on the inside and they both go through both of them in this round and in this bout have had an iron will you mean another look at some of the action both fighters firing off left and right combinations and pretty quick even in slow motion yeah hollow field a little bit wide there then gets closer and we've never seen we haven't seen this type of sustained movement from ray mercer in a long time from the corner of ray mercer 34 years of age and a former two-time heavyweight champion evander holyfield embark on round five in his scheduled ten round heavyweight bow [Applause] well if you like fundamentals that set up good shots mercer 60 of his jabs in that round hollow field 50 usually when one guy gets over 60 he negates the other fighter it's very rare to see two guys with jamming percentages that high in a single round [Applause] not nearly the blistering pace we saw to start round four as here in round five holyfield just missed with a right he moved nicely to his left which opened up an angle and he poured it through mercer doing it off the jab again there every time mercer throws a jab practically there is something else that goes with it and that's the biggest difference between the ray mercer of this fight and the ray mercer of many previous ones well he says since his win over tommy morrison said ray mercer his career has been downhill but he has made the turn back up with the way he's performed so far tonight against demander holy still a long way to go he's giving this a tremendous effort for the first four rounds both of these fighters really on [Applause] once again that jab of mercer right there to keep holyfield [Applause] comes right back [Applause] i can't tell if there's a cut or some swelling near the right eye of holyfield we'll get a closer look who's going to lose the steam on his punches first if that happens there have been tremendous body shots early in this bout will some of the power get away no no cut on holyfield's right eye stop punching step back and referee ron lipkin who hasn't had to do too much so far steps in again much slower pace here in round five holyfield it seems to have landed a more telling blow a little bit better balance for him maybe on the right eyelid of holyfield that is the end of round five as he goes back to his corner he has been cut along the eyelids in the past [Music] all right you got to use that jab some more look this guy is out of gas trust me on the boss trust me he's out of gas look look check this out when you throw your combinations aim at anything okay open that bottle you can't handle it baby open that bottle open give him the grease trust me crazy you're out of gas right now guaranteed stumbling all over the place anymore no no everything's under control down down to the street ray mercer comes out of his corner we get set for the start of round six dave von tempo how do you have it scored one point for holofield here in what should be a judicial nightmare for the people who have to do it officially the way these fighters have gone back and forth no true trend there might be a little nick along the right eye of evander holyfield and you remember one of the great cut men the late ace morata may have saved holy spiel's title when he fought larry holmes and he had a bad cut in eighth close that thing up and that's something to just keep an eye on closed it up and then hollow field went out to more of a boxing style in the last six rounds of that fight and made the style go his way he made larry holmes use his legs don turner worked on the cut in between rounds tommy brooks took more of an active role well it looks after both fighters came out winging and took their best shots in the middle rounds here this is going to boil down to who has the ability to steal a rounds here and there a little bit too far away as he was trying to dig the body there's that right hand we've talked about trying to bring the jab hand of holofield down first midway point of round six ace has slowed down a bit but even this pace here for ray mercer [Music] still fighting far better at this stage of this fight well the holyfield tommy brooks strategy yesterday as they explained to us was let's make this a long competitive fight for ray mercer because he is not used to long competitive fights for a sustained 10 round it's a good strategy overall however what they don't know and what nobody can know is when a guy is going to change his colors when he'll all of a sudden be right and if it's his knight he'll win under any circumstances mercer is at least fighting that way he's able to get in a few right hands there mercer just missed with a chopping right hand to the temple a little bit more of a retreat position now here in this round six he's had a good round overall and maybe he's trying to protect that also showing that he can move a little bit [Applause] holyfield was able to block a lot of that left from mercer [Applause] i think some more blood from that right eye of holyfield yeah that cut is opened up the heads came together and a punch and that right eye from evander holyfield now streaming with blood [Music] all right good shots here holyfield on the inside drives mercer back don't let him go off mercer never lets too much time go by before he counters and there's a nice left hook remember if an unintentional accident or but or other unavoidable circumstance occurs in less than half the scheduled number of rounds have been complete it would be declared a draw since we have passed the midway point they would go to the scorecard to determine the winner provided the butt was called which did not appear to be the case there and it's ruled as the cause of the fight ending all those scenarios could come into play well the holyfield corner was yelling over to referee ron lipton about a butt now we're not sure if that was acknowledged or not he did not seem to give them the answer they wanted at least mercer was 30 52 58 of his jabs were deep in the fight that's impressive holyfield trying to stay at a range mercer pouring it on and you heard holyfield's corners say you got to keep away now and use the ring more and be wise and this is where the conditioning for mercer is critical because if he's in the shape he wants to be in he can move he could try to cut off the ring and force his way inside when a fighter is not in good shape he cannot do that he cannot force those openings late [Applause] tommy brooks and don turner are in holyfield's corner but as far as being put man big right by the house yeah melissa is coming right in field having some trouble seeing out of that right eye we see him squint a bit that means he would not be able to see left hooks coming at him there [Applause] and the tone of this fight has changed mercy seems in command here [Applause] would be interesting to see what the effects of not having one of the renowned cut men in the corner might have a bearing that cut could factor in these guys are worth their money in a fight like this [Applause] [Music] [Applause] mercer has backed up a lot in this round but he has been very effective showing the effects of that cut rubbing it something fighters really hate to do it acknowledges the severity of the damage he continues to fight it's at the corner of the eye dangerous in itself it's not nearly as much on the eyelid and we come to the end of round seven and just since the tide is starting to swing ray mercer's way [Applause] baby holy you step one you got steps one and five sets follow me just like in the gym just like we're working on a mix okay look at this hellhorn the blood in the corner of holyfield's eye and dave you see him trying to get it out of his head it streams in this is what i talked about how fighters don't like to do that it sends a signal to their opponent about how bad that is we start round number eight most of the instructions in that round coming from tommy brooks in holyfield's corner as don turner worked on the cut dave how do you see it scored to this point i have got mercer with a 1.8 taking over in that round out punching holofield 26-11 as far as punches connected and ray mercer has been very strong in the last two rounds fighting like a guy who thinks it's his knife mercer wanted to keep the punches up you heard tommy brook say vander just like we did in the gym put the punches together but i guess there comes a point in every father's career where there's not enough left in the tank to follow out the instructions we'll find out over these next three rounds he certainly has the will on this fight is definitely winnable for him here but mercer has gained the upper hand and is going to work on that eye and putting shots together we're seeing something rare for holyfield here that he's closing in and not getting it off he suddenly seems to have difficulty figuring out how to hit mercer i think he was just going to let his hands dry like that has an answer and missed with a right hand and there was a good move by mercer there as hollow film was about to take a right-hand shot at him mercer lowered his head went in and grabbed mercer is doing a lot of the little things right in this fight some of that has been a result of better stamina he can think a little more quickly do things a little more quickly we'll have a look at the blood here ron lipton will ascend holyfield and have the doctor come look at it i don't think the fans would like to see a stoppage here and i think the cut is enough of a corner where it's not streaming right into the eye you see where the cut is if it was not over it's not coming into the eye they should let this go and they will [Applause] and they start the clock again if it was on the eyelid above the eye that's one thing but where it is right now it shouldn't be that much of a problem [Applause] nearly 11 000 fans here in the atlantic city convention center and ray mercer trying to pull off an upset and that stoppage really took away the flow of this round it certainly didn't really was a boon to holdfield there's a right by holyfield will he take enough advantage there's a big left hook and a left as well and holyfield loves it mercer goes down [Applause] says he's okay a fighter cannot be saved by the bell in any round mercer says he's fine but a big finish for holyfield the extraordinary significance of that ray mercer has never been down that is the first time in his career ray mercer has been down [Applause] let's listen into mercy's corners something you will not see very often ray mercer going down tremendous left hook by holder field the elbow up nice left hook behind it ray mercer still in a bit of trouble hits him again and then down mercer went down mercer almost put himself down to take a breather take another look good left hook by hole of field working to make room which he did smartly now two were in there ray mercer put himself down as he was positioning to try to get away now he gets left the right foot came out but he was hurt he was hurt but he made the fast last move himself as he came down tried to set himself up and went down we start round 10 to revitalize the evander holyfield on his toes no fair catches in boxing hey what a storyline in this fight we've seen just about everything highly a treat no matter what perspective you have how do you have it scored that a two-point round for hollow field would give him the lead back by a point i agree and holyfield with a little smirk feeling confident [Applause] and a good body shot there as well answering back the kind of fight that regardless who people are pulling for they will leave this place satisfied good work inside lou duval evander holyfield former trainer standing up across the ring cheering holyfield on hey what heart he has come to symbolize in the ring just about everything that's good about a fighter hustling the workmanlike ethic the heart the ability never quits and he pulled the lion out of his hat for a rabbit out of a satin that last round but it's not over yet still a round and a half to go in what is a toss-up as far as we're concerned regardless it was so crucial for holyfield at that point to change the momentum because mercer was on the verge of making it permanent they say styles make fights and you knew going in the styles here would make a good one and nick under the left eye of mercer [Applause] martial nearly leaned into a left and mercer is wobbly good body shot by holyfield now it is mercer who needs a big moment [Applause] they stopped and looked at holyfield's eye it's been a different fight ever since and he had a good flow going as well i thought it might hurt him but maybe the rest helped the rest really did a lot for him and mercer trying to score the big shot he's got the chin he's also got a good punch hole of field now seeming to fight with redemption yes and a couple of digs to the body have slowed ray mercer down as we come to the end of round nine holyfield pouring it on there is concern in the corner of ray marshall [Applause] round number nine complete the fans come to their feet here at the sold out convention center in atlantic city let's take a look at the punches thrown through nine rounds david and mercer with a slight edge in that and look at that 50 percent connect for both fighters now mercer lands a shot takes a big one downstairs he took some big shots in round eight as well holyfield seeming to sense it and in that round 27-17 the eggs for holyfield 71 of his punches connected the tenth and final round good work by holyfield's corner on the cut in the right eye dave how do you see it scored in this last round i see whole field with a slight edge two points i also see this as probably a split fight among the judges at this point holyfield coming out pressing the action this has been a very good fight from the opening bell ray mercer being knocked down the first time in his career that came in round eight this has been terrific with the stamina of mercer he seems to have a lot more now obviously he trains very well this 224 was a lot better than the 224 he had against jesse ferguson the second time and he has come here tonight going [Music] [Applause] letting the hands fly and then holding holyfield up and the nature of holyfield is he will not sit on any type of lead no and nor should he because he's best going for it and mercer is making him pay a little bit here [Applause] good combination by holyfield you see to the left of your screen lou duva again standing up and cheering on his former fighter blood now streaming out of the corner of holyfield's right eye simply a matter now who wants it more and if you're a betting man you put your money on holyfield and that's not a knock on ray mercer if you're a betting man and you did you're also sweating laying those odds you're sweating man holyfield doubling up with that left [Applause] well this is years of consistency coming through to benefit holifield at the end and yet these scorecards promise to be extremely interesting [Applause] for mercer now yeah from both men will not count of course well mercer held on to holyfield and then grabbed holyfield by the ankles holyfield losing his trunks let's see who benefits by this delay here holyfield bothered by his trunks these are big men going down folks [Applause] holyfield's about to lose his trunk loading up with a right hand that'd be way too fun like middleweights tonight final seconds of the fight holyfield hooks to the body could be the explanation [Applause] it'll be tough to score dave what terrific action different vantage points however you had it both men gave everything holyfield appeared a little stronger at the end how'd you see that last round which could be a swing round swing around ultimately i gave it to mercer a one point fight for hollow holifield you know the fight has split decision written all over but we will see mercer emerged like he felt he won both fighters have good reason to believe they did enough well let's find out what the decision will be ray mercer a little nick under his eye evander holyfield with the cut on the left right eye i think what ray mercer may have done at least is provide another big payday for himself even if he loses if he can convince people that he can continue to come in and shape and put on this performance he will be entertaining ladies and gentlemen we go to the scorecards gene williams scores the belt 95 to 94. even shane has it 97 to 92 and eugene grant scores it 96 93 for the winner by unanimous decision the warrior has returned the winner [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Fight Source

Views: 604,674

Keywords: main event, FSOMEVS1E007, fightsource, boxing

Id: wfQkB4YqbsM

Length: 44min 36sec (2676 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 05 2022