Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer? It’s Big Top Hype At It’s Finest
Just when you thought you’d seen it all, now this.
Remember Ray Mercer? I thought so…let me refresh your memory.
“Merciless” Ray Mercer is a former WBO World Heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medalist. His career really was the stuff of legend. Mercer won the title with a win over some tomato can named Damiani, then in his only title defense, pummeled Tommy Morrison in five brutal rounds to come away with a TKO win.
He then became, what in boxing parlance is known as an “opponent.” Don’t get me wrong here, he fought some very tough guys, and he fought well. He went ten rounds with Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Tim Witherspoon, and as late as 2002, took Wladimir Klitschko six rounds in Atlantic City before getting TKO’d.
Ray Mercer was a solid, if unspectacular heavyweight boxer.
Now he’s trying MMA and he’s set to take on Tim Silvia.
What? The guy is 47 years old. And I’m not seeing this as a career-enhancing move for Silvia either.
Silvia is taking on his first fight since losing to Fedor Emelianenko in July of last year, he was penciled in to face the 47 year old Mercer in the main event of an Adrenaline MMA III on May 30 at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., but in an unsurprising “downsizing” of the event, the fight is now set for Saturday, June 13 in Birmingham, Ala.
Yep, Birmingham. Judging by the production values in the video below, there may not have been the level of interest in this fight the promoters had hoped for when they came up with the magnificent conception.
“I was doing Tim Sylvia against Ray Mercer as a headliner,” said Sylvia’s manager and Adrenaline MMA promoter Monte Cox. “First I was doing it in MMA. We changed and thought it would be a lot more interesting in boxing.”
Mercer last boxed in a majority decision win over Richel Hersisia. Un-huh. There’s a rising star in boxing. Richel Hersisia. And he got choked out in an exhibition against another Big Tent attraction, Kimbo Slice in 2007.
“In boxing, who knows who is going to win,” Cox said. “Mercer just beat a guy who is 30-2. He was ranked fifth in Europe and Mercer just beat him.”
That should prove meaningful.
I’m trying to find out if I can get this on PPV. I think it should be worth a ten-spot. Hell, that’s less than I paid to take my grandson to the Shrine Circus. I think I saw Ray there with his grandkids, too. Maybe I should have gotten his autograph…
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