Ray Mercer shared the ring with a number of legendary heavyweights during his career, including Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield.
The Florida-native’s professional career spanned across three decades between 1989 and 2009, where he became the WBO world heavyweight champion when he stopped Francesco Damiani in the 9th round of their 1991 clash in Atlantic City.
He made just one defence of his WBO crown, stopping Tommy Morrison in the 5th round of their bout just a few months later although he would vacate the belt, going on to challenge unsuccessfully for a version of the world championship on one more occasion before his retirement.
His first defeat came at the hands of Holmes in February 1992, before going on to then lose to Holyfield and Lewis in 1995 and 1996 respectively, all of them coming on points.
Despite crossing paths with so many legendary hard-hitting heavyweights during his tenure, including the aforementioned trio of Holyfield, Lewis and Holmes, Mercer once revealed the hardest puncher that he ever faced in a surprising admission.
In a round of ‘Best I Faced’ with The Ring Magazine, Mercer made no mistake in naming Wladimir Klitschko as the heaviest puncher that he ever shared the ring with, as he pays homage to the ‘powerful’ Ukrainian icon.
“He was a bigger and stronger guy. I really didn’t know him so when he hit me I was like, ‘Damn, where did he come from?’ I was in shape and he was just a powerful dude, his jab and everything, very heavy-handed, more than Lewis.”
Mercer was beaten by Klitschko in June of 2002, suffering a sixth round knockout defeat to the former unified heavyweight champion at the Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in what was the first time the American had ever been stopped.
Known for being one of the best heavyweights of his generation, Klitschko reigned as the unified WBA, WBO and IBF champion for seven years between 2008 and 2015, defeating the likes of Hasim Rahman, David Haye and Alexander Povetkin before he was eventually dethroned by Tyson Fury.
His final fight came in April 2017 when he was stopped by Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium, but just like Holmes, Lewis and Holyfield, Klitschko is viewed as one of the best heavyweights of the past few decades.
