There are not many men on the planet who know what it is like to be hit by Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko and Evander Holyfield.
These are three of the world’s most famous and accomplished fighters. Lewis was recently the last man to be undisputed in the heavyweight division, a tag he held for over two decades before Oleksandr Usyk took over back in May of this year when he beat Tyson Fury.
It was against Holyfield that Lewis achieved that in 1999, and Holyfield himself is also in the record books for having been the first man to be undisputed at cruiserweight and then at heavyweight. Usyk again repeated that feat.
Klitschko, Usyk’s countryman, is a two-time heavyweight champion who is well known for, alongside his brother Vitali, dominating the scene from 2004 to 2015. He hung up the gloves with 64 wins from 69 fights, 53 by knockout.
Back in the 1990s, one of the top men in the banner division was Ray Mercer, who had a famously durable chin and the ability to knock out any man he faced.
He won the WBO title in 1991 and later vacated it in order to take on the legendary former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes instead of mandatory challenger Michael Moorer. He lost that fight but, in 1995, worked his way into contention to challenge Evander Holyfield, ultimately losing over the distance.
A year later he came up against rising star Lewis who also beat him on points. In 2002, Mercer was stopped for the first time by Wladimir Klitschko for his old WBO title. He told Ring Magazine that the Ukrainian legend hit harder than any man he faced.
“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 retired in 2008 but went on to have a successful few years in MMA.
