by James Slater – Make of it what you will – and it may not be much in terms of where you think he goes from here in boxing – but 48-year-old Ray Mercer last night annihilated the much bigger Tim Sylvia in just 9 seconds of the very first round. Fighting in an MMA rules bout in Birmingham, Alabama, Mercer, looking in pretty good physical condition, came right out and just smoked the 300-plus-pounds Sylvia. A big right hand smacked into the head of the ponderous-looking MMA star, and Sylvia went down almost in slow-motion – looking for all the world like a huge oak tree being felled..
The fight was originally scheduled for May, and at Atlantic City, N.J, but due to the very nature of the fight and most likely due to the age of Mercer, the bout ran into trouble and had to have it’s venue switched. Also, according to Fight Opinion.com, the fight was switched from boxing rules to those of MMA at practically the eleventh hour. Upon hearing this, Mercer -the former WBO heavyweight champ and also a former Olympic gold Medallist- said he would simply box anyway. As it turned out, the bout didn’t last anywhere near long enough for Sylvia’s tactics to cause “Merciless” any concern whatsoever.
Where Mercer, who is 36-7-1(26) in legitimate boxing, goes from here it is not clear. He last fought under The Marques of Queensbury rules last September, when he out-pointed Richel Hersisia over six-rounds in Sweden. There had been talk of Ray taking more “hybrid” type matches if he were able to defeat Sylvia. The fact that he destroyed the giant a number of people said would maybe hurt him, and so quickly, may persuade Mercer to indeed take more such contests.
As for Sylvia, well, I’m not going to pretend I know anywhere near enough about MMA to predict where he goes from here. Maybe Mercer’s win was one that will earn him much praise from fans of MMA, or maybe those who know all about Sylvia and his recent form will say they saw his quick KO defeat coming a mile off.
Going into the curiosity fight, many fans did say that if the natural boxer (Mercer) landed with a hard punch first, he would win. And, boy, is that how things turned out! In not allowing his opponent to grab him, wrestle him to the floor or choke him (that’s right isn’t it!?) Mercer basically gave Sylvia no chance.
(for those fans that are interested, the “contest” is up now on YouTube)