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Comeback kid Mercer hopes to fulfill boxing dream on Sunday
Updated: Thursday February 08, 2001 3:33 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Put Ray Mercer's lament to music and call it the Boxer's Blues. "I didn't know it was going to be like this," the heavyweight gold-medal winner in the 1988 Olympics says. "My biggest disappointment has been the management problems." Those lyrics have been spit out in rage or mumbled in heartbreak by countless boxers. Mercer, however, adds a stanza that is usually dropped: "I put part of the blame on myself." He was Sgt. Ray Mercer of the U.S. Army when he punched his way to Olympic gold at Seoul, beating his last three opponents in a total of 7:32. That's less than three full rounds of boxing. He became champion of the fringe WBO when he knocked out Francesco Damiani with a right uppercut to the Italian's Roman nose in the ninth round in 1991. Now the man who fought Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis is an aging boxer - he'll turn 40 on April 4 - who hasn't fought in 14 months and has only three bouts since he lost a disputed 10-round decision to Lewis in May 1996. Sunday night, Mercer will fight Jeff Pegues in a 10-round bout at the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Ill. It will be televised on Fox Sports Net. Mercer, who filed for bankruptcy in 2000, reportedly will be paid $30,000 for his first fight for promoter America Presents. Mercer, who's had at least three managers, got out of a contract with one of them, Carl King, last year when he also got out of a promotional contract with King's father, Don. "I'm really serious about it," Mercer said of his comeback. "I'm more serious than ever." Mercer once was on the threshold of fighting Holyfield for the undisputed heavyweight title and another time was within a fight of challenging Riddick Bowe for the undisputed championship. He got $1.4 million for fighting Holmes in 1992, but losing a 12-round decision to the then 41-year-old former champion cost him a $2.7 million payday for a shot at Holyfield. He lost a decision to Holyfield in 1996 when Holyfield was not champion. A title bid against Bowe and a $2 million payday fell through when he lost a 10-round decision to Jesse Ferguson in Madison Square Garden in 1993. "I never should have been in that fight," Mercer said. "I was out of shape." The loss to Ferguson, however, brought Mercer national attention. He was arrested and charged with offering Ferguson $100,000 during the match to lose. Mercer, who said the charge was made by a former manager, was acquitted. Because of management problems, illness and injury, Mercer (26-4-1, 18 knockouts) did not fight in 1997 and only once each in 1998 and 1999, then not at all last year. Sunday night, Ray Mercer returns. "I don't want to fight much longer," he said, "but I still want to realize my dream."
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