BOXING : Holyfield Defeats Mercer

Evander Holyfield had promised to give Ray Mercer a lesson in boxing. Instead, he gave him a lesson in courage, winning a slugfest he didn’t want with a unanimous 10-round decision Saturday night that thrust him back into the heavyweight picture.

With blood streaming down the side of his face from a cut alongside his right eye, Holyfield put on a brilliant show.

“After the cut, he pressured me and I was able to get him with a couple of clean shots,” Holyfield said. “He tended to start squaring up and allowed me to start hitting him with clean shots.”

He knocked Mercer down in the eighth round and swept the cards of all three judges. Eugene Grant had it 96-93, Eva Shain 97-92 and Jean Williams 95-94.

It was the first fight in 13 months for Holyfield, who was found to have a heart condition after losing the World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation titles to Michael Moorer on April 22, 1994. He was later cleared to return to the ring by doctors and hopes to join Muhammad Ali as the only fighter to hold boxing’s most prestigious title three times.

“I’m here to win the championship of the world one more time,” Holyfield said.

Against Mercer, Holyfield, 32, showed no effects of the long layoff, even when he was forced to discard his plan to box and not slug with him to win the decision before a sellout crowd of 11,128 at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

Holyfield weighed 209 3/4, the lightest he has been since losing the title the first time to Riddick Bowe on Nov. 13, 1992. Mercer came in at 224, 22 pounds less than in his last fight, a draw against Marion Wilson on July 28.

“I felt I did what I had to do to win the fight,” Holyfield said. “Ray Mercer did more than I thought he would. His jab was quicker than I thought. He gave me all I could handle.

“I was able to hit him with some great body shots. But he’s a vicious guy, and it’s hard to get him down with just one punch. I realize now that everybody I fight is going to come in in great shape.”

Of the decision, Mercer said, “I’m a man. I can take it. I’m back. Everybody gets a break. I didn’t get one. I’m the real warrior.”

Holyfield improved to 31-2 with 22 knockouts. Mercer is 23-3-1 with 16 knockouts.

In the co-feature on the pay-per-view card, Hector (Macho) Camacho retained the lightly regarded International Boxing Council welterweight championship with a unanimous 12-round decision over Homer Gibbins.