European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 7, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday october 1988 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary 1 Mercer a a or hit in olympics images of Ray Mercer olympic heavyweight boning Champion May 1985. Mercer has just won his first usar eur title. The All army coach. Kenny Adams is flying Back to fort Hood Texas. While relaxing in his fan am scat High above the Atlantic Adams says of this new kid from Baum older he s going to be a Good Boxer. He throws his right hand with his right foot moving Forward. But hat s because he has t had enough fights. He has the ability to be effective with either january 1986. Frankfurt International Airport. Mercer hangs out in the lounge waiting for a ride Back to Baum older. No one recognizes him. No one that is except for a fellow Boxer and boxing coach. The three arc Back from an International Box ing meet in Sweden. Mercer has a Silver medal after losing to a norwegian in he final. The ride arrives. Mercer meanders toward the car with his coach and boxing buddy. I ask his coach Freddie Giddens of Stuttgart if this 24-year-old Ray Mercer will Ever Caily win big in International Box ing. Giddens does t flinch. Ray Mercer is for real he says. If he gets International boxing experience and Lime to train he can win the olympics september 1988. Mercer owns three Usa eur titles. He owns Trie . Amateur Crown. He s inc . Heavyweight boxing representative in the Seoul olympics. Tom Hlavacek of the armed Force sports committee is proud. As the vol corps sports chief in 1983, Hlavacek helped Mercer sort boxing in Schweinfurt. Hlavacek has been picking Mercer to win everything since Etc Ching last i tiler s armed forces championships which Mercer won. Some people arc Only picking him for a Silver or Bronze says Hlavacek by i d Pui my Money on the Gold for him oct. 1. 1988. If Hlavacek did Pui Money on Marc or he s a Rich Man. The Baum older bomber waiters dark Hyun Man of Korea for the Gold medal. The knockout at 2 16 of the first round Means Mercer s four olympic fights total 11 Mere 16 minutes 56seconds out of a possible 36 minutes. Usa eur s finest has Given the olympics one of he he Tiest heavyweight performances in history. What Hay Mercer accomplished last sat urday is simply the greatest feat by a Usa eur athlete in history. Bar none. Former Usa eur athletes have won olympic Gold medals. Eddie Crook a Usa eur Champion while stationed in Berlin won the middleweight Box ing Gold at the 1960 Rome olympics. But by then. Crook was stationed at fort Campbell icy. Willie Davenport a Usa eur High hurdling Champion out of Mainz won the Gold at the 1968 Mexico City games. But by Hen Davenport was out of the Bucky Fox army. Mercer is a Usa eur athlete now. He s a specialist with co d 1st in 39th inf 8th inf div. Yes he has l been with his unit since last Winter. Sure hell sign out of Baum older and go pro As fast As he swings that Hook. Bui for the record Mercer is still a Baum older Soldier. Which made it All the More infilling to watch the merciless one Maul Korea s bail on to. Here s How Abc s Marv Albert and Ferdie Pache co called Mercer s balk ride Albert in his previous bouts we be seen heavy weight Ray Mercer intimidate his opponent Chase him around with thai right hand cocked and eventually gel his Man. But can he do that against a More skillful Boxer i Baik Pacheco All of Mercer s fight so this Point have Bee More muggings than fights. That carries a come in wild like Mercer and a Good counter puncher like Baik can step in and flatten you on the Way in. I look for a knockout la be the determining Factor of this fight it s Mercer with the dogged persistence of an infantryman in the army s tradition of can do against Baik representing his country before a sellout Albert Ray Mercer has been stationed at Baum Holder West Germany. He is an automatic has been in the service the last eight years a major Surprise to make the United Stales team. And the Chan of us a us a Ray Mercer leading them on As he gets set logo against Baik let s Sec if Mercer incs logo right at Baik with that right Pacheco you won t have to Wail Long for Mercer cause Mercer comes to Albert this is just starting out As a Brawl As has been the Case of Mercer s previous Pacheco you get the feeling this is two cannons. They re both pulling that first punch and whoever lands Hal really flush is going to have the advantage. So far neither Man has landed flush. Albert Baik going for the body. Mercer looking for the Mercer Pacheco Pooh Good Hook by Mercer. Drives Baik Back. And the grunting you hear is from Mercer. Ever time he throws a punch he grunts with in. He s Gal Hij Tseih clutched and he s throwing every thing he s got in his right hand. Mercer s off the Mark by just half an Inch. If he gift thai a Little longer it la Start bouncing off the jaw o f Albert Baik of Korea is put Down Mercer caught Himl Here s he count Baik is Hurt Pacheco ii should t go on. He should not go on. He stopped Albert it s All Over Ray Mercer has won the Gold with a first round Knockom of Baik Hyun Man Pacheco look at the enthusiasm of Mercer. He has gone Albert Well you had the feeling going in that this would not go to the judge s scarce Aid and Ray Mercer ended it at 1 16 of round i. What a spectacular run for Ray Mercer virtually unknown before the . National championships Back in March when he won the title with four knockouts i five fights. While Mercer s leap is shown in slow motion Well we thought rid Duk Bowe went airborne the other Pacheco he won the Gold and the High jump i be never seen a heavy weigh Bounce Hal High Albert Ray Mercer who pulled off an upset by beating Michael Bent in the olympic Box off to win a spot on the icam. He was not even Lii cd in the United Stales Amateur federation Media guide be fore the Box off got underway. But what a run it s been for this 27-year-old out of Jacksonville Fla. He s been stationed in Baum older wat Germany and Ray Mercer has come away with the Gold when Albert and Pacheco were done. Mercer was on. Asked if the to was important i he new Champion said it sure was. Of he was standing after three rounds i had a Good Chance of losing. I did twant 10 leave in up to the judges. So 1 just look in to him. He came out smoking in the first round hoping to catch me. I just maintained and caught him with one As soon As Mercer was declared the Winner he put his Arm around Baik and Ted him in bows. That Drew cheers which led Abc Anchor Bryant Gumbel to say and perhaps of even equal significance with the medal count was Ray Mercer s gestures in the ring Cooling what could pc been perhaps a tens situation the olympics will never forget Ray Mercer. Nei ther will Usa eur. Esiason still feels fans9 ire of 1987 bengals a a Boomer Esiason .5-0, with jets looming by Rich c1mim new Day when Boomer Esiason walks onto the Field at riverfront stadium for sunday s game against the new York jets the Cincinnati fans will cheer Long and hard for their quarterback. After All he s the lop ranked passer and the Leader of the Only undefeated team in the National football league. Esiason will acknowledge the ovation but the applause won t contain the same meaning it once did. Deep Down he knows they arc the same fans who almost drove him out of Cincinnati last year. And that s something hell never forget. I take everything with a Grain of Salt Esiason said wednesday night from his Home in Villa Hills by. I look at everything with a great Deal of Skepi cism. I Don t listen la what they say. In goes in one ear and out the other. Like right now i m Irving not to gel caught Upin All the hype that s surrounding he team. These Are the same people who made my life miserable and now they reall jumping on the the fans arc excited because he Beng als 5-0 Are hot and Esiason is the hot test quarterback in the nil with a 114.0 rating. He has thrown for 1,372 Yards and 12 touchdown passes. Desp Teall of the Success he can t forget last sea son when he was booed mercilessly. The bengals had a bad year 4-11, including 2-8 m Post strike games and Esia son was the main target of the fans ire. Most of the negative reaction stemmed from Esiason s involvement in Union activity. He was the bengals player representative a position he resigned from last week and he was the most outspoken striker on the picket line. Esiason. The league s highest paid player at $1.2 million a year lost s 300,000 during the strike. He wanted to be traded. I wanted to get the hell out of Cincinnati said Esiason. In was ugly one of the most difficult things i be endured As a player and a person. The fans had no idea what i stood for. My attitude was if you can get somebody to do a better Job go gel pm baby. I la go somewhere else and Lead an other team to the super bowl " the Low Point came oct. 4, the Day of the first replacement game Esiason was jeered and pelted with objects As he led the striking bengals in a March outside riverfront stadium. When he got Home and turned on he radio he heard a report on How "1 supposedly undermined a Charil event in town by idling the players not to he said. I m listening to people Ridi Cule me on the air and i m going. Crazy. Ii was absurd but because t was the Union rep and i was Boomer and i was the Leader i took All the the ordeal changed his Altitude. In Bis words the idealist became a realist. The kid in him was destroyed. In made me harder in icbms of personal Ity said Esiason one of the league s most prolific passers since 1985, when he be came a full Lime starter. "1 was More of of romantic and i was All for the cause and 1 though everybody would understand the principle. But the reality is Don t take my football away from me on sunday this season he has tried to concen trate solely on football. He s Quick to Point Oul he has turned Down si00,000 in endorsements. His Only controversial moment occurred in preseason when he protested the release of Dave Rimington the assistant player rep by wearing Rimington s Jersey during practice and blasting management for culling the vet eran Center. Otherwise the outspoken quarterback has been relatively quiet. "1 want to prove to people Hal they Renot dealing with some second class football player said Esiason a five year pro. The entire team wants to prove that we re not a Bunch of helps. The fans arc wailing for us o fall so they can Drill us but we re not going to let it life is better for Esiason. They cheer him now bul his memory in l at Short As that of the fans. These last few week have been unbelievable he said but All the negative stuff is in the Back of everybody i mind especially
