European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 24, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february 24, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary army s loss becomes Mercer s gain the Day after George Bush became com Mander in chief he lost his hardest hitting Soldier Ray Mercer. After an army March that led him through Baum Holder and to a Gold medal in the Seoul olympics Mercer turned in his infantry Rifle for a pro boxing career. Could Bush blame the heavyweight can anyone hardly. While still a specialist Vith the 8th inf div Mercer signed with boxing promoter Bob arum s top rank inc. Here Are the figures $ 150,000 Bonus. Said Mercer after signing in november within a year and half i should be a  maybe with a shot at the heavyweight championship. We want to move him along the same Way Mike Tyson moved says top rank publicist Lee Samuels. He wants to take on Tyson in 18  la accommodate  of so the talk is Over. The olympic Gold medal is five months old. The army s umbrella no longer covers him. What now for merciless Mercer plenty. Tonight in Atlantic City Mercer starts earning his checks. He throws punches at Jerry Mcghee a Guy out of Welch w.va., with a 6-2 record including four knockouts. It s a scheduled four Rounder. Nothing dramatic. Part of the under card for the Iran Barkley Roberto Duran middleweight title bout at Trump Plaza. By the time Barkley is through dumping Duran not Many will remember Mercer s mauling of Mcghee. But it s Only a Start. Mercer might As Well lace up his old infantry boots because he s in for a lightning March. On March 4 next saturday Mercer enters the ring again. The opponent has t been named but the site is bismark . He s on the under card of the Virgill Hill Bobby Czyz Light heavyweight title fight. Less than a month later March 28 Mercer inches on. Top rank has him booked for a bout at the showboat in Las vegas. His opponent might be gating Lane a Baltimore Boxer with a 3-2-1 record. The same Lane who was scheduled to fight Mercer tonight. A supposed injury delayed the Lane meet ing. Was the excuse legitimate a lot of Guys Don t want to fight Mercer say Samuels. Bucky Fox Ray Mercer decorates his former commander. Fighters look at the Way Mercer crushed All four opponents in his Golden Seoul search. Who needs that headache top rank asked Mike Robinson a Troy n.y., Boxer with a 3-2-1 record to meet Mercer. Robinson said no thanks. Mercer stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 210 pounds up 10 from his Amateur Days. I feel Good he said by Telephone this week from his manager s House in South Orange . I m still the same. Even stronger As a matter of  Mercer admits he was upset when Lane pulled out. All that film studying for nothing. Lane goes about 6-0, 265. Mcghee is a Little smaller. Mercer has seen films of Mcghee. The sex Soldier guarantees this i know he s Gonna get beat on the 24th." what does Mcghee offer in the ring nothing said Mercer. No problem at All. He comes in and does t think about what s coming up. No defense. It s like he wants to get hit. Hell be eating jabs Al night  Mercer will get $20,000 for this fight win or lose. I m not thinking of losing he said. Neither was Michael Bent the new yorker who lost decisions to Mercer in the finals of the olympic trials and Box offs. Bent made his pro debut two weeks ago and it was a disaster Kod in the first round by someone named Jerry Jones a North Caro Linian with a 4-1 record. Watch that right Ray. Nothing to worry about he said. Mercer s concerns Are staying in shape an studying the enemy. In Amateur boxing you be got to work for three rounds three minutes each. You re not precise about your punches. You just throw punches he said. The biggest thing in the pros is be relaxed in the ring. You have to see where you can take this buyout. You have  but now without headgear. I think nothing of it he said. I be been training without it. I feel the blows a Little More around the eyes and whatever. You have to keep your hands up  while in the new York area this week Mercer hit interview sessions with to radio and newspaper people. Get that name out. But watch the flanks. It s full of Sharks. Lots of them Mercer said of the fight game. Guys i Don t even know. It s really bad. You see on to Guys talk about How bad it is and you say i wish i had his problems now i see How it really is. They want a piece of the  a piece of Mercer s Money. While he deflects those jabs he Hopes his Money goes wisely. He spent half of his Bonus Bucks on cars for himself and his wife Connie. He said his manager is helping him invest the rest of his Bonus. What a difference from his Baum older years. Mercer a 27-year-old native of Jacksonville Fla., left Germany dec. 12. He spent his last army Days visiting friends and talking with kids in schools. On Jan. 14, he collected his armed forces athlete of the year award at Washington s touchdown club. Seven Days later he signed out of the army a fort Benning a. But fade away not quite. Two Days after the Benning goodbye Mercer reported to training Camp at fort Hua Chuca Ariz. He worked out with the army team of his old coach Hank Johnson. And when Mercer opens tonight who will work his Corner Johnson who retires from the army in june and Kenny Adams the f9rmer All army and olympic coach who left the service last fall. So the army did t completely lose merciless Mercer who is in the inactive reserves. Someone Tel the president. The stars and stripes botox try to take Penthouse article in stride by Dave o Hara Winter Haven Fla. A even before practice some of the players were talking about the Story. Then there was a closed door meeting where Wade Boggs apologized again. And then the red sox tried to go on with business As usual. Bui the topic of the Day at Chain o lakes Park was anything but usual. On wednesday news organizations received copies of the first instalment of a Penthouse mag Azine article based on the allegations of Boggs former Lover Margo Adams. Adams details her four year affair with Boggs the alleged sexual likes and dislikes of bos ton players and accuses b9ggs of Mak ing racist remarks. Boggs Adams suing Boggs for $12 million is guaranteed at least $100,000 from pent House for the Story with another $400,000 in Bonus possibilities depend ing on sales. Boggs talked to reporters after a three hour workout but did not answer questions. He said he had not seen the article and to Tell the truth i Don t really know if i want to read  i be spoken with everybody that s involved and everything is Fine the five time american league batting Champion said. Everything that happened today was very uneventful. No words were said or anything like that. It was just business As usual. Everything s going  but in batting practice Boggs managed just one Outfield Fly in 27 pitches. I Don t think it will have an effect on the team Boston manager Joe Morgan said. You can Tell the Guys were not Shook up. It was not very disruptive today and i Hope it continues that  Morgan said that he had told Wade that he had to Deal with the people in  we re behind him and right now it s his problem Morgan said. If it affects the team then it s my  red sox general manager Lou Gor Man called a Bastard by Boggs in the article accepted an apology. Wade went around to each individual and everything appeared Fine Gor Man said. He apologized and denied the statement attributed to him saying he has the greatest respect for me. The general feeling in the clubhouse was let s put this behind us let s go out and play Ball i Haven t read the article but you be got to remember she s the one saying things not Boggs. He and i get along very  in the Story Adams said Boggs made a racist remark about teammate Jim Rice was extremely jealous of new York Yan Kees first baseman Don Mattingly and Felt red sox Pitcher Roger Clemens acted like or.  Adams also said Boggs believed Jose Canseco of the Oakland athletics used steroids and thought Hall of Famer Ted Williams was a Guy that thinks he knows everything about hitting and does  she also graphically describes the sex lives of Boggs and several teammates she does not identify. She details incidents of threesomes involving unidentified bos ton players and instances during Spring training where players would have sex with girlfriends Down the Hall from their wives or at a hotel Down the  Boggs said he was not concerned about fan reaction. I m the same person i be been and will continue to be he said. I m not going to go into a Shell because of  but Dwight Evans the senior player on the red sox disagreed. It does t really matter what i think Evans said. It s what the fans think. As far As i m concerned it s Over. The Man said he s sorry. That s All you can do. You go on with  Bob Stanley wanted to put the Adams controversy behind him As did most teammates. I Don t like it but what can you do he said. The Story s out. Now we have to get Down to  we have to weather this Mike Greenwell said. What Are you going to do fall apart Over one person without credibility she s just making things up to Tell a Story. She s looking for publicity and Money and she s getting it. It s unfortunate there Are people in the world who try to Hurt other people. Wade apologized last year to us and in the papers. He s apologized again. As far As i m concerned it s a dead  according to Adams Boggs said Rice thinks he s  asked to comment on the Story Rice said i have not read it and i am no going to read  in the Penthouse article Adams claims Boggs made racist remarks on several occasions. Several of the White ballplayers preferred Black women when they were on the Road she said. This was very up setting to Wade. One White player was dating a Black girl from Milwaukee and Wade told him it was t Good for his image to be seen with a Black  Morgan was concerned with the racial remarks but downplayed them. I Don t think there s any racial prob Lem Here but you Don t like to hear that stuff the manager said. Adams said Boggs told her he had contracted venereal disease from one woman and impregnated another who subsequently had a miscarriage. Penthouse said there would be a sequel in its May Issue next month Margo bares All sensational pictures plus More on baseball wives and groupies and sizzling locker room