Editing Ray Mercer (section)

===1988 Olympics===
Going to the Olympic Team, he was one of the most highly regarded American Olympic boxers.<ref>{{cite news |last= Anderson|first= Dave|author-link= Dave Anderson (sportswriter)|date= September 17, 1988|title= Coach Calls U.S. a Contender|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/17/sports/the-seoul-olympics-boxing-coach-calls-us-a-contender.html|work= The New York Times|page= 48|access-date= 2019-06-17}}</ref> Of all the U.S. 1988 Olympians, [[Angelo Dundee]], a legendary trainer, chose Ray Mercer and [[Andrew Maynard (boxer)|Andrew Maynard]], as the most likely to develop into world champions after they would have turned into professionals: "Mercer's 27, but that's not too old. The maturity is there. And the punch. Give him 10 fights as a pro and he'd be ready to start moving up," Dundee said on Mercer's potential as a pro.<ref>{{cite news |last= Anderson|first= Dave|author-link= Dave Anderson (sportswriter)|date= October 2, 1988|title= Green to Gold, Now Green Again|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/02/sports/sports-of-the-times-green-to-gold-now-green-again.html|work= The New York Times|page= 2|access-date= 2019-06-17}}</ref> According to Kelvin Richardson of the '88 All-Army Team, Mercer was such a hard puncher, that even 16-ounce gloves weren't of much help for his sparring partners from being knocked off the ring, and his superheavyweight Olympic teammate, [[Riddick Bowe]], didn't want to spar with Mercer for that reason.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwXaTIbDRMM RAY MERCER and RIDDICK BOWE HAD VIOLENT SPARRING SESSIONS- KELVIN “BIG DAWG” RICHARDSON]</ref>

Before one of Maynard's fights, Mercer and [[Anthony Hembrick]] took off with their flags and good-naturedly dodged the people who tried to get in their way. A few tried to trip the pair, another tried to tackle the heavyweight Mercer, and one security guard even stopped him and tried to steer him back to his seat. Mercer would have none of it. "He didn't speak English, and I don't speak Korean, so he talked his stuff and I talked mine. I didn't think we connected, so I just kept on going." said Mercer. Soldiers from his unit back in Germany were rooting for him. Right before the Olympics they made a large banner with everyone's signature on it and shipped it overnight to Seoul. "They've been a big part of my support, and a gold medal would mean almost as much to them as it would to me. That banner really picked me up. I'm fighting for the people of the United States, but especially for the ones back in my unit," he told his audience during one of his post-fight interviews.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Schad|first= Dave|date= January 1989|title= Seoul Olympics: The Army Story|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112098031427&view=1up&seq=17|journal= Soldiers|volume= 44|issue= 1|pages= 17–19|issn= 0093-8440|access-date= 2019-06-18}}</ref>

Mercer knocked out all four of his Olympic opponents, winning Gold at the [[1988 Summer Olympics|1988 Olympics]] in [[Seoul]] as a heavyweight. When asked if he thought he needed to stop the South Korean in order to win the gold medal, he replied: "Definitely. Or I'll make him wish he was knocked out. One of the two."<ref>{{cite news |last= Anderson|first= Dave|author-link= Dave Anderson (sportswriter)|date= September 29, 1988|title= 3 Americans Reach Finals|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/29/sports/the-seoul-olympics-boxing-3-americans-reach-finals.html|work= The New York Times|page= 18|access-date= 2019-06-17}}</ref> He was the oldest member of the United States Olympic Boxing Team at 27.<ref>{{cite news |last= Anderson|first= Dave|author-link= Dave Anderson (sportswriter)|date= October 1, 1988|title= Mercer Stops South Korean|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/01/sports/the-seoul-olympics-boxing-mercer-stops-south-korean.html|work= The New York Times|page= 47|access-date= 2019-06-17}}</ref>