Tim Sylvia knocked out by 48 year old boxer

Tim Sylvia wasn’t always hugely unpopular. Up to the point in 2006 when he won the UFC heavyweight strap for the second time, he had amassed a 21-2 record with 16 wins coming via KO or TKO. Then something happened: he became a guy who would rather keep you on the outside with his jab than slug it out with you. Several stinker decisions later and the UFC happily released him from his contract to seek out ‘greener pastures’.

Tim Sylvia - Image: Ben Kevan

A fight with #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction’s first event earned Tim a phat 800,000 bucks but also an embarrassing 30 second loss. And now another nail has been put in the coffin of his career: this past weekend he lost an MMA fight to an Olympic gold medalist boxer. That wouldn’t be such a big deal, except this boxer won that medal around the same time the Berlin Wall fell. “Merciless” Ray Mercer is now 48 years old and a rotund 256 pounds. But that didn’t stop him from knocking Tim Sylvia out in 9 seconds.

Mercer had already been dismantled several times in kickboxing and MMA contests, most recently to Kimbo Slice, who choked him out in just over a minute. He wasn’t expected to have much of a chance, especially after the threat of criminal charges forced the bout to be changed from a boxing match to mixed martial arts fight at the last second. But win he did, and in spectacular fashion.

But wait! It gets worse! Tim Sylvia was set to fight on the upcoming Affliction card August 1st for another huge paycheck (we’ll talk about Affliction’s out of control salaries in another post), but was removed from the card last night due to medical concerns stemming from his defeat. To say this has been a bad week for Timmy would be an understatement. Not only has he damaged his reputation, but he’s cost himself one of the last big paychecks he’s liable to be making for a very long time.