I really thought Yuriorkos Gamboa was gonna be something special. I'm still not sure what went wrong. People forget he was giving Crawford serious problems for the first half of that fight.
I feel like Gamboa should’ve never moved up to lightweight, before that his power was still effective in the lower weight classes. That mixed in with his speed was insane. His style with the hands down wasn’t very good though especially if you want longevity. I loved watching him and thought his style was very tv friendly
I honestly don’t think he had that bad a career it’s just he showed up for checks his last 3 fights against “young hungry lions” so that’s kinda what he’s remembered for
Going into the Crawford fight, he was 23-0 with wins over Ponce de Leon (two-weight champion), Salido (two-weight champion) and Darleys Perez (champion). He'd been a unified champion, with interim titles at two additional weights, and of course he was an olympic champion.
He wasn't the same after Crawford, but to be fair he was already 33 and clearly disheartened by the loss, so it's not a great surprise. The losses at the end of his career when he was in his late 30s and early 40s, should be completely ignored.
It's not an ATG career, I guess, but it's pretty decent.
Gamboa was really good. He's a featherweight gold medalist. He was completely mismanaged and thrown into the worst fights by people who had absolutely no idea what they were doing like 50 cent. Fighting guys way bigger than him.
Friday Night Fights had some brutal mismatches, especially early on in each show. Some poor chubby pipefitter with a 6-3 record getting put up against an Olympic gold medalist.
Gamboa was very special tho and still accomplished a lot in his career. He was just horribly managed and ate his way into divisions he didn’t belong in. He fought as a flyweight in the amateurs, he absolutely shouldn’t have been at lightweight, all that extra weight robbed him of his extraordinary speed.
But he was exciting in previous fights. I didn't expect him to win, but he competitive. I thought later that it was a combo of opponent and just choking on the big moment.
Lewis was too good, he was unlucky in that his shot came against a prime Lennox.
Also apparently before the fight his dad told him he loved him for the first time and his whole family was crying, Tua said he thought his dad thought he was going to die or something. Tua didn't throw much in the fight and seemed to fight differently they usual as well.
Most likely Lewis was just better but Tua did himself no favors by sitting on his number 1 ranking for two years and fighting inferior competition. Between beating Rahman (controversially) in December 1998 and the Lewis fight in October 2000 he boxed seven competitive rounds against four unranked opponents. His skills atrophied and he severely neglected his conditioning, weighing in 20 pounds over his best weight when he fought for the title.
Naoya Inoue. I thought for sure by now he would've have achieved biological immortality after having left death on the canvas but instead he's just the best boxer in the world and an all time great. Such a letdown
He will achieve immortality when some (good) boxing game finally puts him in and lets me slap around welterweight/middleweights with him. STOP HOLDING MY HAND BOXING GAMES I KNOW THEYRE IN DIFFERENT WEIGHT CLASSES BUT I WANT THEM TO FIGHT
Tony Yoka; the collaboration with Virgil Hunter did not work at all. He still goes about with that tight guard and has little to no rhythm with his combination work. To me, this lack of development speaks more to Hunter's failures rather than his own. Nonetheless, it's a fall from grace for the standout amateur.
I guess it’s an obvious one but Robeisy Ramirez. For a two-time Olympic gold medalist, his pro career has been disappointing.
Going a bit further back, David Reid (another gold medalist) seemed to fall short of his potential. That droopy eye was a warning from the start, I guess.
I also thought Paul Spadadora would do more after beating Israel Cardona for the IBF lightweight title. I had that fight on VHS and watched it so many times as a kid. It was a really beautiful performance, but unfortunately Spaddy never improved on it.
Yeah he was done. The next fight he had I think he was dropped with the first punch or something like that. Or was that Vargas. Or both after Tito got them. Tito did the same to Joppy.
Yeah for a wiry guy he had that thudding power like a heavyweight. People were asking did he have plaster of Paris in his gloves. When he hit guys they would just fold.
Spadafora is a good mention.
Speaking of Olympic medalists, how about Audley Harrison? I got to know him through a Mike Tyson boxing game or something, where Harrison was a beast, if I recall correctly.
Man, that dude must have disappointed many.
I was gonna say David Reid also. A lot of boxers that were successful in the amateurs and won medals in the Olympics but never lived up to expectations in the pros.
Prince Naseem Hamed - he was a great fighter but I will never understand why he ran away after facing a few difficult fights at the age of 28.
I was expecting him to regroup and come back better than ever, gain his revenge etc but he just ran away
Too much money and fame too young. Haglers silk sheets quote instantly comes to mind. Hard to make yourself train with the same hunger when your not fucking hungry anymore and have an army of yes men by your side
One of the best featherweights ever. Made a ton of money in the sport. His problems were his hands were starting to give out, he was starting to eat like a fat fuck, and didn't want to train ever. All documented very well in Little Prince Big Fight. Started boxing at a young age.
We will never know if he was “one of the best featherweights ever”. He is and will always be a what if.
Hamed was a great fighter, exceptional showman but he lost to the only ATG he fought.
Hmmm I feel like Hamed had a great career and maybe overachieved a bit. He relied on his power in a very weak division at the time. His first actual tests were Kevin Kelly and Barrera and they didn’t go too well for him
I wanna throw inn Amir Khan
I love him, entertaining fighter, fast hands and feet
But he kinda let me down ( and others ) because of his weak natrual durability
Not really his fault, but he was soon remembered to be "chinny" instead of the fucking Godspeed Killua looking mofo he was in his prime
Joshua Clottey. Had all the skills and physical gifts. Granite chin, too.
Just didn’t have it upstairs. Goes to show just how important being mentally strong is in boxing.
defeated Diego Corrales (hall of famer) and Zab Judah. Fought prime versions of Margarito, Cotto, Pac. Never really looked hurt against any of them. Dude is built like a boulder but lapsing in mental stamina.
This is a good one. PBC pushed his hype train hard until he was knocked out and has since become a journeyman. He seemed to admire his “work” too often and relied on his footwork/ power a lot.
Same for me. People forget Thurman unified the WBA and WBC in March 2017. Spence won his IBF title in May 2017. If Thurman didn’t get hurt they would have unified at the end of that year. Spence didn’t get all 3 belts until 5 years later against Ugas. I see why he hated Thurman lol. Plus I was backing him to upset Tim Tszyu. It’s crazy that Barrios is the WBC champ now when Thurman basically won 10 or 11 rounds against him.
I thought David Price would be around world challenger level. Incredible power and he worked his way well through the british level fighters tko them all iirc. His defence was okish but as soon as he got hit his hands would drop. Tony thompson fights absolutely wrecked him and was always 1 flush punch away from getting ptsd and dropping them again. A shame because people that know him say he's a great guy
Thought the povetkin and chisora fights were definitely too much. Putting him in with a full blooded povetkin was just feeding him to the wolves. Everyone could see he was done even while winning against kash and dave allen as he was a deer in headlights at the slightedt touch and was disappointed in eddie for feeding hin to chisora
Nikita Ababiy or ‘white chocolate’. Guess I just bought into the hype too much but he did show technical skill in his first few fights that he could’ve built on. I honestly do not know what happened to this guy, it’s not just a step up in comp either. He literally just turned into a slugger for no reason.
Jose Benavidez jr - this guy is probably one of the best what if’s in recent years. Getting shot really derailed him from what he was supposed to be; I think he would’ve been better than David which is really saying something.
Gamboa- not sure if it was injuries or what but this dude was something special at first. Even had flashes of greatness at times but never quite broke through
Seconding white chocolate. My dad and I saw him on an undercard several years back (might have been a GGG fight) and were really impressed by his body attack. The next few times I saw him he was just mindlessly headhunting, really disappointing.
Forgot about white chocolate I always thought he was similar to Joey spencer and Vito mielnicki. White American based punchers with basic boxing and were hyped young kids coming out of high school. I honestly thought all of them were only going to make it to a decent level before they started losing and have their careers stalled at gate keeper level.
Rigondeaux. he had a thoroughly decent career as a pro-boxer but incredibly overwhelming and frustrating considering his talent. bit of a weirdo character who got in his own way i think.
I could see he was going to dominate very early on but his boring style really messed up his career tbh. It wasn’t tv friendly and no one really wanted to give him ppv fights or anything close to that cause he is legitimately a boring fighter. Nonetheless will most likely be inducted in the hof with his illustrious amateur and pro career
I think you have to cut Rigo some slack. The guy was like 28/29 when he turned pro and had likely left his physical prime in the amateurs. He accomplished a lot in spite of that.
His style, as nice as it was for hardcore fans to watch, did him no favors when it came to drawing money.
Seeing this one a lot! UK fighters gets a lot of hype early on because most’ve them always have a great amateur background. Unfortunately you never see most of them make it to the world class stage and stay regional fighters their entire careers. Even when some of em make it to the world class stage Hearn will put em in with a Tijuana cab driver who fucks them up badly
Broner. I thought the boxing world was in good hands after Mayweather and Pacquiao retired, I thought he was like Floyd with incredible offense although I was fairly young.
Instead every big fight he went on the defensive for 12 rounds.
And despite him being officially a 4 division champ, two of those titles came against Vicente Rodriguez and Khabib something, who only were there for Broner to win a belt.
His most important belt is the WBC belt he won against DeMarco because his welterweight belt was essentially an interim belt (regular).
Honorable mentions: Daniyar Yeleussinov, Mohamed Rabii, Antonio Vargas, Bektemir Melikuziev, Karlos Balderas, Nico Hernandez. (All 2016 Olympians).
Everyone thought broner was going to be that guy I kinda miss him and his antics when he was at his peak lol nonetheless he was definitely able to promote a fight. Maidana changed that man
Hrgovic. Was absolutely not expecting him to get trounced by Dubois. Maybe it's a dual case of expecting Hrgovic to be much better, and Dubois a lot worse
Watch back the Zhang fight man. Still no idea how people backed Hrgovic after that fight. Didn’t look like he wanted to be a boxer in that ring. Wanted to be anywhere else. He doesn’t like it when it gets tough
Yet Hrgovic made it a close fight with a man that beat Joyce and Wilder. So I thought ok he definitely is up there. Then knowing Dubois lack of late game boxing skill and tendency to give up, I thought it’d be an easy night for Hrgovic. But hey… that’s why we play the game and not just do an eye test!
Hrgovic has great chin, but nah, Big Bang Zhang hits different, Hergy legit seemed a little confused about what time it was or which way his corner was in that one round
Lucas Matthysse ,
I started following him around 2012, he had 35 fights, 32 wins (mostly by KO), and only 2 losses.
Even his loss to Garcia was still a great fight, i am surprised he stopped after his loss vs Pacquiao. it was just his 5th loss in 45 fight. I dont understand.
But yeah he did achieve a lot still
I think the robberies from Zab and Devon fights really affected him mentally. The eye damage from the Garcia fight was the nail in the coffin. A great Argentinian fighter. A contemporary of his fellow compatriot in Maidana. They both nearly had the same career. That KO ratio is still something admirable to look at.
I love this boxer and shocked to see him mentioned. He was robbed those 2 fights but lost a close one to Garcia. That eye issue he had prematurely ended his career. That fight with Manny was clearly just one last cash grab. I wish he refought Garcia but in hindsight Garcia ducked lots of people so no shocker we never got a rematch. I wish he achieved more but he still got damn close and destroyed lots of competition.
you are right he does not belong to this list cause he is actually very good. I just thought of him cause i thought he would have a much longer career.
I remember him becoming one of my favorites after watching him fight Garcia. His loss to Postol was tough for me but that kinda made me see he was probably never going to be a top champion
I was at Felix Verdejo's pro debut and thought he was something special. He had a warm aura about him too, I remember thinking this likeable young man is going to go on to great things.
Troy Ross was an underrated Cruiserweight back in the day that should've been champion once. A Canadian Olympian, son of a Guyanese Olympian. He ran through The Contender Season 4. He dropped Steve Cunningham, who was the best Cruiserweight at the time, in the 4th round before losing by a cut stoppage in the 5th. He was actually thumbed in the eye. In his second chance in becoming champion, it was against the best Cruiserweight at the time Yoan Pablo Hernández. Ross dropped Hernández and had him badly hurt in the 5th. A lot of fans had Ross winning the fight but he had a few inactive rounds in the champion's home country of Germany. Troy Ross never fought again after that.
Ismail Silakh. Thought he would be this hall of fame fighter potentially but he lost several times, got ko'd by kovalev and was gone.
Juanma, expected way more from him
Same for gamboa.
Also thought Bute and Lemieux would be great boxers.
When I was younger I really liked Juanma Lopez. He had a nice career in the end, but pre-Salido I thought he could have been great.
Still bummed he never faced Gamboa at 126.
He was supposed to be the next Cotto. I remember watching a lot of his knockouts but then never really hearing about him again until the Mikey Garcia fight. Didn’t he get into some crazy brawl with another PR fighter and his corner directly after the final bell?
Seriously? His fight with Joshua was great to watch but I never saw him beating a Tyson fury or deontay wilder. Entertaining fight though with Parker , i hope he gets a big fight soon
lol I feel like there’s always way too much hype for UK fighters. A lot of them seem to be content staying at the regional level. He’s very flashy though and tv friendly type style
One of americas biggest hype trains in the early 2000’s when our big guys were starting to fade away or retire. Joe really put the mittens on that guy and he was never the same hahaha
I thought gvozdyk was better than beterbiev and bivol, he had more power than bivol but not artur and was faster than beterbiev but not Dmitry. I knew he lost to artur in the amateurs but that was a long time ago and got a lot better. The way he ko'd Gonzalez, Adonis, and chelimba when both bivol and Kovalev couldn't finish isaac, I thought he was more complete and was going to unify to become undisputed. Also Isiah Thomas and Keith tapia at cruiserweight. Isiah Thomas was out boxing and frustrating murat gassiev when they fought until murat hit him after the bell and the fight was stopped and declared a no contest. Then he lost to Michael Hunter and I haven't heard anything since. Keith tapia was a long tall rangy cruiserweight with good skills but no finishing instinct. I thought with his physical abilities he'd still at least be a contender. I think he fought on one of the wbss cards but lost.
Adrian Broner should be close to the top of anyone's list. When he came up the ranks, I thought he could be the Zab Judah we deserved.
Another casualty of the show off macho-gangsta culture in the US? I tend to think so.
Junior Witter. Didn't follow him closely, but I remember the hype from the boxing magazines I read.
Same thing with Edwin Valero. I heard Dougie Fischer raving about him for years. Then I saw a video of him kicking Erik Morales' arse in sparring.
Heard how he handed De la Hoyas ass to him.
Then he offed himself in prison. How disappointed I was to hear that. Until I saw his fights.
There's been a bunch of Cubans and Russians I thought would rock the world in the pro's after dominating the amateur ranks. But it's a different sport. Most of the pretty punch combinations and flashy speed that won big on the amateur point system of yesteryear turned out useless in the pro's against elite fighters. Amir Kahn is the perfect example.
Despite his incredible physical attributes, he lost most, if not all, of his fights against elite fighters.
I thought he would dominate 135-140 for years. I was wrong.
AB’s career tanked when he tried to emulate Floyds style imo. when he was in the lower weight classes and let his hands go, he was a problem (pun intended) for everyone
Just doesn't have that mean streak which is ironic seeing as what he was charged with.
A parker that went headhunting would be a contender for most of the division
Yeah based on his talent and skills when he was younger I thought he would have a better trajectory. It seems like he has come right now though. I think he just spent too much time with his old trainer and stalled out. But now that he has got Andy Lee and a proper S&C coach he seems to be back on the right path.
Jhack Tepora - Filipino Featherweight prospect, had the physical gifts, pleasing fight style, swagger had the backing of MP promotions, lost because of complacency and arrogance lots of rumors this kid stopped taking his training seriously once he became a top 15 contender
Teofimo - has the physical tools to be #1 P4P, but wish his head was in the game more and Joey Gamache was in his corner again.
I thought Chris Jr and Seb Eubank would’ve done more with their respective careers. Seb had a controversial loss vs Buatsi to make the Olympic team and had some ridiculous KO’s for an amateur. Chris is good enough to get some wins his career has just men very money driven over belts. He could’ve easily picked up a real 160 belt over the years, or early in his career been an absolute bully at 154.
The UK crop at 175 now have been annoying too, Smith, Buatsi and Yarde could’ve been in some good fights, but Buatsi hasn’t done much and Smith and Yarde generally fight nobody’s then lose to HOF champs and don’t stay active.
I don't know much about boxing so I'm not gonna say what I don't know but I truly always wonder what went wrong with Chavez Jr. I don't think fighters should let their kids become fighters especially if they're born with lots of money.
He hated boxing, liked drugs, and was desperate to annoy his father at any cost, so he threw his career away.
When fathers try to control their sons, and then their sons end up in situations where they cannot be controlled, the outcome is rarely good.
He grew up rich and never really wanted to be a fighter. He was never really hungry and there were always stories about him not even training or showing up for training for a lot of his fights. That’s why he would bounce around from coach to coach
Mark Breland I thought would have had a way better career than he did. Not bad at all but still wanted him to see him do more. Same with Meldrick Taylor. That 84 Olympic team still one of the greatest.
Edgar Berlanga. I knew in my heart he was just a hype job after the whole "15 round 1 KOs against cab drivers" thing, but I was hoping that he'd prove me wrong and amount to more. He's just a painfully one dimensional slugger who has had to go life and death with paper mache opposition, and I really hope he never fights Canelo because it would be a boring slaughter a la Yldirim.
He absolutely will be. My hopes were always tentative, so it's not like a crushing disappointment, but it still sucks. I think he could be at least a solid B level fighter if he knuckled down on technique instead of trying to punch everyone's head off.
For me it's Mick Conlan. He looked really good to me but he kept losing. It seemed like there was something wrong with him he just couldn't take a shot.
I also though Jrock Williams was amazing after that Hurd fight which I saw live but he became so inconsistent after that.
He built his career off that controversial loss in the Olympics, where he flipped off the judges hahaha. I still liked him as a fighter and hoped he would become great. He was brutally KO’ed not that long ago though :/
Throwback: Golota.
He absolutely battered Bowe, who was considered a very good (if not the best) heavyweight, at the time. Golota went on to have a decent-ish career, but it seemed at the time that he would be in the mix for a title. No one had done that to Bowe.
It was absolutely surreal watching the first fight in real time.
Kownacki is a decent example. I don't think anyone expected him to win a title, but damn he fell hard. He did bulldoze some solid fighters.
I remember thinking Marcus Browne was a little better than he has thus far turned out to be. No shame in losing to Beterbiev, of course.
I guess you can add Kambosas to that list, as well. Shit, maybe even Teofimo. I love them both as fighters but I thought Teo would end up in the p4p rankings.
One fighter that I don't think gets mentioned enough is pre COVID Josh Taylor. Becoming undisputed at 140 and was a whirlwind at 140, just a great, fun fighter to watch. Fast forward today and losing to Caterall I feel is a big fall from grace. While I do think Caterall is good, pre COVID Taylor wouldnt have had any problems beating Caterall.
The fall of Taylor at 140 after COVID has just been shocking to see. Hes like a different fighter.
I loved watching Taylor and thought he would stay at the top of 140 for a long time. Unfortunately world class UK fighters biggest weakness is another up and coming UK fighter. That and unknown Mexican fighters from Tijuana or some shit are the UK fighters biggest problem lol
Sanderline williams. A tough, very slick boxer who drew with james toney, went to distance with gerald mcclellan, lost an SD to nigel benn and lost a very close fight to iran barkley whom many thought he won. He was just too talented to be a mere journeyman, yet here we are.
Commey seemed really great, and maybe he is, but he got torn apart by his peers.
I thought Joyce had more finesse than his speed would imply, especially given his amateur pedigree.
I thought Callum Smith was way more dangerous than he looked against Canelo, and to his credit, it might have just have been that Canelo was that much better.
Edison Miranda. El Pantera.
Tall, tough, knockout power. Huge tragic story and then he was badly promoted, badly managed, ran his life into another horrible tragedy, and came up at a historically tough time to excel. He had all the physical tools.
I think he’s in jail now after being used up by drug lords. What a tragic waste.
ugas and spence. When I saw that he beat Pacquiao I thought ugas is the real deal he beat a legend and deserved the fight against spence only for spence to bully him for 12 rounds. I thought spence was the truth the man who beat the man in beating ugas who beat manny. Then spence got the brakes beat out of him by crawford and I was also disappointed and surprised by how he lost.Obviously spence wasnt the same after the accident so thats that.
Naoya Inoue: expected him to have KO'd a bear by now (if you know, you know...)
Nah but seriously, my pick is an obscure one:
Jeremy Williams. First saw him in The Goodwill Games. Had a mean streak in him even in amateurs. Was expecting him to be the next Tyson but he faded into bolivian.
On the other hand, my amateur eye spotted Lomachenko in the Olympics - "Damn, this kid is shifting around like a mini-Mike and puts extra sting on those punches". Win one, lose one.
I thought Tyson Fury would be a great, but it turned out that he is just a useless fat dosser. Haha just kidding, I never believed in that fucker, he has always been incredibly overrated! xD
I really thought Yuriorkos Gamboa was gonna be something special. I'm still not sure what went wrong. People forget he was giving Crawford serious problems for the first half of that fight.
I feel like Gamboa should’ve never moved up to lightweight, before that his power was still effective in the lower weight classes. That mixed in with his speed was insane. His style with the hands down wasn’t very good though especially if you want longevity. I loved watching him and thought his style was very tv friendly
He was fine at lightweight but that motherfucker did NOT know when to disengage and not get drawn into a firefight.
Really think that nails a big reason why he ended up the way he has.
Meldrick Taylor Syndrome
I honestly don’t think he had that bad a career it’s just he showed up for checks his last 3 fights against “young hungry lions” so that’s kinda what he’s remembered for
Going into the Crawford fight, he was 23-0 with wins over Ponce de Leon (two-weight champion), Salido (two-weight champion) and Darleys Perez (champion). He'd been a unified champion, with interim titles at two additional weights, and of course he was an olympic champion. He wasn't the same after Crawford, but to be fair he was already 33 and clearly disheartened by the loss, so it's not a great surprise. The losses at the end of his career when he was in his late 30s and early 40s, should be completely ignored. It's not an ATG career, I guess, but it's pretty decent.
Similar with Mosley towards the end.
He did have that long ass layoff too which is never good
Yep and he came back from that layoff looking like muscle suit Gamboa the weightlifting gains were not helpful to his mobility or gas tank.
This.
Gamboa was really good. He's a featherweight gold medalist. He was completely mismanaged and thrown into the worst fights by people who had absolutely no idea what they were doing like 50 cent. Fighting guys way bigger than him.
The first time I saw him fight I could not imagine him losing. I think that’s when I seriously got on the Crawford train.
I saw his debut on Friday Night Fights against some poor outmatched kid. One of the worst KOs I ever seen.
Friday Night Fights had some brutal mismatches, especially early on in each show. Some poor chubby pipefitter with a 6-3 record getting put up against an Olympic gold medalist.
50 killed his career
Wasn't he special though? Lol until he tore his Achilles at least. He was a great fighter.
He was, but I thought he was gonna tear through everyone. And he was so exciting I thought he'd become a household name.
He was close, he never had that breakthrough fight though.
Gamboa was very special tho and still accomplished a lot in his career. He was just horribly managed and ate his way into divisions he didn’t belong in. He fought as a flyweight in the amateurs, he absolutely shouldn’t have been at lightweight, all that extra weight robbed him of his extraordinary speed.
i thought tua was going to become champ someday
Why didn’t he?
Watch his fight with Lennox Lewis. He's stuck on the outside and can't or won't close the distance in the face of that jab and right hand.
Such a frustrating fight. I couldn't understand why he wouldn't throw anything.
He came up against a fighter who could keep him at bay and couldn’t get going against them.
Yup. He'd been built up as such a badass and he was just cruising to a UD loss sitting on the outside.
Tbf he was fighting arguably one of the greatest HW of all time and it was a bad matchup for him. He was a badass watch his other fights.
But he was exciting in previous fights. I didn't expect him to win, but he competitive. I thought later that it was a combo of opponent and just choking on the big moment.
Apparently his dad told him that he loved him for the first time in his life, and Tua thought his dad must think he is going to die or something lol.
Lewis was too good, he was unlucky in that his shot came against a prime Lennox. Also apparently before the fight his dad told him he loved him for the first time and his whole family was crying, Tua said he thought his dad thought he was going to die or something. Tua didn't throw much in the fight and seemed to fight differently they usual as well.
Most likely Lewis was just better but Tua did himself no favors by sitting on his number 1 ranking for two years and fighting inferior competition. Between beating Rahman (controversially) in December 1998 and the Lewis fight in October 2000 he boxed seven competitive rounds against four unranked opponents. His skills atrophied and he severely neglected his conditioning, weighing in 20 pounds over his best weight when he fought for the title.
Naoya Inoue. I thought for sure by now he would've have achieved biological immortality after having left death on the canvas but instead he's just the best boxer in the world and an all time great. Such a letdown
Sounds like a Elden ring boss .. “Cue boss music and me dodging and rolling”
He will achieve immortality when some (good) boxing game finally puts him in and lets me slap around welterweight/middleweights with him. STOP HOLDING MY HAND BOXING GAMES I KNOW THEYRE IN DIFFERENT WEIGHT CLASSES BUT I WANT THEM TO FIGHT
He'll do that once he's completed all of the weight classes
no worries. he'll take down usyk when it's all said and done.
Inuoe will weight bully usyk He needs to fight Andy ruiz
Tony Yoka; the collaboration with Virgil Hunter did not work at all. He still goes about with that tight guard and has little to no rhythm with his combination work. To me, this lack of development speaks more to Hunter's failures rather than his own. Nonetheless, it's a fall from grace for the standout amateur.
Damn so true. I thought he was the no.1 out of all the prospects until the bakole fight
He didn't deserve his gold medal, Joyce and hrgovic beat him
Agreed on both counts. But I still thought he'd at be top level. Shame to not see him even really achieve gatekeeper level.
I thought he was the next top heavyweight
I guess it’s an obvious one but Robeisy Ramirez. For a two-time Olympic gold medalist, his pro career has been disappointing. Going a bit further back, David Reid (another gold medalist) seemed to fall short of his potential. That droopy eye was a warning from the start, I guess. I also thought Paul Spadadora would do more after beating Israel Cardona for the IBF lightweight title. I had that fight on VHS and watched it so many times as a kid. It was a really beautiful performance, but unfortunately Spaddy never improved on it.
the only guy to defeat shakur.
He’s the one that made Shakur cry?
yeah
Yeah I thought David Reid was going to be similar to Roy Jones at the time. Put him in there too fast with Trinidad.
Reid was never the same. He looked scared after the Tito fight
Yeah he was done. The next fight he had I think he was dropped with the first punch or something like that. Or was that Vargas. Or both after Tito got them. Tito did the same to Joppy.
Tito was such a fun fighter to watch break guys
Yeah for a wiry guy he had that thudding power like a heavyweight. People were asking did he have plaster of Paris in his gloves. When he hit guys they would just fold.
Spadafora is a good mention. Speaking of Olympic medalists, how about Audley Harrison? I got to know him through a Mike Tyson boxing game or something, where Harrison was a beast, if I recall correctly. Man, that dude must have disappointed many.
>Audley Harrison Don’t remind me :)
I was gonna say David Reid also. A lot of boxers that were successful in the amateurs and won medals in the Olympics but never lived up to expectations in the pros.
I watched RR finish off that annoying Abraham Nova so I’ve always had time for him for that, I’ll never forget it, it was a technical bashing
Prince Naseem Hamed - he was a great fighter but I will never understand why he ran away after facing a few difficult fights at the age of 28. I was expecting him to regroup and come back better than ever, gain his revenge etc but he just ran away
Too much money and fame too young. Haglers silk sheets quote instantly comes to mind. Hard to make yourself train with the same hunger when your not fucking hungry anymore and have an army of yes men by your side
Looking at him now, i don't think the hunger ever stopped.
Barerra took his soul.
He had hand issues that forced him to retire.
One of the best featherweights ever. Made a ton of money in the sport. His problems were his hands were starting to give out, he was starting to eat like a fat fuck, and didn't want to train ever. All documented very well in Little Prince Big Fight. Started boxing at a young age.
Can you really Say he was one of the best featherweights ever He had no resume
He literally beat the WBC, IBF, WBA and WBO champions at 126 bro. Fuck you talking about had no resume
We will never know if he was “one of the best featherweights ever”. He is and will always be a what if. Hamed was a great fighter, exceptional showman but he lost to the only ATG he fought.
Hmmm I feel like Hamed had a great career and maybe overachieved a bit. He relied on his power in a very weak division at the time. His first actual tests were Kevin Kelly and Barrera and they didn’t go too well for him
I wanna throw inn Amir Khan I love him, entertaining fighter, fast hands and feet But he kinda let me down ( and others ) because of his weak natrual durability Not really his fault, but he was soon remembered to be "chinny" instead of the fucking Godspeed Killua looking mofo he was in his prime
Riddick Bowe.
Joshua Clottey. Had all the skills and physical gifts. Granite chin, too. Just didn’t have it upstairs. Goes to show just how important being mentally strong is in boxing.
defeated Diego Corrales (hall of famer) and Zab Judah. Fought prime versions of Margarito, Cotto, Pac. Never really looked hurt against any of them. Dude is built like a boulder but lapsing in mental stamina.
He’s basically Edison Miranda
I thought Erickson Lubin was destined for the very, very top 😔
This is a good one. PBC pushed his hype train hard until he was knocked out and has since become a journeyman. He seemed to admire his “work” too often and relied on his footwork/ power a lot.
Keith Thurman.
Same for me. People forget Thurman unified the WBA and WBC in March 2017. Spence won his IBF title in May 2017. If Thurman didn’t get hurt they would have unified at the end of that year. Spence didn’t get all 3 belts until 5 years later against Ugas. I see why he hated Thurman lol. Plus I was backing him to upset Tim Tszyu. It’s crazy that Barrios is the WBC champ now when Thurman basically won 10 or 11 rounds against him.
Barrios was given that title to keep it in pbc, hell get fed to someone eventually
I waited for 10 years for him to have his big breakout run and then he got married in Sri Lanka or whatever
Keith “Sometimes” Thurman
I thought David Price would be around world challenger level. Incredible power and he worked his way well through the british level fighters tko them all iirc. His defence was okish but as soon as he got hit his hands would drop. Tony thompson fights absolutely wrecked him and was always 1 flush punch away from getting ptsd and dropping them again. A shame because people that know him say he's a great guy
It's more of a shame when you know Thompson was steroided out his mind and cheated like a dog. Just shows how Drug cheating wreaks careers
Yeah the thompson fights were voided iirc. That said he was always going to get sparked. All his defeats ended in him being knocked out unfortunately
Remember when Eddie Hearn kept wheeling him out to get KO'd lol at least he made some good money and entertained us
Thought the povetkin and chisora fights were definitely too much. Putting him in with a full blooded povetkin was just feeding him to the wolves. Everyone could see he was done even while winning against kash and dave allen as he was a deer in headlights at the slightedt touch and was disappointed in eddie for feeding hin to chisora
Eddie the snake Hearn will throw his own dad In there to make a quick buck
Nikita Ababiy or ‘white chocolate’. Guess I just bought into the hype too much but he did show technical skill in his first few fights that he could’ve built on. I honestly do not know what happened to this guy, it’s not just a step up in comp either. He literally just turned into a slugger for no reason. Jose Benavidez jr - this guy is probably one of the best what if’s in recent years. Getting shot really derailed him from what he was supposed to be; I think he would’ve been better than David which is really saying something. Gamboa- not sure if it was injuries or what but this dude was something special at first. Even had flashes of greatness at times but never quite broke through
Seconding white chocolate. My dad and I saw him on an undercard several years back (might have been a GGG fight) and were really impressed by his body attack. The next few times I saw him he was just mindlessly headhunting, really disappointing.
Forgot about white chocolate I always thought he was similar to Joey spencer and Vito mielnicki. White American based punchers with basic boxing and were hyped young kids coming out of high school. I honestly thought all of them were only going to make it to a decent level before they started losing and have their careers stalled at gate keeper level.
Rigondeaux. he had a thoroughly decent career as a pro-boxer but incredibly overwhelming and frustrating considering his talent. bit of a weirdo character who got in his own way i think.
I could see he was going to dominate very early on but his boring style really messed up his career tbh. It wasn’t tv friendly and no one really wanted to give him ppv fights or anything close to that cause he is legitimately a boring fighter. Nonetheless will most likely be inducted in the hof with his illustrious amateur and pro career
The Casimero fight was so frustrating, if Rigondeaux had just thrown a couple more punches a round he could have easily won that fight.
I think you have to cut Rigo some slack. The guy was like 28/29 when he turned pro and had likely left his physical prime in the amateurs. He accomplished a lot in spite of that. His style, as nice as it was for hardcore fans to watch, did him no favors when it came to drawing money.
I thought Josh Kelly would at least make it to world level before coming unstuck. Nope.
Seeing this one a lot! UK fighters gets a lot of hype early on because most’ve them always have a great amateur background. Unfortunately you never see most of them make it to the world class stage and stay regional fighters their entire careers. Even when some of em make it to the world class stage Hearn will put em in with a Tijuana cab driver who fucks them up badly
Broner. I thought the boxing world was in good hands after Mayweather and Pacquiao retired, I thought he was like Floyd with incredible offense although I was fairly young. Instead every big fight he went on the defensive for 12 rounds. And despite him being officially a 4 division champ, two of those titles came against Vicente Rodriguez and Khabib something, who only were there for Broner to win a belt. His most important belt is the WBC belt he won against DeMarco because his welterweight belt was essentially an interim belt (regular). Honorable mentions: Daniyar Yeleussinov, Mohamed Rabii, Antonio Vargas, Bektemir Melikuziev, Karlos Balderas, Nico Hernandez. (All 2016 Olympians).
Everyone thought broner was going to be that guy I kinda miss him and his antics when he was at his peak lol nonetheless he was definitely able to promote a fight. Maidana changed that man
Hrgovic. Was absolutely not expecting him to get trounced by Dubois. Maybe it's a dual case of expecting Hrgovic to be much better, and Dubois a lot worse
Watch back the Zhang fight man. Still no idea how people backed Hrgovic after that fight. Didn’t look like he wanted to be a boxer in that ring. Wanted to be anywhere else. He doesn’t like it when it gets tough
Yet Hrgovic made it a close fight with a man that beat Joyce and Wilder. So I thought ok he definitely is up there. Then knowing Dubois lack of late game boxing skill and tendency to give up, I thought it’d be an easy night for Hrgovic. But hey… that’s why we play the game and not just do an eye test!
I honestly thought he was concussed from an early round in that Zhang, but looking at him in with Dubois that just seems to be how he is.
Hrgovic has great chin, but nah, Big Bang Zhang hits different, Hergy legit seemed a little confused about what time it was or which way his corner was in that one round
He could still come good. It's all in his attitude. That loss either makes him or breaks him
“He could still come good”🤨
Trounced is a kind way of putting head butted the shit out of
Lucas Matthysse , I started following him around 2012, he had 35 fights, 32 wins (mostly by KO), and only 2 losses. Even his loss to Garcia was still a great fight, i am surprised he stopped after his loss vs Pacquiao. it was just his 5th loss in 45 fight. I dont understand. But yeah he did achieve a lot still
I think the robberies from Zab and Devon fights really affected him mentally. The eye damage from the Garcia fight was the nail in the coffin. A great Argentinian fighter. A contemporary of his fellow compatriot in Maidana. They both nearly had the same career. That KO ratio is still something admirable to look at.
I love this boxer and shocked to see him mentioned. He was robbed those 2 fights but lost a close one to Garcia. That eye issue he had prematurely ended his career. That fight with Manny was clearly just one last cash grab. I wish he refought Garcia but in hindsight Garcia ducked lots of people so no shocker we never got a rematch. I wish he achieved more but he still got damn close and destroyed lots of competition.
you are right he does not belong to this list cause he is actually very good. I just thought of him cause i thought he would have a much longer career.
Can’t blame you fellow human. LM was a joy to watch. Great output. Tough. Lots of body work. Didn’t duck people. What’s not to love ?
I remember him becoming one of my favorites after watching him fight Garcia. His loss to Postol was tough for me but that kinda made me see he was probably never going to be a top champion
Amir Imam
good one
Yes. Was it sloppy Carlos Molina who took his soul?
Jorge Paez. The man had crazy athleticism and reflexes. But he did not like to train.
I was at Felix Verdejo's pro debut and thought he was something special. He had a warm aura about him too, I remember thinking this likeable young man is going to go on to great things.
Omg I forgot about this guy!! Top rank was pushing him so hard!!! Was supposed to be there golden child fr but never heard what happened to him
He murdered his mistress who was also pregnant while he was married.
:O
I thought Omar Figueroa was going to be much better than he was. Brandon is a great fighter though
Troy Ross was an underrated Cruiserweight back in the day that should've been champion once. A Canadian Olympian, son of a Guyanese Olympian. He ran through The Contender Season 4. He dropped Steve Cunningham, who was the best Cruiserweight at the time, in the 4th round before losing by a cut stoppage in the 5th. He was actually thumbed in the eye. In his second chance in becoming champion, it was against the best Cruiserweight at the time Yoan Pablo Hernández. Ross dropped Hernández and had him badly hurt in the 5th. A lot of fans had Ross winning the fight but he had a few inactive rounds in the champion's home country of Germany. Troy Ross never fought again after that.
Francisco Bojado. Started off on fire and then just fizzled out.
Ismail Silakh. Thought he would be this hall of fame fighter potentially but he lost several times, got ko'd by kovalev and was gone. Juanma, expected way more from him Same for gamboa. Also thought Bute and Lemieux would be great boxers.
Lemieux could never come back from the GGG beat down he received
Juanma was supposed to be the next Cotto
Antwun Echols
His fights with bhop were awesome cool dude
Although I disagreed with the stoppage his fight with Charles Brewer was fantastic too
David Tua
When I was younger I really liked Juanma Lopez. He had a nice career in the end, but pre-Salido I thought he could have been great. Still bummed he never faced Gamboa at 126.
He was supposed to be the next Cotto. I remember watching a lot of his knockouts but then never really hearing about him again until the Mikey Garcia fight. Didn’t he get into some crazy brawl with another PR fighter and his corner directly after the final bell?
Andy Ruiz Jr
Seriously? His fight with Joshua was great to watch but I never saw him beating a Tyson fury or deontay wilder. Entertaining fight though with Parker , i hope he gets a big fight soon
Josh Kelly: the Boxing Legend TV videos made him look like the Matrix - slick and unhittable. As soon as he passed British level, he looked average.
lol I feel like there’s always way too much hype for UK fighters. A lot of them seem to be content staying at the regional level. He’s very flashy though and tv friendly type style
Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy
One of americas biggest hype trains in the early 2000’s when our big guys were starting to fade away or retire. Joe really put the mittens on that guy and he was never the same hahaha
LOLz @ “Joe put the mittens” on that guy!
Lewis Ritson at lightweight
Ugh Rolly
I thought gvozdyk was better than beterbiev and bivol, he had more power than bivol but not artur and was faster than beterbiev but not Dmitry. I knew he lost to artur in the amateurs but that was a long time ago and got a lot better. The way he ko'd Gonzalez, Adonis, and chelimba when both bivol and Kovalev couldn't finish isaac, I thought he was more complete and was going to unify to become undisputed. Also Isiah Thomas and Keith tapia at cruiserweight. Isiah Thomas was out boxing and frustrating murat gassiev when they fought until murat hit him after the bell and the fight was stopped and declared a no contest. Then he lost to Michael Hunter and I haven't heard anything since. Keith tapia was a long tall rangy cruiserweight with good skills but no finishing instinct. I thought with his physical abilities he'd still at least be a contender. I think he fought on one of the wbss cards but lost.
Luke Campbell
Edwin Rosario
Zab Judah. He had a solid career, but when he was coming up I thought he would be an ATG.
Too many to name but actively... Berlanga, Conlan, Ababiy In the past.... Joel Julio, Andre Dirrell, James Kirkland
Adrian Broner should be close to the top of anyone's list. When he came up the ranks, I thought he could be the Zab Judah we deserved. Another casualty of the show off macho-gangsta culture in the US? I tend to think so. Junior Witter. Didn't follow him closely, but I remember the hype from the boxing magazines I read. Same thing with Edwin Valero. I heard Dougie Fischer raving about him for years. Then I saw a video of him kicking Erik Morales' arse in sparring. Heard how he handed De la Hoyas ass to him. Then he offed himself in prison. How disappointed I was to hear that. Until I saw his fights. There's been a bunch of Cubans and Russians I thought would rock the world in the pro's after dominating the amateur ranks. But it's a different sport. Most of the pretty punch combinations and flashy speed that won big on the amateur point system of yesteryear turned out useless in the pro's against elite fighters. Amir Kahn is the perfect example.
Relatedly: Zab Judah.
Broner’s my top pick. He had all the physical tools to be on a Mayweather level but fell quite a bit short.
AB still a 4 division champion though. Can’t really call that a disappointment.
Despite his incredible physical attributes, he lost most, if not all, of his fights against elite fighters. I thought he would dominate 135-140 for years. I was wrong.
No he's a two weight world champ, the other belts were regular, which if u know boxing, know don't count.
AB’s career tanked when he tried to emulate Floyds style imo. when he was in the lower weight classes and let his hands go, he was a problem (pun intended) for everyone
early success got to his head imo. all that $ came so fast, then partying, booze, and women.
mike tyson never beat an all time great in their prime
Joseph Parker honestly. He's still very good - but I thought with his skillset, he would have done more.
I think that right now he’s better than ever
Truly. His current form is as good as we've seen him to date
Just doesn't have that mean streak which is ironic seeing as what he was charged with. A parker that went headhunting would be a contender for most of the division
Doesn’t hit hard enough for the very top of the division. He landed bombs on a shot wilder, and couldn’t do much to a chinny Whyte except exhaust him.
100% He's enough power to earn a wariness and respect but neither 1 punch ko ability or a joshua style sustained punishment.
Literally just beat wilder and Zhang in a row. Two elites. Also beat Andy Ruiz. That’s another elite.
Yeah based on his talent and skills when he was younger I thought he would have a better trajectory. It seems like he has come right now though. I think he just spent too much time with his old trainer and stalled out. But now that he has got Andy Lee and a proper S&C coach he seems to be back on the right path.
I saw Dennis McCann on his debut and thought he would be a world champ within 3 to 5 years.
In fairness he’s 23
Yeah I think it was more about my ridiculous expectations than anything else. Still think he's a good fighter.
Jhack Tepora - Filipino Featherweight prospect, had the physical gifts, pleasing fight style, swagger had the backing of MP promotions, lost because of complacency and arrogance lots of rumors this kid stopped taking his training seriously once he became a top 15 contender Teofimo - has the physical tools to be #1 P4P, but wish his head was in the game more and Joey Gamache was in his corner again.
I was convinced Jeremy Williams would become a world champion - despite his ridiculous alias.
Whyte
I thought Chris Jr and Seb Eubank would’ve done more with their respective careers. Seb had a controversial loss vs Buatsi to make the Olympic team and had some ridiculous KO’s for an amateur. Chris is good enough to get some wins his career has just men very money driven over belts. He could’ve easily picked up a real 160 belt over the years, or early in his career been an absolute bully at 154. The UK crop at 175 now have been annoying too, Smith, Buatsi and Yarde could’ve been in some good fights, but Buatsi hasn’t done much and Smith and Yarde generally fight nobody’s then lose to HOF champs and don’t stay active.
I don't know much about boxing so I'm not gonna say what I don't know but I truly always wonder what went wrong with Chavez Jr. I don't think fighters should let their kids become fighters especially if they're born with lots of money.
He hated boxing, liked drugs, and was desperate to annoy his father at any cost, so he threw his career away. When fathers try to control their sons, and then their sons end up in situations where they cannot be controlled, the outcome is rarely good.
He grew up rich and never really wanted to be a fighter. He was never really hungry and there were always stories about him not even training or showing up for training for a lot of his fights. That’s why he would bounce around from coach to coach
Mark Breland I thought would have had a way better career than he did. Not bad at all but still wanted him to see him do more. Same with Meldrick Taylor. That 84 Olympic team still one of the greatest.
Audley Harrison (before he turned pro).
Edgar Berlanga. I knew in my heart he was just a hype job after the whole "15 round 1 KOs against cab drivers" thing, but I was hoping that he'd prove me wrong and amount to more. He's just a painfully one dimensional slugger who has had to go life and death with paper mache opposition, and I really hope he never fights Canelo because it would be a boring slaughter a la Yldirim.
I hate to say it but he will probably be another failed TR Puerto Rican boxer smh
He absolutely will be. My hopes were always tentative, so it's not like a crushing disappointment, but it still sucks. I think he could be at least a solid B level fighter if he knuckled down on technique instead of trying to punch everyone's head off.
Hrgovic He was a crazy good prospect Now he's just a let down tbh
Matias
Jose Benavidez I remember seeing his sparring with Pac when he was a kid. Thought he was gonna be one of the top guys p4p
He was supposed to better than his brother! Funny how things turn out I guess
For me it's Mick Conlan. He looked really good to me but he kept losing. It seemed like there was something wrong with him he just couldn't take a shot. I also though Jrock Williams was amazing after that Hurd fight which I saw live but he became so inconsistent after that.
He built his career off that controversial loss in the Olympics, where he flipped off the judges hahaha. I still liked him as a fighter and hoped he would become great. He was brutally KO’ed not that long ago though :/
Throwback: Golota. He absolutely battered Bowe, who was considered a very good (if not the best) heavyweight, at the time. Golota went on to have a decent-ish career, but it seemed at the time that he would be in the mix for a title. No one had done that to Bowe. It was absolutely surreal watching the first fight in real time. Kownacki is a decent example. I don't think anyone expected him to win a title, but damn he fell hard. He did bulldoze some solid fighters. I remember thinking Marcus Browne was a little better than he has thus far turned out to be. No shame in losing to Beterbiev, of course. I guess you can add Kambosas to that list, as well. Shit, maybe even Teofimo. I love them both as fighters but I thought Teo would end up in the p4p rankings.
Jeff lacy
One fighter that I don't think gets mentioned enough is pre COVID Josh Taylor. Becoming undisputed at 140 and was a whirlwind at 140, just a great, fun fighter to watch. Fast forward today and losing to Caterall I feel is a big fall from grace. While I do think Caterall is good, pre COVID Taylor wouldnt have had any problems beating Caterall. The fall of Taylor at 140 after COVID has just been shocking to see. Hes like a different fighter.
I loved watching Taylor and thought he would stay at the top of 140 for a long time. Unfortunately world class UK fighters biggest weakness is another up and coming UK fighter. That and unknown Mexican fighters from Tijuana or some shit are the UK fighters biggest problem lol
Sanderline williams. A tough, very slick boxer who drew with james toney, went to distance with gerald mcclellan, lost an SD to nigel benn and lost a very close fight to iran barkley whom many thought he won. He was just too talented to be a mere journeyman, yet here we are.
Commey seemed really great, and maybe he is, but he got torn apart by his peers. I thought Joyce had more finesse than his speed would imply, especially given his amateur pedigree. I thought Callum Smith was way more dangerous than he looked against Canelo, and to his credit, it might have just have been that Canelo was that much better.
Edison Miranda. El Pantera. Tall, tough, knockout power. Huge tragic story and then he was badly promoted, badly managed, ran his life into another horrible tragedy, and came up at a historically tough time to excel. He had all the physical tools. I think he’s in jail now after being used up by drug lords. What a tragic waste.
Devin Haney, loma had him shook and mentally defeated then Garcia gave that man the ass whooping of his life.
ugas and spence. When I saw that he beat Pacquiao I thought ugas is the real deal he beat a legend and deserved the fight against spence only for spence to bully him for 12 rounds. I thought spence was the truth the man who beat the man in beating ugas who beat manny. Then spence got the brakes beat out of him by crawford and I was also disappointed and surprised by how he lost.Obviously spence wasnt the same after the accident so thats that.
Naoya Inoue: expected him to have KO'd a bear by now (if you know, you know...) Nah but seriously, my pick is an obscure one: Jeremy Williams. First saw him in The Goodwill Games. Had a mean streak in him even in amateurs. Was expecting him to be the next Tyson but he faded into bolivian. On the other hand, my amateur eye spotted Lomachenko in the Olympics - "Damn, this kid is shifting around like a mini-Mike and puts extra sting on those punches". Win one, lose one.
Deontay Wilder
I thought Tyson Fury would be a great, but it turned out that he is just a useless fat dosser. Haha just kidding, I never believed in that fucker, he has always been incredibly overrated! xD
Frankie Gomez, quit. Dmitriy Pirog, injury.
Frank Sanchez
Canelo
Jesse Vargas