How great could Gerald McClellan have been?

[Flo_Raiden]

Had he not gotten that serious brain damage how far do you think he would have gone? Let's just assume that he wasn't arrogant enough to go see the doctors about his head problem, KO'd Nigel Benn, and then moved on to better opposition. Do you think he could have achieved much more and become an ATG?

I always felt that he had all the tools to be great, just needed more polishing in his technique. He already had the boxing skills, chin, aggression, and especially power to be a nightmare for most fighters. If he had better defense, inside ability, and neglected the puncher mentality to KO opponents early then I don't think I could see anyone beating him IMO. He could have been unstoppable. Really talented fighter that never reached his full potential.

[Lester1583]

G-Man - Hearns sparring 1990:

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[ame]***********.youtube.com/watch?v=sstz3--BEMI[/ame]

[PowerPuncher]

He was an amazing talent but an unpolished gem. His in-fighting and defence weren't very good and neither was his stamina. A great is defined by how they are matched, so if he was matched well or beat a great in a favourable style match up, he'd go down as great.

[Lester1583]

Originally Posted by PowerPuncher

A great is defined by how they are matched, so if he was matched well or beat a great in a favourable style match up, he'd go down as great.

You could have been a good promoter, PP!

Imagine G-Man destroying over-hyped guys like Lacy, Bute or blown-up welters like Tito.

He would have been P4P№1.

Just don't let him fight durable defensive specialists like Toney or Hopkins.

[PowerPuncher]

Originally Posted by Lester1583

You could have been a good promoter, PP!

Imagine G-Man destroying over-hyped guys like Lacy, Bute or blown-up welters like Tito.

He would have been P4P№1.

Just don't let him fight durable defensive specialists like Toney or Hopkins.

Yea but at the time I'd probably love to match him with Benn. Benn should have been made to order really considering the form book

You never know if GMAN wouldn't just outspeed and intimidate a guy like Hopkins to force him on the backfoot though with his fast jab and right or even catch him with something big. Toney would have figured him out though

GMAN was a very intimidating guy, I've sparred with decent pros but I wouldn't really fancy sparring with him, he was pretty brutal and nasty in sparring I hear

[Lester1583]

Originally Posted by PowerPuncher

You never know if GMAN wouldn't just outspeed and intimidate a guy like Hopkins to force him on the backfoot though with his fast jab and right or even catch him with something big.

Nah, Hop would have weathered the storm by faking an injury.

Rolling on the floor and screaming in pain - you know the usual "old school" stuff.

Gerald gets frustrated and tires as the fight goes on
while B-hop punches exclusively on McClellan' hips and lands some nice punches to the balls.

Hopkins finally wins by DQ after Gerald lands a crushing left hook to the body and Hopkins fakes a low blow.

Originally Posted by PowerPuncher

GMAN was a very intimidating guy, I've sparred with decent pros but I wouldn't really fancy sparring with him, he was pretty brutal and nasty in sparring I hear

He certainly looked like a guy who would have tried to knock you out as brutally as possible.

Poor Steward probably remembers those good old days with sadness each time he teaches Wlad different variations of clinching technique.

[atberry]

Great jab, great footwork, great overarm right, pin-point left hook to the body. He had amazing timing, good hand-eye co-ordination and was extremely heavy-handed.

Yeah, McClellan had potent potential. His body shots were sneaky, but his head shots were a little more telegraphed...

[atberry]

Also, he came in at 180+ as a middleweight and remained 'chiseled'. Tall, rangey and able to withstand big blows, could turn on aggression... physically and emotionally, what didn't he have going for him?!

[Longhhorn71]

"he was pretty brutal and nasty in sparring I hear"

He was pretty brutal & nasty as a human being too.

[zadfrak]

I think his best days were behind him and he was going down the ladder. He'd reached the top against Jackson 2 and now it was slide down time. How quick, I'm not sure, but the days of continuing to rise were gone.

Lots of times the big hitters really have a 3 or 4 year window of domination from like years 2-6 of their careers and that's when all the A+ results occur. A little deterioration in reflexes and the change and subsequent result is just huge.

And like lots of those tall guys that move up in weight, I think those brutal early ko's disappear. They just seem to need to have that huge size advantage like Gerald had at middle. He looked like a lh in there against light middles. Can you imagine the size difference if a smallish 154 guy like a Norris or a Rosi moved up to middle to fight him at 160?

I just think the durability of some of that 168 talent and the 175 guys can absorb his punches. The middles go out of there quick, but as he moves up in weight, his flaws get magnified and that's a problem.

But a fight promoters dream because he was such a hitter and there were certainly exciting matches to make with him. But he wasn't going to be matched up with guys like Bell and old Jackson anymore.

[MrBumboclart]

Gerald could have been a truly great fighter.

He had cleaned the house at 160 and jumped to 168, pursueing his nemesis from the amateur days - Roy Jones Jones. Who Gerald beat in a junior-middleweight amateur contest years before.

If he had beaten Benn via 1 round KO, which he should have, he would have been in line to fight Jones. Don King was trying to make it so.

I think Gerald would have had a great chance against Jones. As we know Roy had a quiestionable jaw and McClellan had terrific power. But moreso than his power was his technical ability - he didn't neglect the body and he had incredible timing. Did anyone ever try Jones on the body? And how would you counteract his speed? Timing! McClellan had great timing. Emmanuel Stewart saying Gerald had the best timing in any fighter he trained.

Win or lose against Jones he would have been a big name fighter after getting in the ring with him.

The thing about Gerald is he was a light-heavyweight his entire career. He would weigh in 160 or 168 yet weight around 175-180 by fight time. I saw no reason why the G-Man couldn't have jumped to super-middle and then light-heavy and dominate a very weak division before Jones and B-Hop made their way up.

He could have been great that's for sure. Along with Tyson, Bowe, Lynch, Ibeabuchi and of course Chava - he is one of the greatest waste of talents in boxing history.

[salty trunks]

McClellan had the skills of an ATG, but he didnt have the character.

[Senya13]

Didn't use his jab to do damage, more as a range-finder, and his right hand was too predictable to be avoided in 9 out of 10 cases by boxers who didn't have 1/100 of Jones' reflexes and defensive skills. He didn't have a chance with prime Jones.

[frankenfrank]

McClellan would have slaughtered Jones prime vs prime .
Jones' s' worshipers will point 2 Jones hitting his prime at a later age , and there4 anything but a shot/green McClellan vs prime Jones is a prime vs prime .

[jdempsey85]

How great could Gerald McClellan have been?A decent trainer could have helped