What Fighters Were You Wrong About?

Good post mate. :good

 

Excellent point, Riddick ****ed up his absolutely phenomenal potential. :-(

Newman was bad for Bowe, for instance his idea of the "Bowe Bus" which travelled across the USA to all the best BBQ spots. atsch

 

It doesn't count in a way seeing as how I was only a nipper at the time, but had I been born earlier I doubt that I would've expected Zaragoza to go on to the levels of success that he did after Lora and Fenech both flogged him raw. He and Jim Watt are the poster boys for getting to the top with little more than average ability at their disposals.

The little Hackney fly/bantam Ian Napa was a fighter who I think many at the time, myself included, believed was destined for big things. He won the European bantamweight title, so his career can hardly be considered a failure, but he looked quicker than grease with a neat, slick style. He was tiny though with zero reach and punching power, nor was he the most ring savvy as it turned out. Mix that with ill discipline and trouble pressing a fight and it isn't hard to see why he never lived up to the hype. He had me sold in his early days and is one of the reasons why I try not to jump the gun.

Tshifhiwa Munyai, the South African ex-Commonwealth bantamweight champion was another in the UK who was expected to go on and generate a few waves after he battered Martin Power x2 and Lee Haskins. I was never convinced by him myself, but his abnormal size (5'10) for a bantam plus the usual over-egging by SKY of our home fighters abilities blinded people to the notion that he wasn't really that good. He's still only in his mid-twenties I think, so he might have a chance to get his arse in gear and do something with his career.

Bojado was another who I thought had it in him, but I wasn't much surprised by the collective defeats of Lopez, Pavlik, Miranda, Williams or even Mijares really. The hype around the latter two in particular stunned me tbh. Donaire is another who I haven't really passed judgement on until he comes across the sort of package/style that can really trouble him, though he has looked excellent so far on the rare occasions when he's gotten a move on.

 

I think Jermain Taylor had the perfect platform for going on to greatness after the Bhop wins.

 

Thankyou kind sir.

 

burt, you hit the nail on the head. i love hopkins but you need the right opponents in front of you if you're still going to be champ in your 40s. look at who moore defended against in his 40s as well. once jones fell from the top in '04 the ring light heavy title has been passed around a few times and this is due to the lack of depth in the division.

 

I hate to admit I thought Hector Camacho, Jr. would win a world title...until the Leija fight.

 

Never thought John Ruiz would get so far. Dave Tiberi looked awful to me, then had the big fight with Toney. Never thought Jake Rodriguez would win a title.

 

I don't follow the new guys to the degree you guys do, but I was a big ESPN/USA fights follower back in the 80's and 90's and I became absolutely convinced John Wesley Meekins was every bit a surefire world champ because of how strongly they presented him and how good he looked in his buildup fights.

Same thing with Oba Carr. You can see how well they worked out.

On the flip-side, I was shocked when John Ruiz came back from the David Tua blasting and became a thorn in everyone's sides.

 

I thought Graham and Bruno were terrible in early to mid 80s. But they went on to outbox McCallum and Lewis for six rounds.

 

Small anecdote:

I've tried over the past year to record all of the fights I see with any small notes I might want to include, as it can be useful later on. I did get slightly blitzed the night Junior came in, did the booty shake and got mercilessly knocked out against David Lemieux last year. In an uncharacteristic usage of the onlineism, my only note after drunkenly entering in the match to my record was "LOL". I had no recollection of making this note but when I went in to write another fight down, I lol'd. End anecdote.

 

Cockell was not a top 15 heavyweight of the era, so if your attempting to bring down the era, perhaps you should use better examples. I have seen plenty of rankings manipulated to boost an undeserving fighter's ranking.

 

Mijares. ****kk.

 

I always proclaim any of the supposed up and comers to be talentless hacks or hype-jobs. That way I'm correct a good 90% of the time.

 

Chagaev is a talent who never made it...in my opinion......I thought he would be one of the greats, because of his amateur background......