Whitaker is one of those who, right out of the gate, was already who he was as a pro... Already a pro, even in their pro debut... Not many show this type of class this early, but Whitaker is always the first that comes to mind when thinking along these lines.
his ring generalship was no ****ing joke, his outright fighting was no ****ing joke, great thread Addie
Most of the top Thai fighters who came from a competitive muay thai background were close to the finished article within 3 or 4 fights. Not too sure if i have any actual debute bouts though. to be honest i expect many of the Olympic medallists and fighters with extensive amatuer backgrounds who went on to be greats\near greats looked impressive right from the start.Whitaker, Holyfield etc were matched well and world class within a couple of years. That's one thing recent British prospects with amatuer pedigree fail miserably at...it's all taken at such a ponderous snails pace against opposition that often offers nothing in the way of a learning experience.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjX1jZMvhgU[/ame] i thought he looked average:think This content is protected This content is protected
I watched Holyfield's debut the other night too. He didn't look this good but then again he was matched harder.
Holyfield was matched as hard as I've ever seen a pro on his debut. Byarm was no joke: A great amateur, a very, very solid pro, who came to win. They have an Olympian, a star, and they gave him a fighter who actually stood a shot at beating him. That never happens.
I was more referring to the Olympian guaranteed future star type of pro debut, but I stand by my saying that Evander was matched as hard as anybody for the first outing in that circumstance. Looking on everybody's stiff debut, most fighters go on to do nothing after getting blasted by a debuting stud. Maybe being 21-0 or 9-1 and losing to an 0-0 man breaks the confidence. Maskaev's man retired after that loss, if I recall, and he was something like 20-0.
After I dropped Pete Rademacher down on you, you still maintain that Holy had as tough a debut challenge as anybody...interesting.