I pretty much agree with this, getting a title shot based off of an amateur career has to be one of the worst and we have had so many poor defenses especially in the last 40 years. Wepner was one of the worst fighters that I had to sit through in fights, he had zero power, was slow and no boxing ability and bled when he rubbed his eyes in the morning, his strength was that he was a tough ******* but title material Sorry but at least he was a pro fighter
Yeah it would be different if we saw Teofilo Stevenson get a title shot right out of the amateurs, but aside from that one exception I can't see justification for anyone else. A pro ring is a totally different animal, when you go from fighting teenagers with headgear to grown men without protection and loads more experience.
Yeah, agreed, it wouldn't be enough to just be "the best amateur in your weight class in your time", or even a Val Barker trophy holder - you'd need to be up in the p4p ATG ranks in order to square a title shot right off the bat with nothing done in the pros.
Cobb wasn't a deserving challenger by any means, but he was hardly " the worst" man to ever get a title shot. His chin and punch were at least both proven and he had 1 or 2 decent names in his win column. That's more than a lot of people we can think of.
Definitely not him considering he was robbed against The Nordic Nightmare,who was highly regarded, just before that.
That tall, roided goon who Wlad fought had some thin credentials. Leapai at least beat botsov before his shot.
Yes but considering how poor some past title challengers have been, Peter might not even be bottom 20.
And I know this one isn't for the lineal belt, but the version of Rahman who turned up against Povetkin might be the most incapable man to ever have fought for a heavyweight title.