A lot of what ifs with this guy. What if he ever stuck with just kickboxing or just boxing? This content is protected If he were to have just focused on boxing, how much further might Reid have gone if he never linked up with Brendan Ingle? This content is protected Plenty more... This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected The peaks and valleys of Pelé Reid, in chronological order: Reid vs. Klitschko (amateur kickboxing world championship): [yt]9n7zExsuCRU[/yt] Reid vs. Llewelyn (while unbeaten in the pros, earned crack @ British title): [yt]hneqFNGBEvo[/yt] Francis vs. Reid (British title shot): [yt]rjd9M4akvW0[/yt] Sefo vs. Reid (pro kickboxing): [yt]-UDRUmZ7nvw[/yt] Reid vs. Perkins (sparring, prep for McDermott bout and pro debut respectively. Perkins is a 6'5" heavyweight that ended up going 4-1 in the pros) [yt]CjjRg-C8acQ[/yt] McDermott vs. Reid (2nd run in boxing): [yt]Dq9UJnY_XnE[/yt]
Reid just couldn't get past ***ton in Prizefighter...!!! I would have loved to see a boxing match between Reid and Vitali...!!! Guarantee you, Vitali wouldn't have to huff and puff to knck out the little piggy and his chinny chin chin...!!!
They were supposed to have fought, actually. Reid withdrew because he got what as of then was a better opportunity (Vitali was still kind of nobody, his own best win at that point being Julius Francis) to challenge Francis and obtain the domestic belts...lower risk for much bigger reward than a random little-known (outside being the brother of an Olympian) unbeaten Ukrainian. What makes this especially funny is that Vitali allegedly dismissed questions about Reid in 2005 by responding "who is that?" - and upon being reminded that he was KTFO by Reid in kickboxing 13 years earlier shrugged it off and said he barely remembered and yet was adamant that it had been a kick to his thigh, not his chin. This is doubly embarrassing for Klitschko as 1) the video shows him clearly being lain flat by a spinning back-kick on the JAW... sorry, you don't ever in your life forget being KTFO at the world championship in your 1st choice of combat sport, and 2) it would be one thing if 13 years had really passed since he ever heard Reid's name but they were SCHEDULED TO FIGHT in 1999, just six years before the interview. He knew exactly who Reid was. Vitali is just a very, very sore loser.
A story about Pele http://www.webofstories.com/play/brendan.ingle/9;jsessionid=C9C180F3F7A9F59054D559C36D95BC13
Im just about old enough to remember this guy being billed as the next British HW prospect. Like a lot of British prospects...he just wasnt as good as Sky Sports thought he was.
The Norris/Vitali match was a flop job to get a paycheck and GTFO out of town if I've ever seen one. A few of Vitali's early opponents did this. I have no doubt they were not bribes or thrown fights, merely guys traveling to receive poor pay checks and didn't want anything to do with an extended mauling. Anyway, Pele Reid is an interesting cast study, one of those obscure fighters who accomplished more as a kick boxer than a professional fighter. I find successful amateurs who flop as pro's just as interesting. Certainly more refreshing and insightful than regurgitating the same old garbage we normally hear on General. Interesting and informative thread, kudos to IB.
all i know is he was a Legend at Football! & in Brazil he's iconic national figure, they all love him there!
True. But Reid was never able to be competitive in boxing against Vitali's leftovers, let alone Vitali himself. Reid had bad defensive skills and extremely glass chin, he made Herbie Hide's chin look iron. Even if Reid were full-time boxer, he'd never reach TOP-10 at any point.
