Auspicious beginnings: fantastic professional debuts

...wherein the promise of greatness, later delivered*, was hinted at.


Classic

Mike Tyson vs. Hector Mercedes:
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Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Roberto Apodaca:
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Ray Leonard vs. Luis Vega:
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Mikkel Kessler vs. Kelly Mays:
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Riddick Bowe vs. Lionel Butler:
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Pernell Whitaker vs. Farrain Comeaux:
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Bobby Czyz vs. Hank Whitmore:
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David Tua vs. Ron Humes:
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Vivian Harris vs. Leviticus Long:
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Kostya Tszyu vs. Darrell Hiles:
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Jeff Fenech vs. Bobby Williams:
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Modern

Gennady Golovkin vs. Gabor Balogh:
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Miguel Cotto vs. Jason Doucet:
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Naoya Inoue vs. Crison Omayao:
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Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Mike Montoya:
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Brian Viloria vs. Benjamin Escobia:
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Andre Ward vs. Chris Molina:
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Vasyl Lomachenko vs. José Ramírez:
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Vijender Singh vs. Sonny Whiting:
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Shawn Estrada vs. Lawrence Jones:
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Óscar Valdez vs. Angel Prado:
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Saúl Álvarez vs. Abraham González:
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Eclectic as the list may seem, they were all impressive debuts for one reason or another. Some were savage blitzes, some were just damn creditable & bold choices of debut opponent, and some demonstrated early flashes of championship heart in being able to rally from adversity to get the W.

*all the Classic selections, except Tua, at least had world title reigns during their careers...and Tuaman had a wider impact on the sport than many titlists. I think we can throw him a bone and say for a guy with pretty much just the one punch, and considering all the setbacks, he eked out a pretty great career.

Wishlist

Marvin Hagler KO2 Terry Ryan

Steve Collins KO3 Julio Mercado

Ricardo López KO3 Rogelio Hernandez

Ray Mancini KO1 Phil Bowen

Félix Trinidad KO2 Angel Romero

 

Seem to remember Holyfield having a great debut.

As did David Price though

 

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:good

All-around great debut. Byarm was a crazy selection at 9-1-2 (4), and put up some respectably solid resistance, and Holyfield shut him out.

 

I was looking for Hopkins' debut. I know he lost but I wanted to see how. Sadly, the footage most likely will never be available

 

Great thread, thanks :thumbsup

 

Same. Also JMM's, I wanna see what this apparently dubious DQ was about.

 

Not sure I'd agree with Singh, but how about ****stan's Muhammad Waseem?
The Falcon debuted in a 10 round Korean title fight against Min Wook Lee.
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Hinata Maruta
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Ken Shiro
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When it comes to finding them, Samart Payakaroon deserves a mention, debuting against a former world champion and of course the "mother of them all" Hyun Mi Choi

 

Was great to see my good friend from Texas Jerry McKenzie referee the
Cotto-Daucet fight. Great ref one of Texas best Great guy too

 

Good thread and idea here.

Is Oleg Maskaev's debut filmed? Pretty obscure question but he came to mind.

 

One for the wishlist, definitely. :good

Alexander Miroshnichenko was 21-0 (15) when a debuting Maskaev beat him!

Five years earlier Miroshnichenko had given Bowe absolute hell at the Olympics. (scoring at the higher connect percentage, though Bowe landed more shots overall, and flooring Bowe twice in the 1st, though such things didn't count for extra points under amateur rules back then)

 

Great thread:good. Thanks lads!

 

:good