What if Michael Olajide had moved to the UK after the barkley fight

I was seriously excited about Olajide in the day, I figured he was the one to beat Hagler...

But by the Barkley fight (knockdown aside) it was obvious he was gone.
If he had 'come back home' he would have been a decent name on the resume of all those listed, but I do not think he would have beaten any of them post Barkley.

That computer programming thing he was involved in, seemed like it could make some money.

 

Olajide was a good fighter .could of beaten benn if he could of kept it at long range a fight with Collins and Watson would be a hard fight .Graham was getting a bit long in the tooth so Michael could take a points decision in a great fight.I think Kalambay beats him .

 

Michael Olajide was the Michael Jackson of boxing in a way. I don't think he really was very good, he was just marketed really well.

 

Even his harsh critic would not call him that! If we are talking music v boxing; off the wall destroys any Olajide win. If we are talking personality, Olajide was and is at least a googolplex percent a better person.

 

Olajide had the goods. And that last name was something I've never heard before. Even though I love Barkley I still find myself pulling for Silk when he scored the knockdown. As if the bout was live again.

 

The beauty of the 'wet perm'!

 

Just let that Soul Glo!!

 

He was suppose to be one of the next generation middleweight young guns that was going to replace the aging Hagler. I remember one of the boxing magazines of that mid to late 80s period, either KO or World Boxing, that highlighted Olajide as the exciting flashy hotshot, Frank Tate as the solid workmanlike boxer and Michael Nunn as the reluctant, safety first stylist. As it turned out Tate proved that substance triumphed over style as he convincingly out pointed Olajide to win one of the vacant middleweight titles after Leonard beat Hagler and then retired again. But surprisingly Tate then lost his title as he was overwhelmed by a outstanding Nunn who seemed a completely different fighter from the boring safety first boxer that everyone was used to.

It seemed a complete turnaround as Olajide was initially thought of as being the best and the most promising of the 3 rising young guns, followed by Tate and then Nunn yet in the end it turned out in complete reverse order.

 

Yeah, even in the Tate fight, he looked like he was starting to get burnt out already and there were rumours that he had overtrained which is plausible since he did seem somewhat of a fitness fanatic.

Still, despite his flashy style and the definitive 80s slick jeri curl hair (matched of course by his lookalike father), it's a shame that his career fizzled out the way it did as I found him to have a very likeable and engaging personality.

 

he was a good fighter.. Not great but very good.. He lacked a toughness needed to get to that next level.

 

Living in Vancouver where Olijide actually grew up he made a pretty big splash here. Then he up and left aND moved to New York. Sort of hand a Michael Jackson persona. Might not have done much but he's probably one of the best professional boxers to come out of Vancouver. We have had a couple of fighters who won Olympic metals Dale Walters being the most famous.

 

Exposed by Frank Tate.

More hype than substance

Barkley loss was just icing.

He was done at the elite level no matter what he did

Nice payday to fight Hearns though.