Name fighters who were great in one division but looked ordinary when they moved up

Napoles tried to jump to MW, but Monzon waited for him there. 3-5 of Monzon's MW challengers would have beaten Napoles at MW, though Jose did easily beat Emile Griffith when EG moved back down to WW, for a shot at the WW title. (Napoles was a Lightweight who moved up to WW).

 

Roy Jones Jr
Jake Lamotta
Michael sprinks

 

Though he was young and untested, Michael Moorer looked like a lethal beast at light-heavyweight. While he managed to win the biggest prize of all at heavyweight, he just didn't have the same ferocity as he did when he was a (probably literally) hungry light-heavy.

Most guys can only go up so far. Between a less efficient heavier body and the challenge of facing bigger men, moving up in weight can be a hard trick to pull off. Some guys only move up for one fight and decide the bigger division isn't for them. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Wilfred Benitez come to mind.

 

Mustafa Hamsho gave Benitez a bad beating at MW...though at that point WB was on the back end of the curve and should have been retired.

 

Carlos Zarate. All-time great bantamweight who got handed a royal ass-kicking from Wilfredo Gomez at super bantamweight and never did anything noteworthy outside 118 pounds.

 

Ruben Olivares.

 

Come on guys...Alexis Arguello.

 

Jones Jr.? I dont get that one.

 

Me neither considering he kicked @55 at 154, 160, 168, 175, and HWT. The only division he missed was Cruiserweight.

 

Wilfredo Gomez was sensational at 122, he moved up to 126 and faced Salvador Sanchez, the rest is history.

 

Presume you're joking...

 

Except it's not. He became a two-division champ after his 5 year reign at 122. Not sure how that qualifies as ordinary.

 

Ricky Hatton was a tremendous light welterweight but struggled when he moved to welterweight.

 

What divisions would you say Jones looked ordinary in? He looked pretty good to amazing all the away up to his heavyweight fight.