Dereck Chisora and George Chuvalo immediately come to mind when somebody mentions heavyweight and gatekeepers. Question is, did 80's and 90's had the same iconic, eternal guardians of the gates of contendership?
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Man. That's a very hard thing to call. Before the 80s there was no gatekeepers only contenders, every fighter had to earn their shot. No weak ****,waiting a title out. But there was so much talent in the 90s
Are we talking about just Heavyweights ? or any weight in general ? if just Heavyweights then. Mark Wills Marion Wilson Bert Cooper James Tillis James Broad Scott LeDoux George Chaplin Tex Cobb Jose Ribalta Mitch Green Jesse Ferguson Maurice Harris David Izon Terrence Lewis Phil Jackson Quinn Navarre Lionel Butler Jimmy Thunder Everett Martin Darroll Wilson Ossie Occasio Lance Whitaker Bernado Mercado
Nah. Ray was inconsistent but still was a belt holder. You could argue he was a gatekeeper in the 2000's but that's not what the Op was asking. Someone like Jesse Ferguson would be a better shout who fought many top fighters usually losing.
just heavyweight? pretty much covered now. i dont know much about the 80s and 90s outisde of the top fighters, so id be interested to hear. today, i can think of quite a few across all divisions, but derek has been somewhat of an anomaly in that hes been used as the first boss for matchroom before you get i bigger fight lol
Quick Tillis was a strange one, he was actually undefeated and very highly rated at one point. But after losing a very close fight to Mike Weaver, his career just nosedived after that. Then had the mentality of just being "an opponent" for upcoming prospects. To be fair to him he would turn in some good performances after that vs Page, Williams, and of course Tyson. But never had any notable wins again just losing efforts against good opponents, quite a contrast from starting out as a 20-0 highly rated contender, then turning into a 42-22 gatekeeper/journeyman. I was going to mention Carl Williams originally in my list, but i'm not sure i would quite class him as a "gatekeeper" i guess it's a fine line on your definition of what you class as a gatekeeper to be honest. I guess he could fit that definition but i don't know, i always thought he was a bit better than that at his best.
Agree it has a nebulous meaning gatekeeper. I tend to think of it as guys who are decent but mostly lose to the top guys.
I always considered thec"gatekeeper" someone who generally loses against the top ten or prospects heading into the top ten, but will beat the prospects that don't have what it takes to get into the top ten of the division. Generally speaking
Yeah that's basically how I see it too. solid test for a top prospect but beat hype jobs easily enough.