These three very entertaining boxers have fallen into obscurity. Does anyone know why? My opinion: Tyrone Spong - in the days of k1 he was a huge destructive puncher and even after coming to the boxing he knocked everyone out. I myself did boxing and Thai boxing and I can say that even though they are different sports, it is possible to reorientate yourself if you have a very good boxing in Thai boxing, which Spong had. After the cancellation of the fight with Usyk, the ground collapsed after him, does anyone know why? It's been five years and his career is over, but it's a shame. Oscar Rivas - she had a great match against Jennings, he also fought well against Whyte, but after that he went down. He was supposed to fight Ajagba but that got cancelled..also it's been almost 5 years without a big fight. Does anyone know why? Michael Hunter - destroyed Bakole, I think he beat Povetkin, who I rate very high. At that moment, he could be heading for the top ten of the heavyweight and could easily beat names like Parker or Ruiz. In the last five years, he has only had a few fights with sluggers. How can someone ruin their career like that? If I were a promoter, I would have signed all three immediately five years ago. Now everyone is past the peak. It's a shame, they could have been fun and livened up the heavyweight mix.
Whyte has had so many problems with PEDs and is still boxing, so why can't Spong? Hunter has had issues with matchroom, but why the hell hasn't he been signed by another promoter a long time ago?
Because Spong doesn't have a powerhouse spin doctor promoter behind him like Eddie Hearn. Hunter's situation I find profoundly frustrating. I think part of it is, he's lost passion for the sport and is dragging his heels, and add in his terrible performance against Jerry Forrest, that might be enough to make top promoters wary, which is unfortunate, because it might've just been an off night.
There are probably few big promoters these days...that's the problem. I think the world has changed and they don't understand. If they sold ppv to the whole world for more acceptable money, I believe they would multiply their profits. A lot of people around me like boxing but don't buy the ppv because of the price and prefer to watch the pirated stream. If matchroom, top rank and others created a single world website boxing.com or something similar, which they would know in Africa and Europe and where they would sell ppv from each event at a very low price, I believe they would have huge sales from all over the world . ... But I still don't understand why Spong wasn't signed by any of the big promoters after a few years in boxing. He was synonymous with an entertaining fighter who delivered knockouts. ... Hunter is probably crazy, because I simply don't understand why he ran away from the matchroom, and even if he was sulking, it could have been a year, but not five years. It's done now.
bryant jennings has been another forgotten name for five years now, but his fights have always been boring. On the other hand, he challenged Klitschko for the title
Rivas is basically retired due to eye issues. It's a shame as he was an explosive puncher and could have been in some good matchups. No real excuse for Spong or Hunter though.
Real shame about all of them. I was fan of all three, especially Spong. He had a fantastic transition to boxing, can't believe he fell off completely after the Usyk Debacle but looking back he likely never had a chance anyway lol. Still, he was entertaining fighter.
Rivas retired, bro. Sprong missed the chance of a lifetime to fight Usyk due to PEDs. One more thing about Hunter--he disappeared for awhile and his career went to hell when the WBC accused him of being a PEDs abuser. I can't remember the exact, but that was the long and short of it.
I may be getting the details here wrong, but he issued some kind of public rebuttal for being accused of PED use. That was the moment his career started tanking.
I never followed Spong in boxing but I knew him from his K-1 days. Very good, technically sound, fighter, though a little scrappy at times. Always a bit undersized, but had a fantastic sneaky left hook that used to catch a lot of fighters out. Used to throw a lot with his mouth wide open though, which would have seen him have an injury at some point. Rivas I wish had hung around a bit longer. Really explosive puncher. Could have been in some great fights with the likes of Wilder, Ajagba, Parker, Joyce etc. Wardley reminds me of him a bit, though not as powerful or as explosive.
Tyrone Spong almost lose against Ytalo Perea..after he knows that he will do nothing in Heavyweight division.