Those guys that were good enough to win a title, and you remember fondly but perhaps weren't the greatest? Few names for me. Dennis Andries Jeff Harding Doug De Witt Duke Mckenzie
Mike Weaver was one. He was never going to hold onto a title long. Freddie Pendleton was another. And Limon. Wide open defensively in a tough division at the time. So he was not going to hold onto his title. Marvin Johnson. Another guy that was in a very deep division at the time. He sure would have done better when the division was weak.
John Conteh Duke McKenzie Ken Norton Carlos Palomino Four to kick off with. I will add that I've always been of the opinion that had Conteh remained free of injuries and "out of the ring problems" he had the talent to have become one of the very greatest 175lb men. I'm talking way up there with the likes of Archie Moore,Bob Foster and Michael Spinks. Good thread,Fergy.
I'd list Jeff Harding as well. Not the most talented fighter, but managed to become a 2x belt holder. His first fight with Andries was a classic. Buster Douglas. Biggest upset I've witnessed live (on HBO that night). Was cool to see him become an unexpected star in the sport for a few months anyway. They even created the Sega video game, James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing. Wish he came in shape and gave his best effort vs. Holyfield. Would have been an interesting fight. Rahman's reign was fun while it lasted. He managed to infuriate Lewis in a few of the press conferences, and of course there was the ESPN studio brawl between the two. Wasn't expecting Rahman to win the rematch, but the build up to that fight made it a lot more interesting.
Chris Byrd - very slick, defensively sound boxer, who could frustrate the hell out of the top guys, going all the way from the middleweight to win a title in the heavyweight division.
Francisco Vargas. Miguel Berchelt. Takashi Uchiyama. Were three 130lb titlists from the last decade that I really liked. Ricky Burns and Orlando Salido, too I think.
I'm with you Stevie on Conteh. He seemed to be in the papers a bit I remember with his 'problems', which is a shame cos he really did have the potential to go higher.
Israel Vasquez - maybe a bit more than a beltholder but not an ATG either. Was in some all-time great fights, though.
El Bandito! Yes, his title run was short, but in terms of excitement it was Arturo Gatti-level imo. - For me there's been plenty - but I've been watching a lot of Volodymyr Sydorenko fights lately, so I'll mention him. Ukrainian amateur European champion, as well as Olympic's and World's medalist - fighting out of Germany in late stage of Universum era. Not a big puncher, not particulary athlethic - but very good defensive fighter with good boxing brain. His run at Bantamweight was really good in terms of level of opposition. He fought guys like Agbeko, Julio Zarate, Ricardo Cordoba twice, Poonsawat - and eventually lost his title to excellent Chemito Moreno. A lot of close, technical contests - and since I enjoy scoring those, it's lots of fun.
Cornelius Boza-Edwards every fight he had was a FOTY candidate I think he was even more exciting than Bobby Chacon.
Alberto Davila. Was a level below amongst the elite level fighters of his time but was still good enough to win a belt (under tragic circumstance sadly). His boxing style was great to watch and has been in some nice technical fights. Joichiro Tatsuyoshi was the Japanese version of Arturo Gatti. Almost all of his fights were FOTY contenders.