Highly-touted Eastern European and Central Asian busts.

Rakhim Chakhkiev - Olympic gold medalist, exceptional athlete, fight IQ of a plastic bag.
He had really good instincts, and clearly was talented, but for some reason he could not change his style to fit the pro league. Dude went balls to the wall from the opening bell, and always gassed after the 4th round. Cruiserweight Zab Judah.

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Could have been so much more if he threw with 70% instead of a 100% all the time, and maybe threw a few more jabs instead of spamming combinations. But hey, at least his fights were fun!

 

Albert Batyrgaziev - Olympic gold medalist.
I mean, hes still young, and he has time to turn his career around... but he got KO´d by Jazza Dickens ffs. And hes looked pretty mediocre in a few of his previous fights, especially for a gold medalist.

Plus, hes kinda short for 130, a weight class he already struggles to make. I think his career at the world level ended before he got there.

 

He was a must watch despite being a bit of a bust.. because like you said he brought it(maybe a bit too much) needed a good coach and team to calm him down and refine his style a bit. I think he would lay waste with most of the clowns at CW today.

 

Him and Drozd are two of my favorite Cruiserweight what ifs. Well, Drozd did got a really neat little run before his forced retirement, but its still a what if in my book. Would have been another bust, but he managed to salvage his career in his mid 30s.

 

I'm convinced Drozd was the goods when he finally put it together man. a pity his run was cut short.

 

Evgeny Romanov - decent enough amateur and had some success in the pros before he fizzled out.

Rostislav Plechko - he was really exciting and then disappeared from the face of the Earth.

Kamshybek Kunkabayev - he could have had an impact at cruiserweight, but decied to retire from boxing.

Mihai Nistor - same as Romanov. He actually has a fight scheduled in Romania for next Saturday.

Maxim Vlasov - he had the potential to be a world champion, but was rather unlucky against Smith.

Grigory Drozd - he could have been a more successful champion if it wasn't for his back injury. He could have competed in the WBSS.

 

Bizarre to me that Hammer and Dinu had more notable fights and success than Nistor. Lack of ambition, promotional issues, injuries? You'd think some sleazy Romanian or German promoter would be interested in him. Guess not though. Maybe he came along a little too late? 00s and first half of the 2010s the German market would have been great for him.

 

He tried to make a name for himself in the US, but he didn't have the marketability and then Covid hit. He will fight some guy next week in Saturday, so I guess the dream is still there.

 

Yeah it's HW afterall. It's still possible even if unlikely.

 

Alexander Dimitrenko

 

Bogdan Dinu. good amateur pedigree, size, athletic, fast hands and solid power... Didn't appear to like boxing and mentally checked out in the opportunities he did get. Against Pulev he did show some flashes but he mentally checked out there too.