Which fighter in your lifetime exceeded your expectations?

Old George Foreman

Rafael Ruelas

Jorge Paez

Troy Dorsey

Marvin Johnson (not that I didn’t think he was good, but he gathered himself after humbling defeats to become a three-time light heavyweight champ when he could have been a flash in the pan)

Bobby Czyz

 

George Kambosos was my Tokyo Douglas when he beat Teo. He's been utterly terrible since, but I'll always like him just for that fight.

 

Daniel Zaragoza

Twice outpointed by Harold Petty. Lucky to get the WBC 118 title when Freddie Jackson was DQd for low blows. Lost the title quickly in a non-competitive loss to Miguel Lora. Shutout by deicsion in a non-title fight to Jeff Fenech. Appeared done. But through grit and the largesse of the Mexican based WBC remained a fixture at 122 for the next 12 years winning the WBC 122 lb title more than once.

 

Carl Froch and Ricky Burns both had better careers than I thought they would do.

 

I can't think of any in my case for now.

 

Sean OGrady when he beat Hilmer Kenty.

 

Boza Edward's comes to mind.
He really turned things around after Arguello stopped him.

 

Froch surprised me, too.

I couldn't believe that Chris Byrd went on to become a viable heavyweight contender.. but he sure was that. Kind of reminds me of Usyk, actually.

 

I suppose Usyk counts for me, too. Whilst I was aware he had the reputation of a potential generational talent coming out of the amateurs, and so wasn't surprised at him cleaning up at CW, I picked both AJ and Fury to beat him in their respective 1st fights. Therefore, he's exceeded my expectations at HW.

 

Yep I would have said Uysk too but he was already seen as a great fighter at crusierweight and I didn't follow Uysk's CW career live so I wasn't sure if I could count that.

 

I guess Usyk has surprised me a bit (even though I predicted him to get a KO vs Fury).

Chris Byrd, another southpaw, was really viable in a tough hitting age, strong KO guys.

 

Crawford.

Saw him rocked by Gamboa and he kept falling for that throw away left hook-straight right. Thought Bud would be knocked out at higher weights. Was wrong.

 

Manny Pacquiao.

I’m not sure how many predicted he would have that great a career, let alone to now be talked of as one of the top 20-30 greatest fighters in history.

To see a guy who won his first world title at flyweight go all the way up to welterweight as a world champ was incredible.

The crazy thing is that each time he stepped up in weight, even when he went from super bantam to feather, I thought it might be a step too far and each time he confounded my expectations.

Barrera was so highly thought of at the point Manny first met him in 2003 and Pacquiao just took him apart like it was nothing.

I thought it was a joke when I heard he’d be fighting Oscar at welterweight. Even though De La Hoya was past his peak, he had fought well against Mayweather the year before while Pacquiao was still at super featherweight. There was no way Manny could be competitive against someone of that size and stature. That was mind-blowing.

And to hand Rocky Hatton such a brutal and decisive beatdown at Hatton’s best weight was jaw-dropping too.

Then Cotto… after that I thought there was nothing he couldn’t do.

 

Pacquiao