I don't know if I agree with this pick. Cus D'Amato came to visit him at a jevenile detention center when Mike was 13 years old and never having a single amateur fight. Cus saw him shaddow boxing, and said " That's the next heavyweight champion of the world ". Obviously, he had potential, and what he did with it, was incredible.
in tysons early amatuer career people didnt think much of him according to teddy atlas and a lot of people said he was just big with no skill and said cus was crazy, cus saw something in him that others never
The point is, the potential was there, and it was noticed before he ever even had a single amateur fight.
The same is true of Joe Louis and his early managers. They made an offer to manage Louis as a profesional (something that no amateur ever got back then) after a fight which he had lost, to his considerable surprize.
If in 88/89 you had said Holyfield would was going to be an all-time top 10-15 Heavy, few would of agreed. From the moment he turned pro most were expectiong Oscar de la Hoya to fail ala Breland; he did not, and showed his true potential....
Eric Lucas. Who would've thought after seeing his loss to Bryant Brannon that he would ever amount to anything, even if only briefly. Personally, I still can't believe it.