i was looking at his boxrec and he seems like one of those fighters that could step up when they have to. would anybody want share anything about keith mullings?
I remember him knocking out a shot Terry Norris, and quickly losing the title after that. He wasnt that great of a fighter. I think he was a military guy if I remember correctly, learned to box in the army.
Decent Journeyman, who seemingly turned good, but that *****, hindsight, merely shows he met Norris at the right time... That said, it seemed an absolute stunner when Stevie Roberts flattened the still dangerous Mullings in two. I thought Roberts was for real, on the strength of that win!
All I remember about this guy is that he ruined Norris' potential payday w/ ODLH by KO'ing him on the undercard of DLH-Wilfredo Rivera
He was somewhat like a precursor to Glen Johnson. He had a poor-looking record, but his record was considered deceptive because he lost a lot of fights on close/controversial decisions and had taken fights on short notice. When he fought Norris, he was known as "the best .500 fighter in the world," or something to that effect. In his previous fight before Norris, he had fought Raul Marquez (who was fairly well regarded at that time) for the title, and had busted him up en route to losing a hotly disputed decision. If I remember correctly, Norris was supposed to fight Marquez at some point but the fight didn't happen (I forget the details), so instead he jumped on the chance to fight Mullings, with the intention of making himself look good by blowing out the guy who had arguably beaten Mullings. Of course, it backfired because it turned out Mullings was too good for him too. As has been said, the loss to Mullings cost Norris a possible megafight with either DeLaHoya or Tito. As I recall, Mullings made a defense or two of his title, but then made the mistake of going to Spain to defend it against Javier Castillejo, and true to form he lost yet another close, controversial decision. After that though, he took beatings from David Reid and Winky Wright, and then faded away. I seem to remember a couple of years ago hearing talk that he was going to make a comeback, but I don't know what came to that. That would be a shame if that happened, as he was considered pretty washed up by the time he first retired several years ago.
As I remember he was very tough and determined, probably had a decent punch too. Believe Norris had him down and hurt early, but Mullings kept on coming and eventually wore him out with his persistence.
Mullings was always taking on the house fighter and those guys never ever have undefeated records. Like MY2Sense said, he was like Johnson but without a concrete chin. He was also one of those guys that showed a real good set of whiskers but once they got dented the first time, that chin went downhill quick. I wanted to see him in there with DLH when he was at the top of his game & the Mullings career shows just how hard the sport is to continually be the underdog and continue winning against top 10 opposition. At the top of his game, he was slippery in there and was fun to watch. But he's the type that simply has to be razor sharp and a 10 or 20% deterioration and the ballgame is over. A real tightrope act some guys have to walk with their style.
I should also add, he is also credited by many people as ruining Raul Marquez as a serious prospect. As said, he busted up Marquez bad and lost a highly controversial decision. Marquez then put his title on the line against Yori Boy Campas just a few months later (much too soon, most likely) and Campas re-opened all his cuts and stopped him.
Terry Norris is a perfect example of a fighter who completely lost his ability to take a punch. Watching him towards the end of his career I was sure he was going to end up like Ali. He was slurring his words and would go down so easily in fights. He probably should have hung them up long before the Mullings fight.
