Who was the most avoided fighter of the 90's?

In the early half of the 90's, Simon Brown was not a guy who most people were pressing to get in the ring with. Tim Witherspoon was also pretty well avoided from about 1989-1996.

 

Pedro Pena.

 

Hamed didnt avoid Marquez he offered, Marquez should have accepted his big shot but then again with his defense he might well have got smoked, he doesnt have Barreras defensive ability. His cause wasnt helped by losing to Norwood during the period either, anyone else think Norwood is criminally underrated?

JMM had poor management, turning down the Pacquaio rematch and going to fight slick cookie Chris John instead was stupid too.

 

Nicolai Valuev was avoided in the 90s most of his sparring partners and opps were wrecked.

 

Lennox Lewis

 

I'll go with:

Herol Bomber GRaham - avoided by Eubank and BEnns management amongst others, would have made a great British title clash. He obviously got his title shot so not completely avoided by a long way

Winky Wright - because he was

Terry Norris - I didnt see Whitaker/Trinidad/Delahoya/Vasquez wanting to get it on with Norris and he never got the super fights in his prime that his talent deserved imo

Jones Jr -allot if talked about Jones 'ducking' people but he was ducked especially early in his career, Eubank turned him down at least twice, DM turned down money to come to the US (although Jones wasnt going to germany either)

Mayweather - earlier in his career a fair few avoided Floyd - not a champ for long in the 90s but he was avoided by a few, Hamed turned down a fight at 128lbs, Mosley supposedly turned down a fight in 1999

Lennox Lewis - obviously - Tyson/Bowe/Moorer/ and arguably Holyfield all avoided him

Dont know if some of those are the best examples to be honest but they have all been avoided to an extent

 

Herol Graham was avoided, certainly.

Benn, Eubank, Watson and Collins never got in there with him - bearing in mind the fact that most all-British matchups generally happen at some stage, it's shocking.

Imagine none of DLH, Mosley, Trinidad, Mayorga and Forrest steering clear of each other.......

 

Lennox Lewis - Bowe, Holyfield, Tyson, Moorer, and Foreman all either shied away from him or just blatantly avoided him.

 

Donovan Ruddock. Many heavies found reasons not to get into the ring with this guy.

 

His talent saw him get Ko'ed by a past prime Simon Brown and a mediocre Keith Mullings. That and him getting DQ'ed a couple times killed the momentum in the latter half of his career. Every time there was talk of a big fight he got trodden. By the way I didn't see Norris campaigning too hard to fight JC Vasquez or any middleweights during his time. He was mighty keen to bust up welterweights though, especially of the past prime variety.

 

Kostya Tszyu= He should have had at least a couple of mega fights in his prime.

 

Mark Johnson.

He called out Lopez for a 110lb catchweight and never got it. Johnny Tapia avoided him like the plague and a possible big fight with Michael Carbajal never materialised either after Johnson called him out.

 

Actually...

1. Tito and DeLaHoya did want to get it on with Norris, and...

2. Norris blew those and other big fight opportunities by getting KO'd by Brown and Mullings and getting DQ's twice against Santana every time a big fight was on the horizon.

It was Norris who was mainly responsible for costing himself big fights, not the (prospective) opponents.

 

Not only overlooked and avoided....but conveniently never even mentioned. :good