Fighters That Surprised You With Their Success

This may raise some eyebrows but I honsetly didn't think Hopkins would be as good as he turned out to be. I knew he'd be a good contender and probably hold a belt but I did not envision that kind of dominance.

 

Frankly, Bowe.

I knew him well, knew his reputation, he was an absolute lazy piece of garbage most of the time, and a dirty, wannabe tough guy. I didn't think he would ever have it in him to beat Evander Holyfield.

Him doing so seriously impressed me. For one training camp, and one fight, he wasn't Riddick Bowe, a version of himself would discipline, intelligence, and drive. It was amazing to see.

Course, he imploded again pretty soon after, but you know.

 

One of them that has always stood out for me is Alan Minter. His straight stand-up style has always screemed at me that he should be easy to hit and not to difficult to beat. Although not on par with BasketBall legend Larry Bird that is the anology I always think of with Minter. They were so unorthodox, and seemingly slow and sluggish that they should not be able to reach great heights. Minter just looked like he should not be a top notch fighter..yet he was!

 

The K-Bros. all the way... They've both done much more than anyone ever expected 10 yrs ago.... WORD!

MR.BILL

 

Nah, I think most will agree here. Hopkins is a very good shout.

Over here "we" expected even more of them.


Adamek in recent times. Always thought he would be a decent contender at lightheavyweight but that´s it. That he would go on to become the man at cw and a hw contender is a bit surprising to me. Too hittable, not that skilled, not that much power ... he goes by with will and determination. I appreciate this a lot.

Holyfield at hw. I bought the "too small and weak" myth.

Pacman, never thought he would be that successful.

Lennox Lewis. I new he was good but I thought he turned pro too late and his prime would be too short to achieve something.

 

Weaver might be my favorite. He did produce a better than expected showing in his shot at Holmes, but Larry still won conclusively in arguably his weakest title win before Witherspoon. Mike looked much better, showing a surprising jab and stamina in decisively outboxing the formless LeDoux in Bloomington, but got utterly dominated by Tate before pulling it out with a single punch. I figured his first defense would be a coronation for Coetzee. Huge surprise, as Hercules weathers round eight on his feet, substantial body punishment, then is ahead on all three cards when he puts over the one shot finisher on a solid chinned challenger. He proved to be the most viable alternative to Holmes during Larry's reign, the only other HW champion with more than a single successful defense. I had him regaining his title in the Dokes rematch, and fully anticipated him getting the first shot at former victim Coetzee. What he did to Carl Williams was produce one of the best knockouts of the decade.

 

Hatton, thought Tyszu would murder him

 

Lloyd honeyghan. didnt think he had it in him to beat Curry never mind defend it

 

dennis andries how he managed to win the light-heavy tittle three times is amazing

 

Michalczewski. I saw him as a young puncher in Hamburg when he was KO'ing third tier fighters and never thought he would have the necessary self - discipline to fully develop himself as a fighter, especially mentally. He got extremely lucky against Rocchigiani and then reinvented himself, hired a new trainer, became a complete fighter. Didn't think he was able to do that.

 

His then trainer Eckhard Dagge was a reason for this self-discipline issue.

 

Glen Johnson keeps surprising me.

 

Totally agree. Somehow, he has gotten incredible praise in these parts for his potential and career from that one victory. But watching him struggle with Coetzer, and ultimately having to low blow him to win, I wasn't that impressed. He had flashes in his title run, but he had a lot of flat performances.