That's become so cliched. Did he really have 'all the tools'? Oh, but he won an olympic gold medal at 30 years old so he must've had all the tools, right?
Calzaghe if he had fought the best rather than the W.rr.n B.O contenders he was fed I honestly think he would have beat them all outside RJJ and even that would of been semi competitive(a loss in which he looked good). You could also add both Harrisons.
Scott Harrison for going mental before he landed a defining fight. If he landed his big fight & got squashed I could have accepted it easier than the pain of not knowing if my all time favourite fighter could have beaten one of the top boys or not. Still rankles with me to this day.
Alan Minter, I moved to Crawley (Minter's Hometown) in 1980, and could not believe my luck, that I was living in the town of THE Middleweight Champion of the World! Then came the comments pre Hagler.... I went to that fight, and although it was nothing to do with me, (I was only six), it still shames me that people can act like that. Particularly against such a good fighter like Hagler. To (mis) quote arguably the boxing media's best quote ever: 'Hagler was a credit to his race; the human race...'
I think his boxing skills were vastly overrated and given too much of a pass when assessing why he failed. It's a bit lazy to say he just didn't have the heart. He also had a ton of technical flaws.
Hamed was disappointing when he just threw it in after Barrera. Most fighters lose, i's how you come back. Also, he seemed to take his career less seriously as he went on, believed his own hype. Achieved alot but could have done more.
This. It seems any successful amateur who fails to replicate it in the professional ranks always gets given that moniker.
Ironically Hamed, the most entertaining, but also didn't reach the heights he could've. Also Herol Graham for not becoming a world champion Michael Watson - not a real disappointment, but proved to be excellent man in and outside of the ring. It was a real shame his career came to a premature end. Calzaghe is a great, but could have cemented his legacy by fighting the type fights he fought at the end of his career much much earlier. Disappointed he didn't rematch Hopkins at least.
Got a few growing up really in 90's boxing Wayne Alexander- When he took shot at Simon i thought he was courageous and gave great effort and would soon challenge again for world title but never did. Blighted by interactivity IMO. World Class Power Simple as that! Richard Williams -Had good power, nice fundamental style and was likeable character who could fight. Bad matchmaking in hindsight putting him in with Martinez . Really they held him around far to long then fed him to a southpaw who really didn't offer a great deal at time but was bloody classy and skilled. The light middle's of that time should of fought each other more. Real crying shame... Steve Murray-The Tree Surgeon from Harlow. Loved the way he boxed. Growing up i was always a kid that used bodyshots. This guy worked lovely to body and was compact and good fighter but fell away so quickly. Never felt he really fulfilled promise and captured domestic honors he should of. Kevin Lear-Beat Gomez and was undefeated then had to retire.. James Hare- Nice technician who could bang as well. Boxed neatly and looked classy during 2003 but then his last fight of 2003 ruined his career really against Cosme Rivera. I remember them saying he may have had to many fights that year and to many camps and was drained. He just put on a really poor display and looked lifeless really. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is-vLv9SAmI[/ame]