What boxers had conditions or aliments that held them back from potentially accomplishing far more? Great as Sugar Ray Leonard was, I wonder what other few fights he could of had if his eye wasn't damaged against Hearn's. Speaking of eye issues... Harry Greb, Julian Jackson and David Reid were all held back to varying degrees by eye issues. Shannon Briggs had severe asthma, which basically dictated his entire career and style as a fighter. Who else?
Didn't Akiwande and Mercer both have hepatitis over the course of their careers, which kept them out of the ring?
yeah he was blind in one eye...i think it was his right one, had arthritis in severel joints at a early age, he also had tennis elbow once in a while
Henry Armstrong fought for a while with bad vision from what I heard. I guess Fritzie Zivic thumbed him pretty good.
Greb fought 48 fights against Champs near Champs and contenders while blind in one eye.All you here about is Frazier had eye problems in his last fights. Ackinwande in his biggest fight ,against Lewis suffered from an absence of heart.
in the late 70's as i recall their was a very good Lt Heavy called Chad/Craig badalowski (?) trouble was he had a false leg ! you could say his inability to Pivot - was pivotal in his not making it to contendership. with two home-grown legs chances are he coulda been a contender ?
That was Craig Bodzianowski -"Gator" -he was a Cruiserweight who fought through the 80s and into the early 90s or so. He had a title fight against Robert Daniels in ~90 and lost a decision. Good fighter -a banger and he came back from a motorcycle accident which cost him his right leg under the knee. He fought with a prosthetic. Marciano, by the way, had serious back problems which eventually became a factor in his retirement. ............. The guy in my avatar is a Philadelphia phenomenon named This content is protected . He'd get all duded up in mink and flashy suits and was even flashier in the ring. He was good enough to beat hard-punching Ray Robinson look alike "Kitten" Hayward and baffled the technician Curtis Cokes to a one way decision in a non-title decision in his Madison Square Garden debut. Cokes said afterward it was like fighting a ******. He also said that he'd only give Harris a title shot "for a roomful of money." Harris never got his shot. Harris lived by his own rules which baffled his trainers. He'd drink milk and whiskey in the gym when he trained and often that was at the oddest hours, and he'd sleep around with loose women when he should have been training. It's tough enough to understand a guy who lives like that but it's tougher still to beat guys like this who fought by their own rules because they defy precedent and they flout the "rules" so to speak -they aren't where they are supposed to be and they don't punch from expected places. When discussing the unorthodox guys like Greb, Pryor, & Hamed -don't forget a North Philadelphia fighter named Gypsy Joe Harris. Harris was described by Sport's Illustrated as the "Menace to the Welters", and an "octopus" by Cokes. Gil Clancy said that he was among the most "natural fighters" he'd seen. He had no plan and no style -perhaps the purest savant of them all. Ray Leonard had to make an adjustment during the Hearns fight in '81 due to his eye closing -he cocked his head and had to fight from a sharper angle to see the Hearns' right coming in. Gypsy fought like that throughout his career -but he made an art of it. He'd **** his head, dip, and turn at angles so that he could see his man. He'd dance jigs and drop his hands and was known to do the "mashed potato" (a 60s R&B dance) during bouts! The showy antics where partly to decorate or mask what he was compelled to do because, guess what, he couldn't see out of his right eye. This content is protected At age 22, his record was 24-1 and he never fought again. Doctors finally discovered that he was blind in one eye during a physical and that was that for him. He appealed many times but to no avail. Gypsy Joe truly became a Gypsy after that. He died in 1990 after years of drug and alcohol abuse that he eventually shook. He was at times homeless and was on welfare, working odd jobs where he could find them. He was a character -always smiling regardless of his circumstances, and he was a fixture on the streets and in those golden gyms of North Philly where he was remembered.
Thomas Hearns apparently had sinus issues, but did not want to take medication for it as he thought it would give him an unfair advantage.
Mayweather and Calazage - Hand Problems. I dont think Mayweather would of retired if it wasnt for his hands