Name as many boxers as you can that were considered "high risk, low reward". I'll throw some names out there like... Jimmy Young Mike McCallum Winky Wright Guillermo Rigondeaux Anselmo Moreno
Lennox Lewis (Bowe, Moorer, Foreman and Holyfield for 7 years) Juan Manuel Marquez (at FW he didn't get the Hamed, Morales or Barrera fights) Darius M Charles Burley Harry Wills Sam Langford Holman Williams Lloyd Marshall Elmer Ray Kalambay Bomber Graham Junior Witter Paul Williams (at welterweight) Young got the fights though, he just got robbed. Winky Wright was hard to work with. Delahoya offered him 6m for a fight. Mayweather offered him 60-40 and weigh in on the day of the fight (I'm not sure if there was a rehydration clause). He walked away from both. I think Taylor offered Winky a rematch too, but Winky wanted 50-50 with everyone or no dice.
Greb for Dempsey, Liston for Frazier,Foreman for Tyson,Williams for Patterson. In general terms. Harold Johnson Chris Byrd Charley Burley and the rest of Murderers Row. Harold Brazier Jesse Burnett
A lot of the names I’m seeing in this thread were pretty well known high profile fighters who people got paid a lot for fighting.... when I think of high risk and low reward, I’m thinking guys like Tim Witherspoon
Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams were both highly avoided with not much reward at the time. Winky Wright was also seen as a high risk fighter before he finally got his dues. Mike McCallum Herol Graham Sumbu Kalambay Guillermo Rigondeaux Tim Witherspoon Joan Guzman Zahir Raheem Humberto Soto Kendal Holt Nate Campbell
If were talking a true world class and great fighter that was deemed too high a risk for a gain received look no further than Mike McCallum.