Ok so for those who don't know I'm 19 years of age so with that being said I was in the first grade when Lennox Lewis exposed Micheal Grant (in 2001 I believe?) I hear the older boxing fans say he was a hype job and an overall disappointment. Can someone explain to me what was the expectations for Grant's Career as a heavyweight? How highly did they speak of him.
He was thought of as a good prospect and decent contender. I saw his bout with Andrew Golata which was a pretty good war of attrition. He was slow however and lacked defense. He faded as soon as he got to the elite level.
A fat fellow who wore a ridiculous neck brace for a decade swore that Grant was "a Colossus who would bestride the boxing world" and would revolutionize the division. Smart fellow, that fatso.
Grant got the build up, he past all the tests and was given a good chance of beating Lewis because he was highly regarded. However, He got beat by Lewis, no shame in that, but he never got over it. Grant was not a con job. People believed in him. Lewis really pulled out the stops to beat him, he showed no mercy because he was angry that he was not being afforded the proper respect in the lead up to their fight. All the media was behaving like Grant was going to "bring the title back to America". A huge ticker tape shower was planned to fall over the ring once Grant won. Lewis took this all out on Grant. He made it look easy. But America really thought Grant was going to be the next big thing. Grant was good.
Stoppages over Corey Sanders , Al Cole , Jorge Luis Gonzalez , David Izon , Obed Sullivan , Andrezj Golota , Tye Fields and decisions over Ross Puritty , Jeff Wooden and Lou Savaresse imply that he is a vastly underrated superheavy Lewis cheated against him. McCline hit hard and KDd almost everyone. Grant met him in his best year. McCline is not just underrated, but a top 20 h2h @ HW. Top 25 at worst. Vs Guinn, I hope to know some background some day, but Guinn is also underrated.
Michael Grant benefited greatly from Ike Ibeabuchi's imprisonment. Ibeabuchi was in line to fight Lennox Lewis - which could have been something special - after Ike beat Tua and Byrd. After knocking out Byrd, Ike was the number-one contender. He was supposed to fight the winner of Lewis-Holyfield 1, but that fight ended in a draw. Then it was decided that Ibeabuchi and Grant would fight for the mandatory contender spot a week before the Lewis-Holyfield rematch. But Ike got arrested that summer and never fought again. Instead, Grant fought Golota in an eliminator and barely survived to win (when Golota quit for the umpteenth time). It's doubtful Grant would've beaten Ibeabuchi. And, had Golota not quit, Grant would've lost that fight, too. Grant caught a few breaks to get the title fight, but he was what he was. He did have some good wins before his title fight. The Izon win was very impressive. People expected more out of Grant after Ibeabuchi removed himself from the scene. Wlad had lost to Purrity. Byrd and Tua had been knocked off by Ike. Oleg Maskaev and Vitali Klitschko had question marks. Rahman had been stopped twice (by Maskaev and Tua) in the span of a year. In 1999, HBO chose Grant to be their next star. But they chose the wrong guy.
Good post. Tua v ibeabuchi was a great fight but it was not that conclusive a win. Tua was not knocked off. The Byrd win had people sitting up, but it is one fight. Like you say the Grant win over Izon was impressive too. Who is to say Ike might not have also had a fight like Grant had with Golota had Ike hung around to also fight the crazy pole? I think had Grant went away before he fought Lewis a lot of people would be raving about Grant being the one that got away instead of Ike.
Glad you are here young man, need more people like you. Grant came up with Rahman, Tua, Kirk Johnson, and a few others. Michael Grant was supposed to be the next great HW, but not everybody was buying it at first. Everyone quickly sold it after finally buying in. 6'7" with an 86" reach and over 250 ripped Lbs. Dude was built like a brick shlt house. He only had 12 amateur fights and went 11-1, losing to Derrick Jefferson. He had Holyfield's people around him (Don Turner and crew) and they brought him up slowly at first. He had wins vs. Corey Sanders KO2, not Corrie Sanders Ross Puritty W10, he shut out Ross Puritty. Puritty had a draw with Tommy Morrison 2 years prior and and had lost 7 out of 10 rounds vs. the 12-0 Hasim Rahman in his previous fight. He would stop W. Klitschko in teh 11th round 2 years later. Ray Anis W10, a near shut out but people wanted to see a KO. Jeff Wooden W10, a split-decision. Tua also had trouble with him but Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman did not. Al Cole KO10, Cole put up a pretty good fight but after 10 rounds he was done. First time Cole was stopped. Tim WItherspoon had won every round vs. Cole a year and a half earlier. Jorge Luis Gonzalez KO1, Bowe, Witherspoon, and even Puritty had already stopped him but Grant did it quickly. David Izon KO5, Izon had given Tua a tough fight before being stopped in the 12h round. He stopped Lou Savarese in the 5th round. Gant looked great vs. Izon. Izon would go on to stop Darroll Wilson KO4, Terrence Lewis KO5, and Derrick Jefferson KO10 before losing again. People really started to notice Grant, and believe, that Grant was something special. Obed Sullivan KO9, Sullivan had lost a close decision to the 23-0 Hasim Rahman. Ahmed Abdin KO10, Abdin had lost to Larry Donald, L12. Lou Savarese W10, a near shut out and Savarese barely survived the 10th round. Andrew Golota KO10, Golota was beating the shlt out of him but Golota blew it. Grant was down twice in the 1st round. He did rally back and dropped Golota in the 10th. When Golota got up he quit... even though he looked like he could have went on. He later stated that he felt he was too far behind to win... he was doing excellent up until that point and was up on all 3 cards. Grant still had believers though. He got credit for coming back from the beating Golota was putting on him and his one punch power was looked at as legit by a lot of people due to how Golota quit after getting dropped. LKOby2 Lennox Lewis, Lewis hurt Grant early and stayed on him until the stoppage in the 2nd round. I will say this... Lewis held Grant's head in place with his left and landed the KO blow with the right (a nasty uppercut). Grant was never the same. KO losses to McCline (broke ankle in this fight) and Guinn would follow. He did KO Tye Fields and Frans Botha in 2011.
I agree to some extent.. Starting off your career 30-0 against that list of tough opponents commands some respect. And the McCline fight was strange from what I saw on youtube. The shot Jameel hit him with in the opening seconds of the first round didn't even look that hard, and then there was something about Grant saying his ankle was twisted or something. This was a man who suffered through some painfully hard punches from Andrew Golata, Jorge Gonzalez and Ross Purity. Questionable outcome to say the least.
that, and like lots of heavies, people only look at their offense. This guy's problem was defense. He was just to big of a target for the defense he used. I always thought he needed all the physical advantages on his side to compete properly. And I think they sure matched him up with guys that were catchers, didn't they? That way his offense would not be nullified if all those opponents got hit with everything an opponent threw. I just didn't buy the HBO hype on the guy and wanted to see a different opponent list to test him. It's so easy to be drawn into heavyweight prospects. but you have to go beyond the trunk of the tree--which was all HBO was showing. Try working 2 or 3 branches out--which is where his toolset would have to be to defeat a Lewis. Nope. All you got was the trunk of the tree. Never that progress required to operate a few branches out. And a guy like McCline even verified it in his match with him and that result really blew out a lot of candles.
Big huge guy, even bigger than the Klitchkos, but he didn't have the chin and durability to go long term, it was a very long time ago but i thought he was going to give Lewis major problems, boy was i wrong, lol...