at opposite ends of the spectrum, kirkland laing and mitchell rose. although guys like laing, douglas etc. are clearly being undersold as 'one hit wonders'. they put in a **** ton of work to even make it possibly to participate in the fights they are most famous for.
That brawl he won with Corrie Sanders definitely makes him more than a one hit wonder. He's actually a two time champ.
Jeison Rosario--He knocked out a belt holding version of J Rock and then got knocked out by Charlo, Lubin, and Mendoza before retiring. Breidis Prescott--Knocked out Amir Khan, but never showed that level again. Michael Bentt
Leo Randolph was a one big win out of nowhere guy who quickly lost the title and disappeared into driving a semi-truck up in Washington State.
Us Puerto Ricans have our own one hit wonder in Juan Nazario. I remember as a little girl, and then as a teenager, he was one of the most mentioned prospects on the local newspapers and the television and won some regional belts, so his rivalry with Edwin Rosario festered until they fought. It was a fight for the ages but Rosario won by a heck of a knockout in round eight, leaving us who watched it hungry for more. In the rematch, Nazario turned the tables, beating the Hall of famer by eighth-round tko on HBO and winning the WBA world Lightweight title. Thus joining the long list of Puerto Rican world champions and fulfilling some of the promise he had shown earlier on. Then in his first defense, an unification bout, he got splattered in the first round by, of all people, Pernell Whitaker. Whitaker of course, an all time great but was no Roberto Duran as far as the power punching department. it was expected that he would beat Nazario unless Juan who had better punching power than Pernell, landed a lucky punch. But it wasnt expected that it was going to end in the first round! Alas, Juan only fought a couple of times after that. I really wonder whatever became of him. Also I will add Francisco Quiroz. He had a spotty record but he beat Lupe Madera for the WBA world Junior Flyweight title in a war then had a successful defense against nondescript Victor Sierra before losing it in his second defense against Joey Olivo. He never again challenged for a world title, ended up one of the few world champions with more losses than wins and died a few years later after getting shot by a policeman.
James 'Bonecrusher' Smith in his second fight with Tim Witherspoon. Especially after the latter had boxed the ears off the former a year previously.
Turpin, most people will think SRR, however I feel his greatest showing was when he beautifully fought & boxed out C ockell, which is on Youtube, after that he was still good but nothing extraordinary. but he was the best or 2cd best, if you think C ockell had overall better victories, of the English new crop of Gardner, Williams, C ockell and Turpin among the 3 TOP Divisions, always an English desperation as 'the Home of Modern' Boxing, needing to squelch the American tongue in check moniker of "Here comes another Horizontal HW. that full respect never really came until Cooper & Bugner and then 'supremely' in LL, if he qualifies for an English claim.
That was the fight where Ramos was sneaking out at night for rumpy pumpy with the GF. I liked Alex i thought he would achieve more.
He wasn't quite "mediocre" for the rest of his career tho would you say Steve? The win over Bruno was decent and Bey not too bad. Edit - and an aging but dangerous Weaver.
Max Shmelling with Joe Lewis. He was good, but tonight he was much better than before or later. I wonder how he would be perceived if it weren't for the rematch. We Poles greatly overestimate Andrzej Gołota. Gołota was specific. He had athleticism and skills, but he also had a weak mentality, was not very versatile, and was a slow starter. With Bowe he looked like ATG, with Lewis he looked like a classic bum who accidentally found himself in the title fight. McCall of Lewis didn't look like a fluke, but he never fought like that again.
Gregorio Vargas, maybe? Pretty unknown before facing Hodkinson, but looked potentially like the next great Mexican fighter in that fight. Never performed to anything like that level again, and very little in the way of notable wins.