How great could Gerald McClellan have been?

He was too limited to be an all-time great, limited by his aggressive mentality. He simply didn't have the patience to be a skilled all-around boxer-puncher, the more opponents he knocked out, the less he relied on skill, falling in love with his power as many punchers do.

When Emmanuel Steward told him to relax, take his time and work on his boxing ability, McClellan responded by throwing caution in the air and devastating his opponents within seconds. It made him marketable but his lack of respect for Steward's advice eventually made the partnership go awry. McClellan did not seem to understand that not everybody was going to go as easily as the likes of Gilbert Baptist and whatever else journeymen he was fighting.

Going rounds would've prepared him for fights like the one against Benn, although he had probably already suffered too much damage from taking each punch flush on the chin. He wouldn't have had he not relied on his chin to take the punches.

Considering that he was growing out of the 160 and 168 lb weight classes, his career probably wouldn't have gone too much further even without the sustained damage. His strength and power advantages wouldn't have been as overwhelming against men of his own size. Think of Michael Moorer post-LHW, although with a better chin but a worse defense.

 

Actually Baptist was a very durable fighter.

No wonder McClellan fell in love with his power.

 

Baptist was very good , but he was 31 by d time when he fought McClellan , which incidentally was also his last fight , and seemed drugged 2 me . Probably self induced , hard 2 believe that he was that punch drunk . Maybe he was both .

 

True.

He was also stopped for the first time in his career after he received a terrible beating at the hands of hard-punching Lamar Parks just before the McClellan's fight.

 

He was a durable 5'7 light middleweight going up against a 6 feet tall McClellan who weighed in as a light heavyweight. Not to mention a last minute substitute who had barely trained for the fight.

There are always going to be opponents who can either take the power or avoid the power, McClellan just wasn't prepared for them.

 

i had consciously aware serious doubts about posting it but i eventually decided not 2 because :
1) Parks was 1 out of some damaging opponents Baptist had , but probably d best of them all , at least prior 2 McClellan

2) IDK about Parks , except that he fought and lost a decision 2 Reggie Johnson , whom considered him better than McClellan unsurprisingly if i m not mistaken .
And retired due 2 AIDS .
I still need 2c Johnson vs Parks .

3) i also don't know enough about Baptist's fight with Parks and still hadn't watched it .

4) i did not want 2 turn out over8ing Parks or making him seem this way .

but Parks was d 1st 2 stop Baptist and McClellan got n older (and) more damaged version of Baptist than Parks got so it's not that indicative of McClellan compared 2 Parks .

I got a feeling i confused d Dennis Milton that Hopkins fought with d Gilbert Baptist that McClellan fought .

Anyway Mugabi seemed not so in it vs McClellan and Jackson seemed like drugged , shot , punch drunk and taking a dive all at d same time at once against McClellan in their rematch .

 

Agreed.

 

It's on youtube, frank!

 

Disagreed .

Unless he means some1 with a James Toney Defense and chin , Lloyd Marshall power , Corrie Sanders handspeed and Reggie Johnson footwork all in 1 and at once .

 

i know / thought so , i simply haven't got 2 watching it entirely , i think .
thank u anyway .

 

Let's just settle for James Toney. Does anybody think McClellan would've blasted out Toney? Outpointed him? Outlasted him? Probably not.

The only way McClellan could've won is by outworking Toney and that's not going to happen with his terrible stamina. Does McClellan take out Mike McCallum? You had to have more tricks in your bag than a big right hand and a powerful left hook to the body in order to beat those type of opponents.

 

Very true. McClellan would only beat an old McCallum or a very disinterested Toney. Punchers that loaded up on every punch were their bread and butter.

 

Gerald beat RJJ in the amateurs...just saying..

 

@ 160 , if Tiberi arguably did it then Y not McClellan ?
Toney's stamina was horrible there also , if not worse , if he actually tried 2 do anything .
McClellan would not have blasted him out , but possibly outworked him and outpointed him .
@ 168 , Toney quickly grew obese and had 2 heavily dehydrate in order 2 make weight , and McClellan's stamina would have improved there , so same as 160 .

But Toney would have posed d biggest test 4 McClellan , and he , as he alone as he was , did cross my mind but d reasoning is now posted here .

Unlike in d past , i m now convinced that McClellan > Watson so 4get about old McCallum beating him , and "young" McCallum would have been way 2 light 4 him .

 

Mclellan did have good boxing ability, he just didnt have the sense to understand that he needed that ability to set up his awesome power. Typical mistake of a powerpuncher, but people dont really know how good he was. Just ask guys who boxed with him in the gym and they will tell you Mclellan was a very underated fighter, because when he got away from discipline and surrounded himself with the Don King yes men, he went the same way as Tyson and became a head hunting powerpuncher who didnt put the time in the gym anymore. He was a lot like Tyson characterwise, he needed constant supervision to stay on track. He was a trainwreck always waiting to happen.