James Shuler Discussion

Amazing Benitez was ranked at that stage in his career.

 

I was thinking the same thing

He looked pretty good against Kevin Moley at 160 lbs. in summer '85 and I guess they were rating him based on that win. Shortly after these ratings came out he dropped back down to 154 lbs and lost to Matthew Hilton. In retrospect it does seem kind of silly they rated him based on beating the unproven Moley.

 

It could have something to do with the division not being as scorching hot right at this time as someone is trying to have us to believe?

 

That's what's funny about hindsight . We may look back on that time fondly now, even the middleweight division , but back then everyone held their nose at what the middleweights offered. The damage burst a bit when Hagler was gone but from like 82 thru 87 people scoffed at the likes of Shuler and Kinchen and Davison and Don Lee.

 

The one thing about that time period though is that with one dominant champion, contenders did fight one another to try and position themselves for a shot. There were a lot of good middleweight fights on network TV not involving Hagler. But, also, Hagler was so good, most of the contenders looked weak in comparison. But yeah, a few really good guys came around in '86-87 like Nunn, Kalambay.

 

The win over Shuler was a quality win especially given the fact that Hearns was coming off of the dramatic knockout loss to Hagler in his previous outing just 11-months before.

 

The ratings would be from the March magazine. They would have been selected sometime prior to the mag going to print, obviously before the Hilton fight. They would have been rating Park at 160 as they were not yet recogizing the 168 division with a rating of it's own.

 

This is a well intentioned post wrong in one regard I will get to in the very end.

The middleweight division in spring 1986 had two flamboyant superstars who had just fought at the very top.2 marquee enigmas felt to be totally spent forces in Duran and Benitez on the sidelines.

Mugabi was the true number one contender with shuler than gerbil Graham just behind. Mugabi was red hot.

Schuler was the talented boxer.

Now that's a formidable list of 8 fighters for sure..probably stronger as a top ten than anything before in anglers reign..but I would argue ......Frank Tate and Michael nunn were still rookies emerging and it would in fact be Michael olajide who would lead the young guns when he emerged in very late 1986 ......the truth is the post srl-Hagler shakeup had the strongest mw division...the division in late 87- to late 89 was incredibly deep and strong the strongest period in the 80s.....kalambay and Barkley had emerged as much improved world champions,nunn was the king, u had hearns,srl,Duran still at the top level ready to challenge for the crown,also rans Tate,olajide,kitchen, McCallum and Julian Jackson ,Nigel Benn, matthe hilton.

Schuler didn't climb any tree he didn't fight his way through the other contenders to the extent Mugabe had at that stage.

But he was a top top contender he met a blistering hearns and got caught.another night he may well have truly tested hearns although in reality no one ever "outboard" hearns in his entire career.

Shulers death was tragic .God bless him and his family. He had the potential to be a world champ in the post srl-Hagler shake up

 

Who did Mugabi beat? Schuler beating Kinchen was a far bigger win than any on Mugabi's ledger.

 

I don't care about the recent excuse that he was weight drained-

John Mugabi KO 1 Curtis Parker was seen as a very good win for Mugabi, at the time.

It put Mugabi solidly in the mix at 160 lbs.

It wasn't just that he won, nobody had hurt Parker before. He fought the best (except Hagler) and was competitive.

Some might fight this crazy, but I always thought Mugabi v. Hearns at 154 lbs. would have been a great fight, and I think Mugabi had a much better shot at beating Hearns than Hagler. I knew Hagler's chin would be an equalizer to Mugabi's power. I have a feeling Manny Steward didn't fancy a matchup between Hearns and Mugabi.

 

Mugabi certainly had power, there's no doubt about that. Stopping Parker is very impressive power wise butParkers no huge scalp. A good one but certainly not a very good one.

I'd back Hearns to put Mugabi to sleep pronto. James Green was only a punch or two away. Hearns would get a right hand in there early behind a few blinding jabs and the end would be nigh.

As i've often said Mugabi is 90% myth for mine. A gallant loss to an aging Hagler, huge power and massive hype finds him living the ESB dream. The win column is extremely bare, particularly for someone with such a blown up reputation. Curtis Parker was oft beaten prior to Mugabi.

The weight drained excuse may or may not be valid, we know how boxers roll. Unlike so many i don't give Mugabi an automatic pass for suddenly having nothing post Hagler either. The signs were there with Green and i would give Thomas a great chance of beating him pre Hagler, absolutely.