Amateur boxers, which you would like to see (earlier) as professionals.

Felix Savon

 

I thought Davey Armstrong stayed in the amateur ranks too long. I always wondered if his pro career would have been better had he turned pro after the 76 Olympics.

The Cuban and Russian fighters were as good as any of the pros back in the day. Teofilo and Felix Savon were two of the best, but there were many others who could have been great as pros.

 

Loma, obviously. Sucks to see a great fighter on the downside of his pro career just 16 fights in, but that’s what it’s looking like. He turns 33 in a couple weeks.

In hindsight, one gold medal would’ve been just fine. He was looking as good as I ever saw him in the 2009-2011 time frame. That would’ve been the perfect time to start. He could still hit the ground running, but it wouldn’t feel like a race against time.

I also don’t think he’s big enough to have ever been a great Lightweight, regardless of age. He’d have had more time to bounce back and start a new trajectory, though.

 

Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon, Roberto Balado, Angel Espinosa, Angel Herrera, Adolfo Horta, Ariel Hernandez, Juan Hernandez, Mario Kindelan, Hector Vinent, Aleksei Tischenko, Vyacheslav Lemeshev, Oleg Saitov, Serik Sapiyev, Boris Lagutin, Valeri Popenchenko.

 

The two who stood out to me are quite obvious. Rigondeaux and Loma.

 

Yeah, Rigo even more so. Loma was 25 going on 26. He at least had 4-5 years of his physical prime to work with. Rigo was 28 going on 29. I’m not sure we saw anything but glimpses of his.

 

Me and @escudo were talking about this yesterday. Unbelievable foot-speed in his prime, one of the best lefty out-boxers ever, and a brutal puncher to boot. His weaknesses were fairly clear though. Suspect chin, subpar inside game, and a clear weakness to southpaws (I thought about it Zack, I'd agree that Khaosai is really bad for him, if he doesn't get KTFOd).

But yeah, if he turned pro after the first Olympics, he may be known as an ATG. I feel like his career would be much more interesting if he fought at the fairly stacked 118 rather than 122 as well.

 

I had Khosai to beat RIgo IIRC. Could you imagine if Rigo ended up defecting in like 08' and ending up training under Steward?

 

The BWs would live in fear.

 

Fighters that spent too much time in the amateurs: Donald Curry, Clinton Jackson, Davey Lee Armstrong, Rau'Shee Warren, Majidov, Kelcie Banks.

 

Mike McCallum should have turned pro four years earlier and made the Fab Four the Famous Five.

 

Still would have been the Fab 5, they'd have just called Michigan something else later.

 

They already had Benitez. If he didn’t make the cut, McCallum certainly wouldn’t, in my opinion.

 

Rigo is forty, easily the best operator today and on the brink of retirement it shatters me to see the dawn of an amazing sweet scientist eclipse so quickly.