In which fight, in your opinion (I guess, there are no real black and white answers), did a (very good though to Great) fighter, show that his undoubted potential, had substance? I am necessarily asking for their best performance, or when they first won a fight against a contender (although that may indeed be the case with some fighters), but I am asking when a fighter first made you think, he is for real. My examples would be: Muhammad Ali showed that great potential was for real, when he beat Sonny Liston in 64. Larry Holmes showed he was for real beating Kenny Norton. Julio Cesar Chavez showed it with his two round blow out of the Black Mamba. Ray Leonard first glimpsed greatness against Wilfred Benitez.
Barry McGuigan vs Juan Laporte. Although McGiuigan was hurt late on in this fight i thought he put on a great show against this very underrated fighter who head to head would of given anyone a tough fight.
Lennox Lewis blowing away Ruddock. People forget Ruddock was a 2-1 favorite going into the fight. Most americans were familar with Ruddock but had not seen much of Lewis. Very few people take the time and make the effort to order developing fights by guys from outside the US. The bout went exactly as I thought it would and I was waiting for Ruddock to do something stupid. He did. It was either going to be that wide left hook after dipping and telegraphing or a lazy jab. Same old mistakes and I figured Lewis was a guy to not make mistakes against. Everyone else was on the Bowe and Holyfield and Tyson bandwagon even. But after the Ruddock destruction, it was clear there was an olympic champ they'd better start concerning themselves with.
Morales against Zaragoza Mayweather against Corrales Pacquiao against Barrera De La Hoya against Chavez Mosley against Oscar de la Hoya
In the case of Tommy Hearns I would say there are two pivotal fights. -A minor one was the fight with Angel Espada for the USBA WW title. -However, the major pivotal fight (at least for me) was the Cuevas fight. Hearns' lightining performance was one for the ages. After watching his destruction of Pipino, there were no more doubts in my mind. It was clear that Tommy was going to be an ATG
Holyfield against Qawi is a prime example. Holyfield was having his tenth (?) fight and had never been passed 8 (?) rounds when he wrestled the CW title away from the teak tough Qawi over 15 gruelling rounds that left him hospitalised for a couple of days.
Toney vs McCallum the first time. After he caught Nunn with a "lucky" punch, and scraped a decision past R. Johnson, many thought Toney wasn't anything special, and would lose very soon. He was sort of like Jermain Taylor after he beat Hopkins twice; he wasn't given much respect. Against McCallum however, he fought right with Mike at his own game, and arguably had him out in the 12th. Even though the fight was a draw, it was an amazing performance by a young Toney against a great, seasoned veteran fighter in McCallum, and left no doubt in my mind that this guy was something special.
That raised an eyebrow towards Lewis, but considering Ruddock was coming off two brutal beating against Tyson it wasnt suprising at all to me, and Lewis still fought very sloppy and wild with a pawing jab. This was later confirmed when he was ko'd by Mcall. When Lewis fought Ray Mercer, and showed he could dig down and win a tough fight when his boxing skills werent working showed me had the potential to be an all time great. Miguel Cotto Kelson Pinto, coming off the canvas to win in tough fights when he was killing himself to make 140 Trinidad Maurice Blocker Floyd Mayweathers destruction of Coralles and Angel Manfredy Gerald Mclellan Julian Jackson Hopkins after the Robert Allen fights, took apart a stronger guy Rosendo Alvarez Ricardo Lopez (Alvarez never lived up to his potential)
Holyfield against Dokes. Wladimir Klitschko against Peter: This was a fight was supposed to be more about Peter than it was about Wlad. Wlad was always more polished but the setbacks he suffered made this a pretty big test at the time. Peter was enjoying a wave of successful KO's and the accolades given to what could have been the next big thing. Then Wlad systemactically outpoints him and IMO could have stopped him in the 12th round if he pressed the action. Cotto against Torres: During the fight I was thinking to myself that quite possibly the public so eager to find a replacement for Trinidad sold Cotto as the real thing but he was really just a bill of goods. He came back kept composure and proceeded to Knock him out. Williams vs Margarito: Paul Williams up until the Margarito fight was fighting decent fighters but not elite fighters. When he beat Margo (I scored it for Paul) it solidified his claim as potentially the best WW in the world. Lewis Mercer (already mentioned) Calzaghe vs. Lacy: I'll be the first admit that I didnt respect Joe all that much. but when he destroyed Jeff Lacy I had to give him his due.
Holyfield--Dokes? Dokes was a 10-1 underdog in the bout. Nobody was picking him to do much but hang in there. he sure did better than that, but this was hardly the 81 dokes Holyfield was up against.
The Lewis bout certainly did more than raise an eyebrow. His only HBO appearance prior to that was the Levi Billups fight. He had a small ppv w/ Weaver in a bout nobody was picking Weaver to do much in. And a USA cable fight. Minimal exposure and you had to send away for bouts like Mason/McCrory/Williams/etc. to guage his early pro development. Remember all the Hype surrounding Ruddock at the time? Those Smith and Dokes ko's were almost looked upon as the Cooney early ko's. Lots of hype and lots of folks on the bandwagon. Just like all the heavies with high profile ko's over old big name opponents. Ruddock was looked at as a tough hombre and had managed to hang in there to the end against Tyson with a broken jaw. So he went into the Lewis bout perceived to be a guy difficult to stop. He just threw the same punches against Lewis he did against Tyson and Lewis was prepared and waiting and finished the guy. That's why Lewis was the underdog going into the bout and not the favorite. Plus, you had those amatuer stories of Razor handling the guy.
When potential turned into Substance abuse.....Tyrell Biggs...and many of the 80's heavies such as Dokes...Witherspoon Thomas...what a shame there is an endless list of this occuring in boxing...I know this is what the origianl poster meant...just made me think of how many great fights could have been made without substance abuse...Im a recovering addict so i know what addiction does to athletic skills and how it affects willpower to train and willpoer to endure the hurtful aspects of a painful fight...
the night of Duran vs Leonard 1 as the famous saying is 'The boy became a man, and the man became a legend' that was true as i am scottish.
Although Larry showed the heart many fans had been questioning since Bobick, I believed his breakthrough performance in terms of realizing potential came in Shavers I, specifically with his abrupt explosion off the ropes as round one was winding down. For me personally, this moment came with his shocking blowout of Andy Price, then considered the uncrowned welterweight champion with his decision wins over then reigning titleholders Palomino and Cuevas. Just my two cents.