While the division was deep in talent, does anyone else feel it was sort of a missed era in terms of matchups? While there were some matchups between terrific fighters, there were so many potential matchups that did NOT occur, and I think much of it had to do with Don King. You had HOFers and P4P ranked fighters like: Michael Nunn Julian Jackson James Toney Mike McCallum Gerald McClellan Bernard Hopkins Roy Jones Jr. And other talented fighters like Michael Watson, Lamar Parks, Nigel Benn, Reggie Johnson, Sumbu Kalambay, etc... The UK fighters for the most part fought each other, but when I look at the era, I tend to just think of the fights that didn't take place and how disappointing that was.
Nunn-Benn would've been classic any time from '88 to '91. Eubank-Toney in '93 or '94 would've been good. And McClellan against Toney or Jones, of course. I was also looking forward to Lamar Parks taking on McClellan. Michael Watson had he not got injured would've been fighting Nunn and Toney. He was getting better all the time. In Britain, Eubank against Herol Graham would've been an interesting match any time from '89 to '91. Yeah it is a crying shame... Imagine Toney and Benn locking horns, man!
and you forgot : Jorge Fernando Castro Reggie Johnson Steve Collins Merqui Sosa Sosa vs. Benn or McClellan could have been very good. Jones avoided every dangerous fighter in his prime. it was the best era in terms of chins , defense and punching power : defense : toney , johnson , collins , eubanks , jones , mccallum chins : toney , castro , sosa , collins , punching power : jackson , mcclellan , benn ,
Collins didn't have much of a defense and Eubank had a concrete chin Tony Thornton was a better operator than Sosa but not quite in the upper echelon, though he did take some rounds off Eubank and give Toney fits, and many feel was robbed against Collins