All Time Greats who were underachievers ...

If Archie Moore beats Ezzard Charles 2 out of 3, then maybe the Ol' Mongoose is
considered to be the greatest LtHvy of all time.

Recalling the Ezzard Charles-Archie Moore wars

Charles, one fine, fine fighter, also bested Moore on three occasions in non-tile bouts. Many fans rank Moore as the overall greater fighter, but Charles, as the saying goes, really did have Moore’s number. Their final fight took place 70-years ago this week (January 13, 1948).

Fight-one was fought back in May of 1946, in Pittsburgh, and it was a non-title bout scheduled for ten rounds. Charles, “The Cincinnati Cobra,” as he was known, inflicted the first of his three defeats on Moore with a commandingly wide unanimous decision. He also decked the ageless one with an extremely hurtful body shot in round eight. Moore barely beat the count, rising at nine. Charles had given Moore a clear and undisputed beating.

The following year, again in May, they met again. This time the fight was held in Charles’ hometown. Not that he needed the advantage. Again with no title on the line, and again fought over ten rounds, Charles captured a majority verdict. Also as in the first meeting between the two light heavyweight greats, Charles put Moore down with a body shot, this time in the seventh-round. It just didn’t seem as though Moore, as good as he was, could gain the upper hand over the younger man. Still, this didn’t stop him from trying. For although nowadays the overwhelming urge of many a boxer would doubtless be to avoid such a tough foe, this was not the way of things for fighters back in the 1940s.

Fight-three came just short of a year later. This time they met in Ohio, in January of 1948, and again the match was scheduled for ten rounds. What followed was probably the best fight of their three fight series. Both men started fast and the pace remained unaltered throughout. In this bout, Moore saw his best chance of victory pass him by. He had Charles walking on ***** street in round number eight, and was seemingly a punch or two away from at last defeating his nemesis – and by knockout. Yet somehow Charles recovered his senses and came back with some devastating blows of his own to sensationally KO “The Mongoose” in the very same round. The finishing punch, a right cross, was absolutely perfect.

This win finally convinced Moore that, special as he was, he simply could not find a way to beat Charles. Both men went about their careers from then on without hooking up again. And both men’s finest accomplishments were still ahead of them, too. Quite amazing is how these two supremely talented light heavyweights were squaring off with one another – three times – before even fighting for a world title.

 

Mike Tyson would be a classic case of an underachiever that is an ATG.
Riddick Bowe was a brilliant fighter, if only for a short time, I think if he's not an ATG, he could have been one.

 

For me, I guess I'll start with 3 names who are in my top ten fav fighters.

Jack Johnson - I think he had potential to be so much more than he was. The timing, the reflexes, the strength, the ring I.O./generalship just to name some could've been tested more against the best after he won the title. Though some of it wasn't his fault and he had to endure more than most anybody; he still didn't continue to evolve, even a little, and didn't train hard and get even better at his own style. I think fighting better fighters should tell any smart fighter things they would then use or incorporate into their style. His pretitle run is a good example, and while it wouldn't need to fight that frequently, it again is more a competition thing to be sharp. Even though it was more impressive, and maybe even really impressive, there again he played it safe sometimes when he just needed to fight like Jack Johnson could. So I just wish he kept the hunger and drive longer to see what he could've become with his intelligence imo

Duran - it has already been said 1000000 times already

Whitaker - I believe he robbed himself and us of his continued best and dedication to see how he'd do against the up and coming young guns like Tito, Oscar, and Ike. I think he beat Oscar, but by that point the partying started to creep in more and more, and his lifestyle got further away from the hyper motivated hungry pea of his younger days. Who's to say how I'd be if I was a professional athlete in the 80's and 90's with all that good good around, but still, I believe if he hadn't and stayed sharp and beat some big guys while past his best... he could be a lock top 5 ATG area on many lists imo

 

More so than Donald Curry or John Verderosa?

 

Harada basically ate and drank himself out of flyweight. He wasn't even a big bantamweight and still ended up struggling with his weight there. He could've dominated fly for years but then we wouldn't have his defining performances against Jofre I suppose. He could've at least avoided the upset loss to Esparza, possibly the one to Medel (though that would still have been hard) and being beaten so cleanly by Rose after struggling to make the weight.

Ortiz was a lazy, uncommitted ******* too and heavy drinker, which makes his dominance all the greater. But he definitely could've avoided losing the first Laguna fight, giving him one of the great singular reigns in the sport's history in it's greatest division. Maybe have eeked a couple of extra defences too at the end before Laguna finally turned the trick, or Mando Ramos. And avoided some of his early career defeats, few though they were.

Chang was a good call if you consider him great. Duran obviously. So was Mando, though I don't think he achieved greatness by a fair distance in spite of his talent.

The other Ramos too, Ultiminio. Killed himself trying to make featherweight too long and although having a respectable stint at lightweight never quite hit the heights his great talent warranted.

 

Elorde, Benny Lynch, Watanabe, Canizales (greatness highly debatable), Mayweather Jr, Zapata (again very debatable, probably not quite great), Calzaghe, Manuel Ortiz. All for various, sometimes different reasons.

 

Benny Leonard has to be on the list. Cut his career short on the wishes of his mother.

 

John Conteh always seemed to me to be a classic underachiever.

 

Guillermo Rigondeaux