Big Fight Chokers.

I'm thinking Juan Laporte, but I don't really know if choker is the right label. He kept on coming up against ATGs and kept fallign short. I think its fair to say that he never had the talent to beat the ATG's he lost to, so it's not really a case of a choker (which implies someone who has the ability to win, but for some reason - usually mental - fails to) so much as a guy who is limited.

 

I think Laporte choked against Gomez at least.

He must have thrown about 5 punches a round in that fight.

 

The guy that comes to mind for me had the worst case of "freezing" I've ever seen; Tyrone Jackson, a junior lightweight contender from the 80's. He built a stellar record of something like 25-0, maybe 28-0 when he was faced with some south Korean titlist, and the guy literally just stood along the ropes and got hammered; you could actually see the wheels grind to a halt in his head, and he was TKO'd in the sixth.

Then he fought Tony Lopez for the IBF title and again just stood there, letting Lopez whack away with impunity. Lopez stopped him in the eighth.

His trainers even admitted that he simply froze in big fights. Even they offered no excuses. I've never seen so obvious an example as that.


I heartily disagree with the Yaqui Lopez choice and the Mark Breland choice, though.

 

True, that one was up for grabs if he forced the issue, but he was reluctant to do it.

 

Earnie Shavers. He'd give a good fight, but he'd always come up short.

 

Angel Manfredy for sure!

You might as well hand him the Dubya-Pretzel Award.

 

I disagree. I think Juan tasted Gomez' power early and was surprised and hurt enough in the first 3 rounds to be wary of mixing it up.
Wilfredo then seized the intiiative and pressured Juan for the rest of the bout taking his legs away from him with a vicious body assault in the middle rounds.
LaPorte may have thought he would catch Gomez in the late rounds but found he had nothing left, due in no small part to the pounding he took from Wilfredo.

Great call on Tyrone Jackson salsanchezfan. Ferdie Pacheco made the observation repeatedly throughout that bout against Lopez that Jackson just could not or would not get off. A frustrating one to watch for sure.

 

John "The beast" Mugabi

 

This wasn't choking tho, it was simply not being good enough. Big difference.

 

I'll go with the choke myself, Juan put up a pitiful effort. This fight was really built up with their nationality and all that and LaPorte just froze. He had a good punch, i would have liked to have seen him rise to Gomez early and go right back at him but it was not to be. Juan had the tools to make this fight interesting.

 

Moorer
Tua
James Thunder
Wlad

 

After Yaqui Lopez prevailed in the classic eighth round of their rematch, it looked like somebody was finally going to prevail over Matt. Yaqui had him in difficulty early in that round, then Saad pinned him on the ropes with a characteristic come-from-behind surge which had all the earmarks of a typical fight winning rally for him. Suddenly, Lopez broke that pattern as he drove Matt off of him with fire in his eyes. (It's one of the most enraged expressions of determined fury I've ever seen on a boxer's face. It looked like his eyeballs were ready to explode.) After that, nothing.

Gil Clancy sounded like he was rooting for Yaqui, saying to Tim Ryan over and over, "If he can just come on a little bit, Saad Muhammad's ready to go!" But neither fighter was displaying any energy at all. It was as if they'd both shot their bolt in round eight, and had nothing left, but Matt had taken the bigger beating (as usual).

When Lopez was asked after the match what had happened following the eighth round, he simply said, "I got tired." Then it was Saad Muhammad's turn to be interviewed. When he was told that Yaqui said he lost because he got tired, Matt looked incredulous as he exclaimed, "Well I was tired too!" That's the difference between an ATG champion and a perennial contender. Saad would suck it up, and push himself beyond what his limits were thought to be. He was far more battered than his challenger was (as usual), but he simply wanted it more, and that's why he's deservedly in the IBHOF. Ultimately, yeah, I think Yaqui did choke, as much as I liked him, and wanted him to win. (Unless you wish to make the case that choking is different from not wanting it badly enough. Stribling certainly overtrained for his title shots, which might encapsulate a more precise definition of choking.)

In the final analysis, Yaqui was a noble challenger who simply lacked that extra something which separates the very good from the truly great.

 

Duane Bobick, Andrew Golota

 

jameel mccline, easily!!

 

zab