Biggest waste of potential?

from his 4 KO losses, 2 are from exhaustion, 1 livershot, and Nate Tubbs landed a perfect shot on him.
But except for freakshows like McCall every HW can get knocked out by "the perfect shot"

 

Sonny Liston

He had the natural tools and ability to be the greatest ever.

Lazy. Didn't like to train. Drank excessively. He was drunk the night before he lost his title.

I'll also vote for Max Baer.

 

Tubbs landed really solid on him, Sanders didn't have the best chin ofcourse but not glass either.
It was average.

But he was indeed not very skilled, he always seemed to rely on an early KO with his straight left and overpowering the opponent in the first 2 rounds.

Sanders was also a sprinter (He could run the 100m very fast when he was young) so maybe he also never had the muscle fibre for a good endurance.


I don't really think he wasted that much, he still got his shot to glory.

 

wow good choice forgot about him.

 

Prince Naseem

Had the athleticism, skills, a decent chin, and unheard of power at featherweight

Didn't care about training though and had serious inflammation in his hands after fighting ...

 

ESB's own Frankie Gavin has to be a contender, barely put a foot wrong as a pro after being arguably Britain's brightest ever amateur talent, but has a Gamboa like streak of not actually fighting, if he doesnt win a world title he's wasted a lot of talent, imo even an alphabet title would be underachieving

 

Anybody can get caught with the right shot. And yes he was pretty skilled. Could have been better if he took boxing more seriously

 

Pedro Gamarro

Venezuelan Welterweight at the 1976 Olympics (Silber Medalist)

A 5' 10" boxer-puncher, with wicked fast hands.

Never turned professional. The guy was made for the 'Pro ranks'.

Beat up Ray Leonard bad, at a pre-Olympic International sparring-meet at 63.5 Kg.

Pedro then moved up to (67 Kg).

 

I think the guys like Francisco Bojado are much better calls than guys like Tyson or Toney or Roy Jones Jr because THOSE GUYS WERE ATG FOR GODS SAKE. I know what you mean: several of those guys didn't live up to their full talent. But there is a huge difference between underachieving and not achieving anything. George Best and Mickey Mantle might have been much better if not for booze and injury but mantle still hit 500 home runs and Best was still Irish. If Toney wasn't a fat slob instead of being a top 100 guy maybe he would be a top 20 guy. But the real waste are the guys who could have been great and were never even contenders.

 

I agree. Its just those guys wasted some of their potential; but the distance between the greatest fighter of all time and the 100th greatest is not as large as between say Bojado's career and someone like Carlos Palomino.

 

Tony Ayala

 

Benitez, so much talent wasted

 

Bert Cooper.

 

Herbie Hide

 

Tony Ayala Jr., for my money. Valero and Salvador Sanchez left a lot on the table, too.