Bogdan Dinu: Future Klitschko-beater.

Over 4 years later and we're still waiting for Dinus career to take off. Anyways, he improved to 14-0 with a 6th rd corner retirement over fairly durable Argentinian journeyman Manuel Alberto Pucheta. I haven't given up completely on Dinu yet, but I won't hold my breath.

 

Yeah but he was left off TV in favor of another unbeaten heavyweight prospect, Oscar Rivas, taking on (and stopping) a much better journeyman than Pucheta in Joey Abell - and rightfully so.

Rivas has been another frustrating case of a talented individual brought along very slowly while fans clamor for him to step up and seize the day and not waste his prime years - but, he is more proven and more consistently entertaining than Dinu, and so was awarded the slot (and we're not even talking main card here, but the much less-viewed undercard on Showtime Extreme).

Dinu has been an epic disappointment. There was a period of a year or so where he literally fought in the Bigger Is Better tourneys exclusively without a single appearance in the ring in an officially sanctioned pro boxing match that would count on his record. He enjoyed success in the BB tourneys but primarily coasted through solely due to his physical gifts, as he looked pretty horrible and struggled with some very mediocre opposition. He seemed to have lost the spark altogether, which his subsequent lackluster performances in "real" boxing only reinforced, with his ballooning in weight and not once having come in below his ideal ceiling of 235lb since that period of inactivity (or rather, activity limited to exhibition sideshows). He was a career high 245¼ against Pucheta!

He's just another guy that won't achieve what he could have because he lacks the dedication and drive. Get in the queue with Matvey Korobov, Joan Guzman, Rocky Juarez, and the rest, Bogdan. :hi:

 

You're probably right.... Unfortunately. Still, he's 29 and we all know better than to completely rule someone like him out in the division. But yeah, he's probably not going to go anywhere. As for Rivas, well thinks have looked more promising lately. He's stepped up in competition, and been a lot more active. 2016 might be his breakthrough year. We'll see.

 

The really annoying part is that Dinu was ready to be tested by guys like Abell four years ago, when this was a new thread. He most likely would have stopped Abell, which could have been the first springboard onto having already made his mark by now (at the very least giving us a clear idea of where he stood, not that he would've been a world-beater as that was never a guarantee even if he fulfilled his potential...but he could have received a few handsome paydays by now taking on top contenders like Takam, Perez, Scott, Chisora, Adamek, Thompson, Szpilka, etc. - whatever his rate of success)

He is at exactly the same point in his career now he was in 2011. Rivas is only barely a step ahead, but is ahead - plus a year Dinu's junior and with a much better amateur pedigree and signed with Al Haymon. Not hard to suss out whose future is brighter...and I'd honestly pick Rivas over Dinu h2h at this point. (and may have any time since Rivas popped up on my radar, even as high as I used to be on Dinu)