Bonecrusher Smith's Record, especially early

For someone that started so late and was thrown to the wolves he did very well. It may have hurt his career down the road but his path was impressive. Why someone like a Wilder disappoints so much.

 

Yes, even his first fight was against decorated amateur James Broad, who knocked him out. Having to make up for lost time, they brought Bonecrusher along very quickly, too quickly. Given that, he did very well for himself. Might have been a better fighter if he'd done less thinking in the ring, and just swung away with his physical gifts. I always liked the guy and appreciated that he was the first heavyweight champ to have a college degree.

 

Maskaev-

First fight.. Miroshnichenko 21-0
3rd fight... Robert Hawkins 3-0
4th fight... Joe Thomas 23-1
6th fight... Nikoli Kulpin 15-1
7th fight... Oliver McCall
9th fight... Fernely Feliz 10-0
10th fight... Ralph West 10-0
12th fight... David Tua

 

Bonecrusher was a horse of a different color. A heavyweight champion with a college degree. Very rare up to the 1990's

 

He turned pro around 26 or 27 years of age with limited amateur background. I heard somewhere that he was working as a prison guard in North Carolina up to that point. His pro debut was against amateur star James Broad who had already compiled a 2-0 pro record. Smith Lost the fight by TKO. His next fight was 2-0 prospect and future cruiser champ Rickey Parkey whom he defeated by 6 round decision. His third fight was against the hard punching Mike Cohen who was 8-1-0-8, and smith beat by knockout. Couple fights later he fought 8-0 Chris Mcdonald and beat him as well. His 14th pro fight was against undefeated contender Frank Bruno. After a long battle, Smith came from behind to score the stoppage.. Then came Larry Holmes in his 15th pro bout. His next 12 bouts would be against Tony Tubbs, Jose Ribalta, Tim Witherspoon, Marvis Frazier, Mike Weaver, Jessie Ferguson, David Bey, Tim Witherspoon ( again ), Mike Tyson, Adilson Rodriguez, Mike Rouse, and Razor Ruddock....

So yeah.. The man can't be accused of record padding or taking the easy road. He very likely expected to be a journeyman build up opponent for good fighters early, and surprised everyone.

 

Fred Apostoli:

5th fight: Andy DiVodi (92-35)
7th fight: Freddie Steele (93-2)
15th fight: Frankie Britt (53-16)
18th fight: Babe Risko (60-13)
20th fight: Lou Brouillard (93-19)
22nd fight: Ken Overlin (75-11)
23rd fight: Solly Krieger (56-10)

His handlers must have had a lot of confidence in his ability (or just didn't care).

 

Vasyl Lomachenko takes the cake. He won world title belt in his 3rd fight. No one has been moves this fast.

Jose Ramirez 25 3 0
Orlando Salido 40 12
Gary Russell Jr 24 0 0
Chonlatarn Piriyapino 52 1 0
Gamalier Rodriguez 25 2 3

 

Probably would have taken Broad in a rematch. Never knew why Bonecrusher didn't go after Broad again.

 

Smith was never worlds hwt champion. He was a paper titleholder during a time when everyone and their brother held a paper title.

 

Ramirez, Rodriguez and Piriyapino beat who exactly?

 

That wasn't the point of the thread.. It was to address the fact that he took on rough opposition early in his career. About 98% of the posters on this forum are well aware that he was never THE lineal champion.

 

At least one poster called him hwt champion. In fact he was never at any time hwt champion of the world.

 

True, he wasn't. And so weren't a whole bunch of other guys in the 80's, 90's, and 2000's. But at one point Bonecrusher was arguably #2 in the world, behind Tyson.