Boxers who reached their full potential?

Especially these days, fighters can often go from largely unknown prospect to overhyped in the blink of an eye...

In that sense, many go from limited expectations whilst largely unknown to unrealistic expectations once their name gets out there pretty quickly.

Where does "originally" sit on the timeline, as I guess the answer could go from "all of them" to "none" rapidly?

Much easier question...

And the obvious one for me is Deontay Wilder - not in an ability sense, but in a career sense.

Bronze as an amateur sets limited expectations as a pro, given many silver and even gold medallists don't become champions.

Wilder achieved significant status, money and exposure for a fighter with limited skills, an okay rather than great chin and a resume that suggests fringe contender or high level gatekeeper far more than it does "champion", let alone long standing champion.

For a man who lost against basically every contender he fought (barring Ortiz, who was unlikely to have been at contender level when he fought Wilder, and quite arguably wasn't seriously at any point), it's quite remarkable quite how completely he managed to deceive so many people.

Yes, it's largely down to excellent management rather than overcoming natural limitations to become a better fighter than should've been possible, but nonetheless seems to fit.

 

Iran "the ****in Blade" Barkley.

While being nowhere near close to the most skilled, he used physical strength, size and raw power to subtly become a 3 division champion (which amazingly isn't talked about enough). Almost no one ever mentions him when they talk about multi-weight champions. He also pummeled Tommy Hearns twice. No other fighter can say they have that distinction.

He kinda zoomed past his potential tbh

 

I didn't think Carl Froch was going to be as good as he ended up being. For the first part of his career it just looked like his chin was his defence... Someone, I don't know who, said he ended his career fighting at Wembley in front of 80,000 fans

 

Barrera. I think Gary Russel and Gamboa were better than him, but look at the resumes.

Rahman did very well for a late starter who didn’t have the fastest hands or best chin.

 

Danny Lopez and Julian Jackson. Both pretty limited, one dimensional fighters with poor defense but their godly punching power helped them far exceed expectations. They definitely went as far as they could with what they had, especially with the power they possessed that helped bail them out in fights that they were losing.

 

Great thread!

Probably biased because I'm reading a book about him, but Marciano seems to fit. From what I got, even in his late (and relatively short) career, his boxing often looked very rough and underwhelming. However, he trained like a beast and had the heart to endure whatever was being thrown at him

 

Agree. When he went from Pretty Boy to Money, we saw him be all politics. Finding the biggest names at "the right time" to keep that 0..... It was the blueprint to what we have in the sport today.

 

Wilder was the ultimate overachiever. Biggest win was a HW who never won a world title (Ortiz).... Massive pay days..... Ultimate stages.....his talent left a lot to be desired. That one club punch was an ultimate marketing strategy. Right into the history books.

AJ's win over old man Klitz pushed him into elite status......

 

Rickey Hatton.

 

Wladimir Klitschko came back to be a dominant champion after being write off/told to retire after Sanders and

 

Glen Johnson
Holyfield
Maidana (Broner, arguably Mayweather 1)
Loma (felt he beat Haney and competing at 135 was already overperforming)
Kovalev
Gatti