Boxers Who Were Great, But Truly Never Lived Up To Their Potential

Vitali
Witherspoon

 

Tony Ayala Jr. He showed the potential to be great but was a psychopath.

 

Why would that affect his performance? Being a psychopath may be beneficial for boxing. Carlos Monzon benefitted from his psychopathy in the ring. Very cold and calculating style.

 

Mugabi gave Hagler one of his toughest fights but as performance go that was as good as it got. Everyone thought he would only get better but maybe that Hagler fight ruined him

 

Ayala ended up in prison before he lost a bout. The Kronk boys had a lot of respect for him as a boxer and there was talk of matching him with Duran. There is no telling how far he could have gone in boxing if he could have controlled his psychopathic urges.

 

It caused him to get put away for almost 20 years and he missed his prime

 

It did.

 

Hector Camacho Sr. is the poster child for this topic.
G.O.A.T ability ruined by lackadaisical training,
party life, drugs, and a single right hand from Rasario.
His biggest claim to fame is permanently retiring
the shadow of Ray Leonard .
Speaking of Ray Leonard, my favorite boxer,
he did win multiple great fights in his prime
Against ATG'S of many different styles.
But he could've been so much more.
While the eye injury concern is understandable
what isn't is when he decided to come back, it
was sporadic , he allowed his skills to erode
living the double life of boxer/ play boy partier.
It cost him terribly against Norris and Camacho.
Two fighters he beats convincingly in his prime.

 

I think it took some fire out of Hagler. Not much. But I would seriously, seriously argue that had Hagler not fought Mugabi that he would've beaten Leonard more decisively. I think Mugabi took a piece of Hagler, however tiny, it was enough to make the difference IMO.

 

I'd have loved a motivated Duran to have got hold of Ayala before he got sent to prison. Man against boy and it would have been a career-ending beat down, imo. I wouldn't have minded Ayala getting a shot at Hagler and getting under Marvin's skin around this time too. Ouch.

 

I'm gonna say Vitali Klitschko.

He is an ATG, but he could have been top level were it not for injuries and circumstances.

 

No doubt they shortened each others career.