Brillant Amatures Who Were Bad/Medicore Pro's?

not a bad pro, but the amature great paul gonzalez had some misfortune in fighting in the same time that the great orlando canizales was reigning.

michael bennett actually beat felix sevon in the amatures and was the captain of the olympic team but dident have the same success as a prom.

 

Kelcie Banks

Peter Richardson (A Brit from the 90s)

 

Going into the Montreal Olympics, the two most skilled members of the USA Squad were generally considered to be Davey Lee Armstrong and Clint Jackson. Armstrong was a veteran of the Munich Olympics, but he finished a mere fifth in Montreal, then went 24(14) - 3(1) as a pro before hanging them up in 1983. He did manage to win the NABF LW Title shortly before he retired, but that was in his only professional championship match at any level.

Jackson also finished short of the mark in Montreal, then sputtered to a 25(19) - 7(2) professional ledger. The early stoppage loss to Tony Braxton was certainly a setback, but the devastating upset blowout loss to unheralded Buster Drayton in Jackson's Nashville hometown ruined Clint's career. He never defeated significant opposition in the punch for pay ranks. (Drayton would overcome some later stumbles to become IBF Light Middleweight Champion.) Former deputy sheriff Jackson was convicted in 1989 for kidnapping an Alabama banker in an extortion scheme, and is currently serving a life sentence.

 

i was just reading about mark breland the other day and was once again saddened by what a brilliant amateur he was and yet his pro career fell so short. he just couldn't make the transition

 

Breland was probably the one most of us thought about immediately. I didn't name him because he wasn't a complete failure as a pro. He won and defended the WBA WW Championship on a few occasions, against some competent opposition.

Howard Davis, Jr. never won a world title, but he had a respectable career, not something I would describe as "bad" or "mediocre."

 

Jorge Luis Gonzales
Shawn O'Sullivan

Wasn't Bobby Joe Young supposedly some kind of good amateur? Or am I confusing him with someone else?

 

Sugar Ray Seales?

 

Willie Dewitt, Shawn O'Sullivan and Nick Wells,



Mark Breyland(incomparison to his expetations)Howard Davis Jr

 

Audley Harrison is another one.

A lot of folks really liked his potential early but it really didn't take long before people were jumping off the bandwagon. Usually it takes a loss for folks to jump off the bandwagon but Harrison was kind of like Amir Khan and seemed to lose 50% of his supporters his first 18 months. Interesting if for no other reason than the pendulum swing.

 

Paul Gonzalez gold medalist from East LA his wins were gifts. He fought for the title and got spanked! I called him Oscar once to **** him off...

 

Michael Carruth

 

Good call. This thread isn't asking for heavily hyped but brilliant amateurs.

As the only American Gold Medalist to come out of Munich, Seales could have been promoted for that accomplishment in the professional ranks, but his management chose not to play that up. If they had, he might be remembered more today in the way many remember Breland or Davis, Jr.

Hagler ruined him in dramatic fashion on national television the third time they squared off. Like Willie Monroe, Seales learned that facing Marv thrice was the worst of ideas. This was one Sugar Ray who couldn't live up to the name, and would have been better off without the pressure of that reputation.

 

Pete Rademacher springs to mind although his prospects were hardly helped by being thrown in at the deep end so soon.

Also Tyrell Biggs was a disappointment as a pro, although his amateur brilliance could be questioned as his olympic gold medal was won without having to face the Soviets or Cubans.

 

David Reid
Tyrell Biggs
Henry Tillman
Jorge Luis Gonzalez
FranciscoBojado