Corrie Sanders in the 70s

This guy was gifted. Has natural skills. He was incredible fast and possess great power. If he was motivated and dedicated in boxing he could be contender in any era. But for how fight he was properly training ? Against Klitschko on short notice. And he blew him away.
If he was dedicated in boxing, o man what a boxer he could be.
BTW, props for Klitschko to fight almost all southpaw who was in his way.
For example Lewis avoid them like pleague. Has faced only 1 southpaw in the begining of his career and he was nobody guy with 7 loses from 26 matches ....

 

Sanders had incredible handspeed, power, and yet lacked the solid chin and dedication to the sport.

He had unbelievable potential and completely wasted it. He barely trained at all for his fights and walked into the ring unprepared for the most part. A waste of talent and a waste of time.

 

:good

 

Whos the hell is James QuicK?

As for James Tillis, he was part of the 80s crew, not 70s.

Sanders didnt beat ****, what part of that is difficult to understand?

His whole legacy is built around beating a green Klitscko.

Outside of that, you have to search the s**** heap of a resume Sanders has and pick out names like Michael Sprott.

 

I've followed Sander's career extensively.

I think that he'd have been a force in any era. His biggest problem was that he could not get the good fights in his prime. He was known to boxers as a dangerous, fast, hard-hitting southpaw, but was virtually unknown outside of South Africa. The dilemma facing potential opponents was : "do I face a dangerous guy for peanuts, or do I face some better-known fighter who is less dangerous for more money?" The choice really isn't hard to make, honestly.

People remember him for his "poor cardio". His stamina problems really only are applicable to the latter half of his career. In his prime he was EASILY able to go 12 rounds at a good pace. Go watch the Puritty fight, for example, and you will see him dancing around and displaying excellent lateral movement in the 12th round. I think that his handspeed was one of the best in the business. His punch variety wasn't limited to his lethal left straight. He had a nasty selection of uppercuts that he used to use on fighters rushing in close. He nearly knocked Rahman out of the ring with one of them, and one-shotted Billups and Varakin with short uppercuts as well. He was adept at attacking the body, and hard. If you look at the Weathers fight, he pretty much pounded the fellow out with some of the hardest body punches you will see.

In his prime he was a dedicated, moblie fighter with a fast, accurate jab who delivered a carpet-bombing to the boxers that he faced. But his abilities were not really tested against top opponents, and we can only compare his opponents to those of top fighters to see what he was capable of.

A few examples of what he was capable of - Levi Billups went 10 with Lewis and gave him a good fight. He lasted 2 against Sanders. Cooper, who gave Holyfield a good fight, lasted 3 against Sanders. Czyz, who likewise impressed against Holyfield, lasted 2 against Sanders. Art Card, who took comeback Holmes 10, was destroyed in the first. Johnny du Plooy, who had some useful names on his resume (Weaver, Bey, Tillis, Broad) got starched in the first by a green Sanders. Botha, who gave Tyson such a rough time, was beaten 4 times in the amateurs, 3 times by KO.

I think that in the 70's he'd have cleaned house of everybody but the top guys. And even the top guys would have had a rough day at the office against him. I certainly favour him over Shavers, for example. Ironically, he used to say that he modelled himself after Ali, and if you look at his early fights he does try out the 'dancing fighter' routine.

He does have specific weaknesses that I never liked, and this may favour good infighters. He never really clinched, but looked to clam up and then counter the other guy. This could be fatal against big hitters like Foreman. I don't think that he quite had the speed of an Ali, either. His younger incarnation could be a bit chinny, although in his later years he demonstrated a good chin. But with his power, size, accuracy and speed, and willingness to mix it up, nobody to be taken lightly.

All in all, yes, I think that he'd win some titles, and maybe impressively at that, if he got the fights that mattered.

 

They are not good fighters, they are journeymen.

Mike Williams was coming off a loss the year before against a nobody and would lose 2 of his next 3 fights, once against a 5-1 novice.

Bert Cooper was coming off a loss earlier that year and would go on to lose 3 more times in the following 12 months.

Levi Billups is a career journeymen, he was coming off a loss against a 9-0 fighter and would go onto to lose his next 2 fights.

De Leon was a career cruiser weight, past his best and would lose his next fight against Nielsen and the few wins he had at heavyweight were against small heavies, usually just over 200lbs.

Czyz was a former light heavy, hadn't fought in 2 years and was once again coming off a loss.

Sprott was only ever a domestic level fighter and a journeymen for much of his career and once again was coming off a loss.

Purrity had already amassed 10 losses when he faced Sanders, he was again a journeymen. He would lose his next 2 fights.

Basically if you look at Sanders' record in detail a lot of the recognisable names were past their best, coming from lower divisions and usually coming off a loss.

Whenever Sanders stepped up a level he got KO'ed with the exception of Wlad.

 

And yet, some of these "journeymen" gave "name" fighters a lot of a harder time than they gave Sanders. Food for thought.

 

I'll make you a deal, now

 

Surprising he never went in with Botha. Sanders was better maybe that's why.

 

Wlad fans still making out Snaders was some kind of great fighter, rather than face the reality that their hero got blown away by a mediocre nobody.

 

Sometimes a fighter underestimates a journeymen or that journeymen is a dangerous puncher. Nobody would say a fighter like Darnell Boone who has given some top fighters tricky fights is a anything but a journeymen, a dangerous one with power, but still a journeymen.

Czyz may have given Holyfield some problems but that was a Czyz who hadn't been dragged out of retirement to plump up Sanders record.

Puritty may have gone on to beat Wlad, but Wlad was young and beat himself in that fight by not pacing himself. At best Puritty was a gate keeper when Sanders fought him.

Cooper was much like a Darnell Boone, he had KO power so he could hurt anyone but in reality he was still a journeymen. I mean Sconiers and Nicols both dropped Wilder are we going to pretend they were nothing more than journeymen as well.

 

Yes, maybe years before they fought Sanders.

Journeymen/gatekeepers have primes too you know.

 

Botha, the former IBF champion who had a victory over Axel Schulz, a more recognisable name and a better win than anything Sanders produced. Botha had only lost once, and that was a TKO to Michael Moorer in a close fight in the 12th round.

Or fight Sanders, coming off his impressive, earth shattering, fear inducing victory over Michael Sprott.

Hmm tough choice.

 

Frans Botha is a boxing legend. He went to K1 na ddefeated Peter Aerts and Lebanner.