Examples Of A Young Promising Career Becoming Derailed By One Loss?

Davey Moore, ruined by Duran

 

Michael Grant against Lennox Lewis

 

Frank after Michael Nunn?

 

Iran "the Blade" Barkley beat up Darrin "Schoolboy" Van Horn on national TV. Was supposed to be Van Horn's coming out party,
and it ended very badly for him. He had 6 more fights and won them all, but his brand was damaged beyond repair.

 

John Tate

 

John Collins vs Tony Sibson
Mark Kaylor vs Buster Drayton

 

There was an Australian fighter called Spike Cheney who won a silver medal at the Seoul Olympics and was once a promising pro. He won an Aussie Welter title in impressive fashion and picked up a WBC International title (whatever that signifies) and was considered a chance to make a splash on the world stage here in Australia.

He took a keep busy fight against a journeyman with a 50% win/loss ratio called Alex Tui. Tui's record was misleading in that whilst he wasn't much of a fighter, he hit very hard.

You guessed it! Cheney was stopped in devestating fashion, his reputation damaged and world title aspirations shot. He beat Tui in a rematch and meandered about the local scene for a bit longer but his career sadly just petered out.

 

Okay. Well I'll have Frank Tate after Michael Nunn.

Does Cuevas qualify? He was only 22 when Hearns finished him as a top flight fighter even if he had been champ for 4 years unless you take the Duran loss as the point that his career started to go south.

 

These are great answers, Cec.

Can I ask ... What question did you mean to answer?

Sorry, mate. I'm being a smart arse, largely as I can't think of a better answer. I'm thinking Hoko after Vargas or McGuigan after Cruz but not sure either would count as a young career. Obviously Rod Douglas had more than his career derailed v Graham.

Didn't the Kaylor loss happen on the same bill as Bruno-Bonecrusher?

 

Yes Pipino does, but I think he was at least 24, he had some terrible management. He fought a whole lot of good fighters on the way up and what was he doing fighting Hearns in Detroit? A better fight was Duran, not that the outcome would have been different

 

Seth Mitchell had an undefeated record and a bit of hype building until he ran into Jonathon Banks and was exposed as being chinny and extremely limited.

Chris Arreola confirmed this in a round and ended his career.

 

Willie De Witt. 1984 Olympic Heavyweight Silver Medalist. Took on Bert Cooper in A CBS televised fight in his first big test and was brutally stopped in 2 rounds. Bad enough that Bert was still campaigning as a cruiserweight occasionally. De Witt won a few fights after and retired with a record of 20-1 to become a lawyer. One good thing was in his final pro fight he beat Henry Tillman who controversially outpointed him for gold in the olympic finals. I think the Cooper loss really shook De Witt and took away his confidence with fighting at the highest level. Mike Tyson was the heavyweight champ and he seemed miles better than Cooper.

 

Price and Audley Harrison looked promising (probably more hyped than usual) until they both got knocked out

 

Juan Manuel Lopez after Orlando Salido?

 

Fernando Vargas was matched too tough, too soon. He won his first world title in his 16th fight and fought and got by Winky Wright and Ike Quartey in tough matchups.

He then got beaten in a brutal fight by Felix Trinidad and never recovered.