Failed Fighters you (HYPED) UP!

I was definitely guilty of putting the cart before the horse and rating Kingpin a world-beater. Eddie Chambers, too. I thought we might have two American jab specialists inheriting the division from the Klitschko brothers to reign side by side.

 

Did you think Kevin Johnson will perform better vs Vitali than he actually did? And Chambers vs Wlad?

Also what were your expectations on the following HWs when they all were unbeaten prospects? Have you thought some of them will pick the belt?

Audley Harrison
David Price
Seth Mitchell
Joe Hanks
Andy Ruiz jr
Chris Arreola
Bryant Jennings
Kubrat Pulev

 

Actually make it three - I was pretty high on Calvin Brock. (although he didn't fail per se, unless you consider losing to divisional era king Wladimir Klitschko and then a close SD loss to peer Eddie Chambers to be "failure" - his career might've amounted to more but was cut short by going legally blind. Still, for a guy that always had a secure full-time job outside the sport and thus had no reason to be hungry or motivated within it, he did alright for himself in his allotted time...)

 

About 10 years ago my best friend from Georgia called and said in his thick Georgia drawl that he’d just met the future heavyweight champion of the world. Told me to keep my eyes open for a guy named Kevin Kingpin Johnson. This guy was big, muscular and so fast it reminded him of Muhammad Ali. Said he had a jab that shook the gym. And that he was really nice. Kevin used my buddy as his real estate agent to buy a house. My buddy, who was about 60 then said he wanted to spar with Kevin. Kevin agreed. My buddy said Kevin just stood still with his hands behind his back and my buddy still couldn’t come close to even touching him. Eventually Kevin got the call to fight V Klitschko in Sweden and my buddy and his wife flew out there to watch. My buddy bet a grand on Kevin really believing that he just might pull the upset. After the fight they no longer talked as much :-/

 

Dustin Nichols actually surpassed my expectations

 

Damn.

Crazy thing is, for anybody that watched him early on, you couldn't really say his prognostication didn't seem (at least somewhat) justified.

 

Yup, totally agree. Maybe he got a taste of money or just never really had the heart of a fighter. Like the Marvelous One said, “It’s hard to get up and run when you’re wearing silk pajamas”

 

I think Khytrov can still win a world title and be in some FOTY type fights. I wouldn't be writing him off just yet.

 

@dinovelvet's list is

Eubank jr - who was the future of the sport and was gonna beat Golovkin

Yildirim - who was a future star and it was out of him and Eubank Jr who was gonna win the super eight tournament

Mchunu - Who was gonna clean up at cruiserweight and was gonna beat Usyk, Gassiev, Lebedev!

 

Chad Dawson. I actually thought he would beat Ward. doh

 

Totally agree with you on Dirrell.

 

Really???

 

I really oversold Alexeev and Antoine Douglas, for starters