Favorite Fighters that did not Achieve Greatness

I already mentioned Vargas but others are

Bowe -HTH prime Bowe is but didnt stay that wasy long

Mercer- Was very good and much improved around 95,96 when he took prime Holy and prime Lewis to razor close decision losses. Thought he earned a draw with Lewis.. And thought Holyfields knockdown is what won it for him.

Leija- Excellent fighter at JL.. Even a solid contender and spoiler when he was an old jw.

Gabriel Ruelas- Looked like he could have been great until the Jimmy Garcia tragedy.

Panchito- WHat a shame such a waste of talent.. Ill be the first to admit i was on the hype train.

Echols = Crowd pleaser and huge puncher hard to believe he has turned into a steppingstone with the kind of power he had... Hopkins told me Tito didnt have nothing on Echols when it came to punching power.

Ayala- Yey hate him all you want.. but he was a one Mean and skillful sob before he went to prison.

Hector Lopez- knew him personally tough breaks but one of the Best Jws of the 90s.. Had the rare combo of either boxing your ears off or taking your best shots and outslugging you.. I felt he edged a young Kostya Tszyu and so did many others.

Paul Gonazalez- Great amatuer also from same gym insipired and talked me into boxing agains(i was 13 but stopped).. One of the greatest amatuers ever and named val Barker award as best fighter from 84 olympics.. Awesome considering who was on his team.. Unfortunately hand problems injuries,long layoffs prevented him from living up to his potential.

Mayorga-- loved his whirlwhind style and power punching .. Also funniest boxer of our time.

Zack Padilla-- Excellent JW champ who i felt would have even given the elite all they wanted.. Was talked about as a whittaker opponent and if Sweet pea wouldnt have been at his best he would have lost... Even a prime sweet pea would have trouble with this whirlwind who had a Iron chin (shane said best hes ever went up against even though they just were sparring partners).. Unfortunately had a career ending blood clot in his brain. His only weakness was average puncher at best.. although physically strong.

 

You better believe it! Look at some of that dudes wins!

 

Most of my favorite fighters. I tend to love guys with more heart than skill.
Gatti
Corrales
Augustus

I won't name active fighters because they still have a shot at greatness.

 

Great call on Ruelas. :good

 

are you talking about when mercer supposedly offered his opponent to throw the fight for money when he thought he was gonna lose ?

if so, i can't remember who it was but it wasn't etienne.

 

Emanuel Augutus is an alltime great for his persistance, approach to the sport and his journeyman sensibilities. He's the modern day Archie Moore of the 135-140lb weight class!

 

He took a lot of fights on short notice and in prospects backyards. We'll never know, but I imagine his career could have turned out a lot differently if he was signed by a good promoter early in his career and given a chance to develop properly.

 

Yep that's true. But this guy got more bad decisions than anyone I remember outside of ODLH in Vegas!

 

I agree 100%

 

the name is jesse ferguson. it was from the first fight they had.

 

riddick had just beaten holyfield for the title, defended it against michael dokes, then got it on with ferguson, knocking him out in two rounds.