Fighters who disappointed you the most

Ken Norton. He was kryptonite for Ali for some reason and he had that great night against a less than 100% Holmes, but too often he spit the bit at the worst moments. I was a big fan of him in real time in the 1970s but he disappointed me greatly.

 

that was just a pure war. I didn’t see headbutts and elbows.

 

he wrote a great autobiography. He writes very matter of fact and self critical. Anyway, he admits in there that he was often lazy in training and camp and that he knows it led to subpar performances. Fights he lists as having taken things seriously for are the first Ali fight and the Holmes fight. He says people assume he trained like crazy because of how his body looked but it was just genetic.

It’s a great read and there’s zero self aggrandizement in it. Mostly reads as an older man critically reflecting back on his life. Highly recommended.

 

Interesting I was gonna say Curry. He impressed the hell out of me, in part because of the way he handled guys like Starling, McRory, and I think Lloyd Hanyghan also. I was very disappointed to read that he had beent caught with a left by Mike McCallum at JMW. He never was the same. I never did see the fight, just read about it.

It would have been interesting to see how Curry would have performed in the Welterweight era of Leonard, Hearns, Duran, and Benitez

 

It’s a bit disappointing Carlos Palomino retired when he did.
He could have been a big part of the mix at welter for another few years. He lost convincingly to a bang in prime Duran and retired at 30, which I understand was always the plan, but was never hurt or close to being stopped.
Only a few months earlier he’d lost the title to Benitez by a close SD, I’ve only watched that one once but remember scoring it very close as well.

His comeback in his mid forties showed he could have still been very competitive if he’d kept going a bit longer. I wonder if he hadn’t lost so convincingly to Duran if he would have still retired?