fighters who may have been great but got destroyed

Spinks had already been great for some time.

Davey Moore could have been something very special considering he won a world title in 12 fights.

Billy Collins could have been a special fighter before the atrocity involving Luis Resto and Panama Lewis.

 

I don't think Grant was ever that good. Lacy was overrated/overhyped. He had heavy hands and some talent, but glaring flaws and I don't think he ever would have been much beyond a decent titleholder. Haven't seen enough of Vingo to have an opinion on him. ****ey was pretty good, but no better than a lot of the 80s HW titlists. Actually, he was probably less talented and skilled than a lot of them. I thought he gave Holmes a pretty good fight though.

Golota was always just too crazy and would beat himself.

Spinks was already an ATG. The Tyson massacre just made him possibly the most underrated fighter ever among casual fans.

Some people might argue Meldrick Taylor, but I think he was always gonna have a short stay at the top.

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=209299

 

Goes without saying, but Gerald Mcllelan

 

How good would you guys say Billy Collins was?

 

Davey Moore beat the c rap out of Charlie Wier who had a tremendous reputation in South Africa as a KO artist. And in his fight against Duran he looked good in the first few rounds. Unfortunately Duran was in one of his man-eating nights and beat him to a pulp. I think that if Roberto hadn't been around Moore would have been spoken of highly today.

I also think Golota could have been special. He had some good skills and power to go with those skills. If he had the heart / mental strength to go with his attributes he could have been somebody

 

If Liston had beaten Clay, he would probably be on everyone's top 3 or 4 list.

 

Milton McCrory getting ko'ed by Bruce Curry and Duane Bobbick taking one in the throat from Ken Norton come to mind.
McCrory was a champion but seemed to have the potential to be dominant. Bobbick may just have been exposed, but I think he could have done more.

 

John Magabi, Hagler ruined him. Donald Curry, never really recovered from the Honeyham lost. Laporte, Gomez took it out of him. Camacho, Rosario changed his career.

 

Georgie Araujo and Gil Turner just seemed to lose a little something after their respective title shots against Jimmy Carter and Kid Gavilan, which both ended by KO after them streaking to unbelievable heights as the preeminent contenders of their day. Also, Len Matthews of Philly was another streaking fighter when he got stopped by Carlos Ortiz. I read where he never seemed to be the same after. By the look of his record he may have lost a step or two.

 

Duran against Tommy

 

Donald curry was one of my favourite. He just completely lost it. From unbeatable to gone in a fight. You couldn't hit him at one point then just blown away. Shocked me at the time

 

Disagree about Laporte

He always had a problem of not being busy or consistent enough.

He struggled to beat Johnny DeLarosa and was actually outpointed by Gerald Hayes right before the Gomez loss.

He recovered from the Gomez loss to later give JC Chavez a very tough fight and a competitive fight against Azumah Nelson.

His pride was hurt by his poor showing against Gomez because it was an all Puerto Rican affair - but it didn't ruin him.

 

Meldrick Taylor was on his way to superstar status had he been able to defeat Chavez.

He had all the tools to be great. I think his mentality of slugging might have kept him from actually achieving it though.

 

Not exactly what you are asking for, but Tony Tucker comes to mind. He claims his hand was broken heading into his match up with Tyson, and claims he could have ko'd him if it hadn't been. It was a fairly close match as it was, and it did look like he wasn't really hitting with his right. I could see him winning if that was true. And if so, could see him ruling the division for awhile. As it was, he went off on a coke snorting spree and never fully recovered.