Fighters who were worse than you thought they would be

Hagler was just starting his decline then, but Mugabi's career never fully recovered after his eye socket shattered in his next fight after Hagler. More than likely, the socket suffered underlying damage from the extensive beating he took from Hagler, & it came to the fore following the 1st good shot he took in his next fight.

 

Amateur stars Octavio Lara, Vince Shomo and Shawn O’Sullivan were to be the next best thing but just never caught on in the pro ranks. I will also include Mark Breland in this category despite him winning 2 straps. His amateur pedigree demanded nothing short of dominance and in a world of 1 champ and a competitive top 10, he would never have seen a title shot

 

Breland was a fantastic offensive fighter, a knockout puncher AND a capable boxer. I mean, sure his pro career didn't match his amateur accomplishments but there was nowhere left to go after that kind of amateur career but down. People were giving him **** because some of his early fights went the distance even. He had some serious shortcomings but didn't come up short like so, so many amateur stars do.

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Roy Joes Jr. just because of not knowing when to retire.

 

Breland looked good destroying the only man to beat as an amateur, Darryl Anthony, in 3 impressive rounds. Took out Reggie Miller out in 2, Miller gave a young Nigel Benn a hell of a fight a few fights later before a seemingly hurt Benn scored a 7th round ko.

Strangely look average in beating Volbrecht for the Vacant crown.

I think the 1st Starling fight ruined him though showed guts in the return to grab a lucky draw.

His fight with Aaron Davis is an absolute classic.

 

Silver Medalist Ricardo Williams. Had alot of potential was put on HBO many times, but once he lost to Pollo Valenzuela that was it. He rose than fell with the quickness right after.

 

Rocky Juarez as well.

 

Shane Mosley …I really thought that he was going to become an all time great…I thought I was watching a legend in the making

 

Starling whooped him. Definitely shocking back then.

 

His style changed once he left 135. Not sure why.

 

Andrew Maynard won Olympic gold in 1988 and was nothing as a pro.

 

At one point I thought David Price would go on to be a world champion and perhaps even dominate HW.

I got that pretty badly wrong. It's fair to say he went on to prove to be a lot worse than I thought he'd be.

 

He was fantastic at 135! Nothing that happened after that changes what he showed at lightweight.

 

I was a sucker for the late 80's Al Bernstein ESPN hype. I expected John Meekins and Charles Murray to be ATGs on the strength of his recommendation.