Fighters who you thought would be the next big thing who turned out not to be

Alex Ramos, maybe Mark Breland.

 

I thought Juan Manuel Lopez would be a lot better than he has turned out to be, although there is not that much to fault as of yet.

 

Greg Page, before I knew any better.

 

How so? I mean, he turned out pretty well against Rafa earlier this month, and he finishes his comp pretty early. He should be moving faster than he is... While Gamboa is taking on Chris John he should be setting his sights on Hasegawa. Good fights for both actually, will be nice to test their leaky defences against fast movers.

As for myself. I thought Dawson was going to beat Pascal up but he proved he has no presence of mind in the ring definitively this time. Ugh.

 

Same with me. He was touted as Larry Holmes' succesor. One of the many naturally talented heavies of the 80's,who fell short of their potential.

 

I don't know. I just really thought he would be a superb fighting machine but since his third title defence he has just showed too many flaws. Leaky defence, lunging forward and poor sense of distance etc...

I was impressed against Marquez but I can't see him beating Gamboa. Even Hasegawa would be tough for him IMO.

 

Mijares. So much talent, but I mistook his youthful arrogance for mere confidence.

 

Hamed, Linares, Chad Dawson, Joan Guzman, Judah, Witter, Vanzie, Paul Williams. Williams and Dawson may bounce back. Hamed, Guzman and Judah all could have done so much more. I thought Linares could be something special after he beat Larios but he hasnt gone onto do anything yet. Witter and Vanzie could have done quite a bit more with better breaks but both flawed.

Some fighters you may look at their potential and gloss over their weaknesses

I also thought Taylor would improve and rule MW for a while after he beat Hopkins. Quartey and Forrest I always thought would do more with their careers

I did pick Pacquaio to be top3 P4P after his Morales loss and picked Khan to be top10 P4P after his Prescott loss

 

I was pretty sold on Mijares too, you're not from Holland by any chance are you?

I'd bet allot of 80s fight fans were pretty sold on Nunn and Curry

 

He just tries to KTFO whoever he can with his cross and hook. It works because he hits like a truck but the sooner he starts actually boxing and setting up his power shots the better he will be. Gamboa didnt look like hot **** against Rojas either, so... Gamboa Lopez will end early, both guys have leaky defense, hit hard as hell, and can be dropped and hurt. It'll be a fun 5 rounds, I guess.

Anyone ever read that interview with FMSr. calling Dawson a ******?
He has a better chance of bouncing back than Williams though. Dawson kinda gave that fight away, i suspect his training had something to do with it and he CAN come back to fight well at 175. But right now, what the hell is he even doing?

 

As far as 'the next big thing' goes, I haven't swallowed the bait so to speak for quite some time, albeit through sneering scorn rather than good judgement more often than not. Whenever I hear the term, it somehow bypasses the optimistic, high functioning part of my brain and plugs itself straight into the dubious, nihilistic section - the section which tells me that human beings will at some point regress into sausage meat.

That said, fighters who (for varying reasons) I'd like to have seen do more, even if they weren't exactly the 'next big thing' (yuck) include:

Mads Larsen
Sergiy Dzinziruk
Mayweather post-super feather
Guzman
Donaire
Harry Simon
Jason Booth (though I'm glad to see how he's managed to turn his life around)
Dean Francis

 

Donaire's taking on Montiel next year, and should be taking on the contestants in the Showtime BW tournament.

Agreed on Dzinziruk. Horrible job of moving his career forward

 

I thought Gatti would beat Mayweather.

 

At the start of the summer I didn't think Chad Dawson would lose for a long while, but obviously by the end of summer that changed.