Fighters whom we never saw in their primes

I agree a ,"what if"
Before McCarty signed to fight Pelkey ,Champion in exile Johnson offered to defend against him in Canada, but promoter Tommy Burns turned thumbs down on the deal.

 

I didn't realise Lewis was only 24 when he was forced to retire.
He should definitely be in the frame!
Good shout JT!:good

 

If Louis and Ali are the #1 and #2, in whatever order you argue, then that has interesting implications.

You can debate ad nauseum when their theoretical peaks would have been, but they both lost significant ring time to wars, and they both had career defining wins on either side!

Tyson obviously lost a lot due to his prison sentence, but he didn’t do ATG material after it!

 

Valero.

 

Ali,
Louis ( WW2),
Dempsey (his own career management and the biggest loss of the three),
Ike Ibeabuchi,
Willard,
Sullivan ( a fall down drunk ),
JJ Walcott,
Dokes (drugs) ,
Mustafa Muhammed ( as gifted as anyone but a real head case),
Bowe ( no discipline ),
Rubin Carter ( very limited amateur career and a natural 154 pounder fighting at middleweight ),
Shane Mosley ( should have been an all time great at 135 but moved up for the money ) ,
Aaron Pryor ( an all time great lightweight who went up to 140 because no one would fight him and then destroyed himself w drugs )
Lew Jenkins ( fall down drunk )
Tunney ( retired three fights too early to blossom at heavyweight )
Peter Jackson ( ducked )
Harry Wills (ducked )

 

Duran. I don't think "Montreal" was quite it. He wasn't even in his best weightclass.


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George Foreman. He quit right after the loss the Young. His prime years would have followed.

 

Bunch of those guys in the WW2 Military Service 1940's era....can't name them all.

But Joe Louis said Billy Conn wasn't anything "the fighter" when Conn got back from the Service.