Fighters you had the highest hopes for that fell short?

Sonny Liston and young George Foreman. Those two were going to rule the world and between them they had just three successful title defenses.

 

Vasyl Lomachenko, though very accomplished, I thought he would for sure have ATG status + never thought he'd have a loss to Lopez in 2017

 

For me, Michael Nunn is the 1st that comes to mind.

After he bombed out Kalambay in a round, I legit thought he could be a 2nd coming of SRR. Ironically, he was never all that impressive again afterward.

 

Teofimo Lopez. Thought he was going to be the great Lightweight of his era after he beat Lomachenko, but the guy is inconsistent as all hell.

 

Andy Ruiz Jnr - I didn’t follow HW boxing, don’t really now either, I’m young (not many greats to choose from) and usually poor so I don’t catch PPVs but I saw Ruiz vs Joshua and kept up with things (for a bit) because of the upset then the rematch put me off again, pretty much. Drift in and out for Canelo and the important bouts.

 

Lopez lost was in 2020 If I'm correct...I remember that sunny October morning I was doing roadwork.

 

I think Teo's problem is that his career progressed too quickly - realistically, he should've had more fights/experience before being thrust into the big leagues. He has enough raw talent to win some big fights, but other times his lack of seasoning is apparent.

 

I think Rakesh means that watching Loma back in 2017, he never would've expected him to lose to someone like Lopez.

 

My good friends of back in the day, Alberto Mercado and Juan Carazo.

They treated me like a little (sister) at the gym. Sometimes I felt like we were a group of friends, the three of us. I had hopes we were all going to be world champions.

Carazo was literally one second away from it when he dropped Gilberto Roman for the WBC world Junior Bantamweight title in 1989. Then, Roman got up at nine, stayed away the rest of the way and boxed to a comfortable 12 rounds unanimous decision win.

It still hurts to think that A) "Curie"-as Carazo was nicknamed- was so close yet so far...and B) Roman died less than a year later in another car crash.

 

Something to do with a guy called Muhammad Ali.

 

Yes I thought he was going to be the next big thing.

 

It definitely must've been insane to see in real time. Kalambay had just beaten Graham, Barkley, McCallum, Sims, and DeWitt in five back-to-back nigh masterclass victories, and then Nunn smashes him in the first like he was nothing. That one is still one of my favorites to this day.

 

I thought Roy Jones had the talent to be one of the best ever, if not the best. Sadly, it didn't turn out like that