Greatest waste of talent in boxing history?

Till my dying day, I will say that Jose Luis Lopez was the greatest waste of talent I have ever seen. The dude had very respectable power in both hands, had a granite chin (I would dare say a better chin than a prime JCC Sr.), and had very good boxing abilities and IQ. However, he was freaking lazy. He never looked to be in tip top shape and seemed to do just enough to win fights. If he had the hunger, determination, and will to win like say prime JCC or Antonio Margarito, Jose Luis Lopez would have probably been considered a great and exciting fighter. What a damn shame.

 

Ricardo Williams, Vaughan Alexander, Paul Molitor.

 

James Page-Jose Luis Lopez was the best welterweight fight of the 90s IMO.

Lopez took some big bombs from a big puncher in Page and stayed on his feet.

 

This is a tougher thread to answer than at first thought. Unless you personally saw some super-talent at your local gym or in prelim fights that flamed out or quit his career too early, they would have to be high profile enough to be recognized publicly as having talent in the first place. Kind of a double bind.

Already some great names mentioned. Cooney, Biggs, Camacho, etc.

I'll throw out Freddie Pendleton. Imagine if he started his career as a pushed and promoted fighter instead of coming off the basketball court on short notice to take fights. As it was, he won a 135 lb title and actually won some rounds from a prime Pernell Whitaker. Imagine if he got top training and matchmaking from the beginning.

 

Edwin Valero comes to mind

 

When I first read about Bernard Mays, I wished that I had seen him box. Anyway, as I was reading your post, I searched his name on youtube and there is a year old video called, "Bernard 'Superbad' Mays - The Legend of the Kronk Gym" that I just found that has actual fight footage of him. Too bad alcoholism completely did him in.

 

You probably hit the bag next to guys who could be as great as Napoles but sometimes a bad coach destroys them- they lose confidence in themselves, injury or laziness. Sometimes they just don’t have the balls to match the talent. The guys who show up to work get the furthest. Monzon drank till 3am but he still got up to do his road work and made weight.

 

Please dont say Hector Camacho

He won multiple titles, unbeaten throughout the ENTIRE 1980s, dominated every opponent in his prime, and knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard

 

EMM was never much anyways. He was a LAZY fighter with no fire who allowed lesser fighters like James Scott to walk all over him

He may have won a title but he could never defend it, at least not against a top notch contender

 

No offense, but after Rosario, Hector was never quite the same fighter that he was during the early days. Yeah, he won a few more titles, but knocking out a 41-year- old Sugar Ray Leonard is really nothing to brag about. Ray hasn't been Ray really since 1982.

 

there may be pros and cons but why would a fighter like Hector, who already had so much success, be expected to go further? He went unbeaten throughout the entire 1980s and a triple crown champion in the same decades. His name should never be mentioned or considered under "unfulfilled potential'

 

Watch some of his earlier fights. Then compare them to Post-Rosario. It's really sad.

 

It was a good fight although I am unsure if it was the best WW fight of the 90s. It was a frustrating fight for me to watch though because every time JLL let his hands go he would hurt Page, yet he would stop and let Page regroup.

 

Jose Luis Lopez reminded me a bit of Ruslan Provodnikov, although obviously Lopez was better. But when both men were very tough fighters and when they opened up they looked fantastic. But often their output was too limited which cost them in close fights.

You could even compare Lopez/Page to Provodnikov/Bradley. When they opened up they always got their opponent in trouble, but their output was too limited which is what I said earlier.

 

Joe Goddard got into the game very late AT 32 but was a terror. Held his own with Peter Jackson and even had him down. Poleaxed Maher and Choynski, Denver Ed Smith and numerous antipodean threats. Booze and age took him down.

Had he started earlier and stayed off the hootch he would have given Sullivan a run for his money.