Horrendous Matchmaking Decisions ..

Hamsho vs Czyz
Sibson vs Collins
Boza - Edwards vs Verderosa
Putting in boys vs grown men never ends well.

 

Norris v Taylor.ridiculous

 

Roy Jones v. Kelly

 

Emile Griffith vs Alan Minter, July 30 1977, and Duane Bobick vs Ken Norton, May 11 1977.

 

Holmes-Frazier. Terrible idea, Joe.

 

Did for Wilfred Benitez, but he was an exception.

 

Richard! Glad to see you here!

Since my "expertise", or more accurately major interest, is in that era of heavyweights, I can only comment on the Norton - Bobick fight. I seem to be playing devil's advocate in this forum lately in trying to justify what, in hindsight, were terrible matchmaking decisions.

Although Norton was favored 11-5 (which, of course, is a little more than 2-1), I imagine Bobick's people must have thought Norton was a safe stepping stone. Norton typically didn't blow out people in one round like, say, a George Foreman or Earnie Shavers. Bobick had wins over decent opponents: Randy Neumann, Larry Middleton, Chuck Wepner, a once-beaten Scott LeDoux, and an undefeated Fred Houpe. (I'm not counting Bobick's win over Mike Weaver; Weaver was a part-time fighter at this point who lost as often as he won.) I'm not sure Bobick had even been knocked down as a professional at that point.

In a glass half-full sense, Norton's only great win up to that point was against Ali. Otherwise, he was basically beating guys who were at the level of Bobick's best opponents.

 

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When he was a boy he fought full-grown men and did quite well against them.

 

To be fair it wasn’t a really bad match to make. It was ring inactivity that got Young stopped early rather than him being overmatched. My trainer met Young before Young turned pro when they were both helping Henry Clark prepare for one of his fights in the late 60’s.

According to my trainer Young was having a hard time getting fights at the time, so he went into the first Shavers fight on short notice after being out of the ring for almost a year.

 

Wish there was a video of that one.

 

Yes I agree Foreman did not have to fight a Jimmy Young. Wait for an Ali rematch but don't hold your breath. i sure would have stayed away from San Juan and the heat. George had the gas tank of a dragster in those days.

He came back and had knocked out some Greats and tough guys, Frazier, Lyle, LeDoux and Dennis. Was the Number #1 Contender.

 

In watching the Young-Foreman fight again recently, I think Foreman lost it as much as Young won it. George didn't press matters and let Jimmy out-hustle him.

 

Bobick, say a guy was American Olympic Heavyweight , beat the two best amateurs in the world in a 62 bout win streak (Stevenson and Russian Yuri Nesterov) WINS HIS FIRST 38 PRO BOUTS ( WINNING 100 OF 101 BOUTS NOW) AND NEVER GETS A TITLE SHOT!!!! WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THAT?? YES YOU CAN SAY HE HAD BAD MANAGEMENT .