How good could Corrie Sanders have been?

I’ve wondered the same myself, had all the tools to be special with exception of motivation. But that describes a lot of fighters over the years. Motivation and dedication almost always separate the great from the good.

 

In my opinion, he could have been very ****ing good. People remember him as a slugger, but really, he was a boxer that could punch. He could do a bit of everything, but was a standout for speed, power and timing. It's a pity we never saw him in with bigger names in his career, but his promotion struggled to get him the fights that mattered. I think that his own sheer ability played some role, and he became the "who needs that guy", guy. Contrast that with fellow South African Botha (who Corrie beat 4 times in the amateurs, 3x by KO) who had no problems getting all the biggest names into the ring.

 

He had incredible tools and no motivation. Wanted to be a golfer. Could have been great...then again a lot of guys could have been great.

 

Much respect. very good power. very brave. RIP

 

If he had mobility, stamina and a chin to go with his height, power and blazing hand speed..

Top 10 ATG.

But not everyone has the tangibles ala Ali

 

Yeah, that's the thing. Logic says that a more motivated Sanders, with better training and coaching, let's say, he bases himself in the US, would be clearly better. However, as you point out, it's the hunger, motivation and will that separates the good from the great. It's a bit like saying how much better Hearns would have been with a better chin. You've got it or you haven't.

 

I don't like excuses there was nothing wrong with Sanders in the Rahman fight he was winning the fight and looked good but Rahman stuck in there and gutted out a tough win wearing down Sanders in a slugest all credit to Rahman.

The issue with Sanders he didn't have many notable wins apart from the big one over Wladimir so it's more guess work how much he would've achieved.

He did get one shotted by Nate Tubbs aswell so that does make me question how consistent he could've been against top opposition with possibly having a suspect chin.

Sanders was talented but he only beat 1 top 10 ranked Heavyweight although it was a huge win I'm not sure how well that translates to him being a consistent winner though.

 

Well said, Doesn’t stop my mind from wondering ‘what if?’ though, and Sanders had the ability to provoke that.

 

Instill Wladimir Klitschko’s Drive and work ethic in Corrie Sanders and he’s KOing Lewis and having his own title reign. How long that would last would depend on a lot of things. Lewis really never faced anyone with THAT type of hand speed. Hell he never fought a southpaw. But Corrie with a strong work ethic would be a game changer. Big time.

Put Corrie on similar ‘supplementation’ as Holyfield, Joshua or dubois and **** gets rated R for the division real quick. Lol! Those times back then would’ve been wayyyyy different.

Rahman would’ve most likely retired by 2002. lol

 

Absolutely, it's a good hypothetical. How much better a career would Andrew Golota have had if he met a good head shrink early days?

 

I remember him, he was kind of written off after the Tubbs shock loss. Those of us following boxing would see him pop up every once in a while in the 90s, but he really wasn't fighting anyone good after the Tubbs loss from 94-2000. That's a pretty big chunk of his career. We could all see he was heavy handed but that Tubbs loss and him not beating any headliners left you thinking his people were keeping him away from any real challenges for a reason (which turned out to not be true)

Not sure how far he could have gone, but him fighting live bodies from 94-2000 would of been interesting for sure.

 

No better than he actually was imo

 

As it was he accomplished a lot. Destroying Wlad in 205 seconds was one of the great heavyweight upsets, Sanders was a huge underdog. Perhaps he’d not have got that fight if he hadn’t lost twice previously.