Impressive Debuts - Who's Got One?

I can't think of any fighter looking better in a debut than Whitaker too.

Whitaker looked fantastic.

 

Tommy Burns in his first pro bout fought Freddie "Thunderbolt" Thornton, it was unexpected to as Burns just went with freinds to watch, but another fighter Jack "Tiger" Cowan slipped climbing through the ropes suffered a sprained ankle. The promoter asked the crowd for a replacement and Burns' freinds edged him on to get in there cuz they knew he had been training for months. Burns ended up winning in the 5th round by KO

 

I always remember holyfield saying he couldn't believe how tough he was matched on his debut.

The guy was state champion or something like that.

 

I honestly think Kostya Tszu could of won a title belt in his first pro fight, he just seemed so, complete. Sweat Pea has a shout too, though he managed to develop from Special to supreme.

Oscar De La Hoya deserves a mention, he was not spoon fed fighters during his early career, Jeff Mayweather being one example.

 

Payakaroon over Vorasingh
Muangsurin over Barro

 

I believe he asked for a tough fight after his first opponent posed no challenge.

 

Humberto is my former trainer, he was really good. Was robbed at the Olympics and it was so bad that the IOC gave him a letter to recognize his "fair game" attitude for not trying to appeal the decision. He lost his world title opportunity on cuts and his career was mismanaged. Still had a lot of weight on Mayorga tho.

 

Nobody would have known so at the time, but Duran debuted against 1-0 Carlos Mendoza (at bantam), winning a 4-round decision. Eleven years later, Mendoza gave Wilfredo Gomez a pretty tough battle in a bid for the super bantamweight crown, losing by TKO in 10.

 

I remember some reference at the time of Maskaev coming up that he had a number of pro fights back home that didn’t show up on official records so he was probably more seasoned than we realized.

 

... on a card that Duran also fought on.