His nickname is cool but everyone will remember him as James "hugging Mike" Smith. He's similar to some other 80s big guys such as Bruno and Tucker. Not enough determination and no killer instinct.
Marvis should probably have fought at CW rather than HW. Also, he should have been trained by someone other than his father.
Marvis definitely should have gone further than he did. Fighting Tyson and Holmes when he did and worse yet approaching them with the wrong style was a shame.
He had the Name and that gave him a shot at some big $. Otherwise he may of had to work his way up slower. Joe got him some $$$ but in boxing terms in mismanaged his career. That plus the fact that he changed his style.