Journeyman discussion

There are many who come to mind.

Bert Cooper has to be my all time favorite. Cooper was a real fighter, his problem seemed to be the fact that he couldn't stay focused consistently. On a number of given nights he looked like a real legit contender. His fight with Mercer was about as good as any heavyweight fight you could ever watch and very competitive. I also loved his fight with Henry Tillman, Michael Moorer and his one challenge for the heavyweight title where he gave a prime Evander Holyfield all he could handle will always be a classic in my mind. On a number of nights he showed up ill prepared to fight the worst example of this was when he took on George Foreman and quit after two rounds but that fight seemed to be a wake up call for him as he would go on to put together a stretch of good outings after that highlighted by wins over Orlin Norris, Loren Ross and Joe Hipp and spirted efforts against Bowe, Mercer and Holyfield.

Cooper will always be my favorite journey men and really one of my favorite fighters to watch the list of heavyweight contenders he took on is pretty astonishing and if he had been able to stay focused and stayed at cruiserweight where he started his career off I think he'd have surely been a contender maybe a champion. Some other highlights from his career that did not mention included his destruction of Willie Dewitt, his early streak of impressive performances to start his career at cruiserweight with NO amateur experience, destroying undefeated hype show Richie Melito and destroying British "Street fighting champion" Joe Savage both in the first round.

Other names that come to mind when I think journeymen Garing Laing, Booker Word, Ross Purrity and of course Emmanuel Augustus

 

Three other names that just came to mind Ricky Thomas, Glenn Thomas and Luigi Minchello all good fighters who tangled with great champions and held their own......