Most talented 1980's underachiever heavyweight

James "Quick" Tillis. Would have been a champ, but unfortunately suffered from a bad heart. According to Gil Clancy, James needed a heart transplant, which was kind of sad.

 

I had a lot of respect for Jimmy, arguably robbed of the 3rd fight with Stevenson, but maybe we overrated his pro potential a bit. Marvis Frazier beat him en route to a National Golden Gloves title in 1979, I am not sure he would have made it for the Olympic team for 1980. Probably should have turned pro a couple of years earlier than he did.

 

Easy to say in hindsight (especially considering the boycott) but coming off the 1976 team and how most of the U.S. medalists got a leg up to fame, fortune and big purses while others had to really come off the hard way, it was a risk that seemed to be worth taking.

What I don’t get is why after 10-12 fights he didn’t try to step up a little and at least start testing the waters against proven journeymen: George Chaplan, Stan Ward, Lynn Ball, etc. And then a few suspects and on-their-way-down names like Jimmy Young, Wendell Bailey, Gord Racette, Scott LeDoux.

His team apparently turned down Pinklon Thomas somewhere along the way but there seemed to be no plan on how to move him.

 

Damiani didn't knock him out. Biggs was losing competitively when the fight was stopped on cuts.

 

I think I'll go with Tate and Cooney. Between the two of them, they only defeated one guy in the top ten.

 

James Broad

 

Thought he had some sort of allergy issue to some type of diet or something which made him tired. No doubt should have been a champ.

 

James was a good fighter. Definitely should have done more than he did. Him and Teo Stevenson would have been a nice fight as well.

 

That's a good point. Maybe his people realize something about his ceiling. And too then, Jimmy was going to school for criminal justice or something like that. Maybe his heart wasn't fully in a pro career.

 

It's not like Horace Notice blew it. He suffered a detached retina and had to retire. Nice to see him get a mention though.
I thought Horace may have been a bit small to really crack the World stage but he had genuine power and tons of courage. Nobody would have had an easy time against him.

 

While we're at it, my avatar-sake had a huge punch and high level athleticism and fighting spirit but was way too much of a partier.... "Booze and Broads" was his nomme de guerre.

 

Given his lack of natural talent I think Bruno was an over achiever.

 

Wiki says he had an allergy to milk and eggs, which was addressed before the Tyson fight. Only a figurative heart problem.

 

I always thought Tim Witherspoon would have been a very interesting opponent for Tyson. There was certainly no willingness on the Tyson side to make that match. He certainly would have been a much greater challenge than the washed up Tubbs who fell over in Tokyo.

 

I really thought that, had he chosen to come back and rebuild after the Holmes fight, Gerry Cooney could have done a lot more with his career.
Given that the WBA side of the Heavyweight division was ruled by some pretty ordinary Fighters, ( Weaver, Coetzee, Dokes ), or guys who lacked dedication, ( Page, Tubbs ), maybe Gerry could have won that version of the title.
Instead he sat around drinking and feeling sorry for himself then cam back in matches that were like novelty fights. He had very little preparation leading up to Spinks, just knocking out 3 journeymen and took the Foreman fight after 3 years inactivity.
The only thing you could say in Gerry's defence is that he probably made more money than any non Champion in the history of Boxing.