Name fighters with great skills who failed at the top level

I thought Carl Williams was Holmes’ heir apparent, the next great HW, and believe Holmes did as well after their close match; rangy, strong, good skills ... not sure when or why he went off the rails. I remember a controversial one round KO by Tyson; his loss to Holmes was also controversial. Maybe someone decided he just wasn’t going to have a belt -

 

Carl didn't have a great chin or punch. Maybe had his head in his ass a little as well.

 

Just about any 80s fighter. Berbick in particular. Very unique style and very good fighter all around, but inconsistent.

 

A lot of "Lifestyle choices" in there too.

 

Weight did Curry. He finished his training for Colin Jones in our gym in Birmingham. Four days before the fight he was still doing his circuits in a sweat suit and was weighed after every session. Don was just burned out.
Incredible Fighter to watch close up.

 

Dead right. I remember the Espana fight. That was the sort of systematic beating that leaves a fella damaged. Had the authorities been half way humane they would have taken his licence off Mel then.

 

Sollas is a great shout Mike. At least he was a British Champion. I look at Sollas in the same bracket as guys like Joey Singleton. A lot more was expected of them but, boy there was some tough competition.

 

Errol had two major issues. Firstly, he simply couldn't do 11.6. The Middleweight limit in the amateurs then was 11.8 and he could just do that at 19.
Secondly, he went to the Kronk gym just after he turned pro. The tough Kronk lads would walk through a lot of his shots and he was decked several times. Nobody in the amateurs had really hit Errol because he was so skillful. The Detroit experience made him panicky when he got tagged and he would get straight into a gunfight.
Errol's manager, Burt McCarthy, should have re-positioned him as a Super Middle as soon as the IBF launched the weight in the mid 80's but it wasn't recognised by the BBBoC. Christie was still a TV favourite and a ticket seller then but McCarthy hadn't got the vision.
In the end Errol was completely messed up. His final fight against Michael Watson is sad to watch. You can see the skill but when he gets hit he really doesn't know what to do.

 

Napa's a good call.

 

Stone?

 

From my part of the world I have to say Frankie Gavin. So much talent just thrown away in the pub and fish and chip shop.
I don't know Frank but I know some lads that have worked with him in the gym and his gifts are from another planet. It's said that Frankie has demons and a complicated life but to just throw away that degree of ability is tragic. He works on the railway now.

 

Sorry. Yeah.

 

That's totally fine. How does that work though. What's a stone? 12-15 lbs. or something like that?

 

A stone is 14lbs. I suppose I should have translated it into Pounds like most other posters do. It just came down to the last couple of pounds with Errol. He was burning muscle and starving.
I know this because I was mates with his brother Lloyd. We used to get the train home together from training. It seemed ironic the Lloyd, who'd been a journeyman for half his career, won a Lonsdale Belt outright and Errol never won a pro title.
McCarthy was a poor manager. The fella deserved better.

 

Hector Lopez, he was a talented boxer who won an Olympic silver medal at 17 and gave tough fights to some of the best fighters of his time including giving a prime Kostya Tszyu all he could handle, unfortunately he never stopped with the gang lifestyle and drugs during his career. His son Adam has been on a couple of pretty exciting Top Rank fights recently, one against Oscar Valdez on short notice and he managed to drop him.