Next Generation of Heavyweights: From Sept 24, 2003

Time tells all tales

 

well you can't really blame Joe Mesi for what happened to him and atleast Gomez got a world title and a fight against VK

 

He could have went the 'valero route' and base himself in Japan but there is no money for him there

 

Touch of Sleep is a HOF and an ATG

 

well, mesi did have something like 7 fights between the continental united states, puerto rico and canada after his injury resulting from the jirov fight. so, he was able to get sanctioned and cleared...whether he should have been able to or not. so i don't know that he would have accomplished anything other than making less money and encountering a language barrier by moving to japan.

mesi, it seems, sadly wouldn't have accomplished much more without the career-ender injury than he did with it. he always was in the class of guys like mike mollo and brian minto, just hyped and managed more effectively away from being revealed until it was too late.

 

i hadn't thought of duncan dokiwari in at least a few years until i saw this article and thought, oh, yeah, he could've been the next nigerian heavyweight to get so close but never quite get there. i am not knocking nigerian fighters or their desire. it's just strange that, of all the african nations that routinely produce pro fighters, nigeria has a legact in the last decade or so of producing heavies, as the larry merchant blurb in the article points to, who get close but never quite there.

recalling that dokiwari was once a hot prospect until that pair of losses to dom guinn and stacy frazier sent him careening toward retirement made me think, of course, of the tragedy of sam peter, who is now a fighter without desire who must be leveraged into fighting by the greedy people with their hands in his pockets.

 

well in fairness to sam peter, what else do you expect him to do to make money? hes clearly not the smartest apple in the bag

 

not bad

 

Haha wow...gomez made it but them other guys were juss startin to go downhill!

 

OK - Name the top 10 Heavy weights for 2013?

 

the prospect pool is so dry...that might be quite a test. and most of the guys who are likely to hold titles in the next few years will likely be way past their best by 2013.

i wil say some lesser known prospects that might develop one way or the other--into champions or future michael grants--are: american toughguy seth 'mayhem' mitchell, robotic canadian technician neven pajkic, a very balanced, slick, fresh french fighter named greg tony and compact russian beast-mauler andrey fedosov.

 

irish cuban mike perez

 

I'm surprised Duncan Dokiwari didn't make it as far as a bronze medalist typically does, mismanagement was his problem other than having the best skills.