He was managed anything approaching sanely throughout his career? It's well known on this forum that he fought a 21-0 extremely hot prospect in his pro debut. 6'4 power punching Bronze medalist Alex Miroshnichenko. For some reason instead of continuing up on his obvious potential Maskaev doesn't fight again for over two years. Regardless, in his sixth fight he goes against 6'6 270 plus pound power punching 23-1 Joe Thomas. Two fights later he's in there with a prime Oliver McCall who's had over 30 fights at the time. First mistake. Not to mention shortly afterwards he fought two 10-0 prospects in a row. So, thoughts?
I agree. For those who did not see it, Maskeav had Tua beat on points until he gassed and was stopped late. If Maskeav had a bit more experience, and a better corner, I think he goes the distance and wins.
Yup. I agree. Who knows, he might of gotten robbed like Rahman did against Tua the second time around. *Shrugs*
If Oleg would have been brought up more slowly he would have become a serious threat to Wlad and maybe the best hw between Lennox and Wlad. But he was rushed in there.
Definitely one of the worst managed HW careers of recent years, talk about throwing someone to the wolves. Reminds me of Lionel Butler's equally wacky management. Did Maskaev have an amateur career?
Maskeevs weakness was his defense, his chin was left out to dry too often at every stage of his career. He lacked head movement, and his guard wasn't tight enough, reactions to get out the way of big shots, and backed up in straight lines. Obviously his chin wasnt rock solid. He was matched too tough and could have made bigger waves if he was matched more flatteringly, but these weaknesses would have always been shown up when he stepped up
That and offensively, everything is with the sneaky right hand. No left hook whatsoever & he never bothers to counter. Coupled with that defense, the guy has his warts. Maybe he wins a few more bouts here and there and avoids a few tko losses, but the guy certainly isn't going undefeated and will have problems facing opponents with tools.
for what happened he is still a hell of a fighter and if he was managed in a non ******ed way he would be REALLY good
I don't feel it would of made a lot of difference to be honest. I don't think it comes to the point where he could of been very good. Limitations are limitations after all.
False. Most of Oleg's limitations could have EASILY been totally fixed or curbed with proper management and direction. We were cheated out of great heavyweight because of either dumb or greedy management/training decisions.
He was an Amateur in fact he was Russian National Amateur Champion-but I don't know how many fights he foughts. One thing I do know is that he KO'd Vitali Klitschko in the 1st round during the Russian National. More on the horrible mis-management of what I believe could have been an ATG boxer: In his 4th fight he fought undefeated Robert Hawkins...Oleg knocked him out In his 5th fight he fought against top prospect Joe Thomas, 23-1-1, Oleg defeated After his first and second loss friends deserted him, his promoter released him, and his trainer told him to retire-nice huh? Mentally it's just amazing this guy wanted to get back in the ring. His flaws could have easily been fixed, he only needed to taught counterpunching and defense.
A lot of boxers start out hugely flawed, but get years of journeyman and stiffs to hone their craft against. Maskaev never got the chance to develop his skills in that way, and just had to find a style that maximized his natural talents with minimal skill. If he'd had years of long lectures from Manny Stewart and 10 rounder experimental bouts against Everett Martin and Dan Murphy... Well, who knows? Maybe he'd have gotten complacent. Maybe he'd have gotten really, really good.
