Sorry... yes, the natural talent was increased in the tents. None had an amateur career. Straight from the tents to Newcastle, Bohemia Stadium in Brissy or others. In most cases, they were fighting main Events in short time.
TCboxa, I would call a boxer that fought every one in front of him and had a two to one win ratio or better a success, in fact I'd call any pro fighter that is happy with his career a success. Paul Briggs never won a world title yet he was an incredible success (yeh lets discount the great Aussie boxing swindle), and he had no amateur background, his was Muay Thai and............wait for it............Tough man competitions, not even on a par to tent fights. Oh and Sam Soloman has never won a world title, he is a hard working, honest fighter that will fight absolutely anyone put in front of him, he has made a good name for himself and has earned a monty out of the fight game. Should I tell him, the next time I see him, that he isn't a boxing success? Is that the case TCboxa?
Tony Mundine never won a world title, dickhead, yet his Australian title domination, and the incredible legacy he left, coupled with the enormous respect he has enamored, makes him an infinitely more successful boxer than his son, Mr "Three times world champion", the Pioneer, Anthony "the Joke" Mundane. Why do I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall, talking to a one track minded, backward, country hick!?
You can throw Lovemore Ndou in that mix too mate, has the best quality opposition since Kostya imo, may not have always won but he always came to fight and has never been stopped to boot. Tough guys in a nutshell.
You claim a world title is success in boxing, Captain Intelligence? Robbie Peden won a world title, and got paid **** all for that fight. His very next fight he defended it against Marco Antonio Barrera. He maybe, at best, pocketed 100 large. Micky Ward, who never won a world title, made more than ten times that for a non title fight. Ands they made a movie about him. And he is a universally recognised name in boxing due to his legacy. Robbie Peden deserves more, but could go any where unrecognised, but Micky Ward will be recognised by someone, then his name will be mentioned, which will be instantly recognised, then a restaurant seat will become available or a hotel room will be comped etc. Who is the most successful out of the two, TCboxa?
Indeed, Lovemore is, with or without a world title a great boxing success story, coming from African poverty to a good life thanks to boxing is surly not a story of failure.
Peden was paid US$500,00 for the Barrera fight. I think that converted to around A$650,000 at the time...
Don't bite , It's like trying to knit fog talking to Ty , he still hasn't acknowledged Old Freddie was the L/Heavyweight kiddie of the World , Freddie used to fight in the tents as did Randy Turpin yea THE Randy Turpin who beat THE Sugar Ray Robinson (probably the best P4P fighter ever ) Tent fighting ain't always to be considered " Whack a Drunk " there have been a few TOP fighters who learn't the ropes fighting at such shows .