prime rahman vs zeljko mavrovic

I don't know but I'd say Mav would've fit right in with the Rahmans, McCalls, Sanders(es), Maskaevs, Golotas, very nicely, had he been given the chance. He may have beaten all of them. I'd hate to overrate him based on how he matched up with his one big time opponent, no matter how good the opponent was, but he could give and take like a champion, right down to the wire. He had very good offensive diversity as well as the dimensions to hang with the super heavies, even though by weight he was not a super heavy, being a bit scrawny. But he was Ford-tough scrawny. With a gun to my head, my inclination is to pick Mav, by either knockout or decision. What a shame we didn't get to see him in with any of these types of guys.

 

Zeljko would be competitive and possibly win, he took Lennox's best. I think he would have competed with the rest.

 

Okay, probably not a coincidence, Josip, but did you just hear Mav was coming back to boxing? I just saw in the general forum.

 

Mavrovic is not getting knocked out, that is certain.

 

I'd expect this to be a double-KO in the 12th round.

 

ZM wins by late stoppage of clear points win.

 

Rahman. There's nothing to even go on with Mavrovic, other than a loss to Lewis.

 

Yes, Zeljko Mavrovic was roughly on a par with the likes of Sanders, Rahman, McCall, Tua, Hide, Maskaev, Schulz etc, back in the late 90's. Mavrovic was a real fighter. I'd certainly have picked him to beat Herbie Hide for the WBO belt back then if he had targeted that. I'd always have favoured the big super heavy types like Lewis and both Klitschkos plus I suppose, Holyfield and Tyson over Zeljko, but outside those, Mavrovic could hang with anyone. He probably lacked a real top level HW punch, but he was durable and awkward enough to beat Hasim Rahman.

 

Frankly I don't recognize anyone on Mavrovic's record with the exception of Mark Wills who was a journeyman and Lewis who beat him. He had to have something to go 12 with a prime Lewis, but I don't see the kind of resume which places him on par with Rahman, Maskaev, Sanders, Tua, etc..

 

46.. And hasn't seen action since 1998 on top of retiring for health reasons to begin with..

 

I didn't think much of Mavrovic.
I guess rating Mavrovic depends on how special you think prime Lewis was. I don't rate prime Lewis quite as high as most do.
Rahman wasn't much good anyway, so with Mavrovic being even half-decent he's obviously got a good chance here.

 

Yeah, his come back never materialised, and that's a good thing.

 

Perhaps. But Rahman beat Lewis, Sanders and schooled David Tua through two fights before getting stopped late in one of them. That's a lot more than Mavrovic did.