Prospects that looked great but failed badly in their careers

Harrison turned out to be such a disaster that it is hard for people to comprehend that at one time lots of folks thought he would be successful.

 

I remember Carr use to fight frequently on Tuesday night fights. He seemed to be the total package, but always came up a little short.

 

And how are those people relevant in this discussion?

By the "top level of heavies" you mean Jack Dempsey and Harry Wills. Not Sam Langford and Miske. Fulton is an ATG. Not borderline either.

 

Good Lord, no serious of the sport considers Fulton an ATG. Unless you lower that bar to Gerry Cooney level.

 

You don't think Fred Fulton is a little more deserving of ATGhood than Gerry Cooney? Fulton has 72 KOs the only HW contenders with more are Archie Moore, Stribling, Langford and Godfrey and of that group Fultons got the highest KO rate. Cooneys underrated H2H but he has the single shortest HW resume of any notable HW who wasn't coming from a different weight class. Fulton is on the other end of the spectrum.

2x wins over Langford, Morris, Frank Moran and Weinart. Draw with Miske in a fight whose winner would have been the rightful champ IMO had there been one. A few months earlier Fulton might have gotten recognition as the champ after the Morris fight if that had been a cleaner fight.

Fulton was possibly the best HW of the pre Dempsey era along with Miske and only didn't get mutliple shots at the belt because no one did for the 3 years he had a case to be the best HW. If rankings had existed back then Fulton would have been top 5 6 years in a row from 1916-1921. After he lost to Dempsey Fulton won 19 in a row before getting stopped by Wills then 15 more wins before getting knocked out by Miske. Those streaks after Fultons height are longer than Gerry Cooneys entire career.

Morrisx3, Langfordx2,Weinartx2, Frank Moranx2, Andersonx2, Jack Thompson,Cowlerx3, Silas Green,John Lester Johnson, Tom McMahon, Bartley Madden, Al Reich, Jim Flynn, Gunboatx2, Meehanx3,Bob Roperx2,Curran, Porky Dan Flynnx5, Pelkeyx2, Farmer(1 loss), Townly,Devere, Texas Tate, Terry Kellar.

Thats 40 wins over notables many of whom were in the top 10 for large stretches of that era until we get down to the last few. https://web.archive.org/web/20060515214215/http://geocities.com/mgpaul2/TOP10.htm

Pre 1970 theres less than 10 HWs I'd favor over Fulton he was just unlucky enough to fight 2 of them. Beating Fulton is also the most important component of Dempsey and Wills H2H legacy. Before the 70s theres less than 10 HWs I'd favor over Fulton. Dempsey, Wills, Tunney, Louis, Liston, Ali with there being another group I could go either way on which includes Miske. I'd pick Fulton to beat someone like a Ernie Terrell pretty easy.

Fulton was the first one to knock out Langford in over a decade and besides Wills was the only one to KO Langford for another decade after that. You can't write off the Langford win because of either size or age because Langford went out and beat Anderson in his next fight effortlessly.

 

If it includes one hit wonders, Kirkland Laing.

 

The Villela loss was what put Starling at the back end of the top 10. Ayers did beat Roger Stafford convincingly after the Starling loss. So by early 85 it was thought Ayers was still on the rise and that Starling was stalled. But, you're right Marlon still had a lot left. I am not sure why Ayers couldn't get a title fight in 1985 with either McCrory or Curry. Curry fought non title fights at 154 after beating Colin Jones to defend his title and then there was the unification fight at the end of the year. I think McCrory-Ayers would have been a good fight in 1985. Ayers management basically had Ayers sit on his ranking. He did not lose after the Starling loss until mid 1987 when he had stagnated and lost a decision to Rollin Williams. That loss ironically opened the door for Starling to get the shot at Mark Breland. I believe Ayers would have fought Breland if not for the Rollins loss. Ayers should have gotten a title shot way before mid 1987 but I guess his management didn't believe in him for whatever reason and waited too long. They coulld have at least cashed out with a title shot.

 

Billy Arnold - Rocky Graziano Billy was an 18 year old prospect compared to Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson.

He had a 29-1-1 (27 kos) record when he took on Graziano who had lost his last 2 fights to fringe contender Harold Green and only 1 win (and 2 draws) in his last 5 fights.

Though the young Arnold had been outpointed by the veteran (142-44 record!) former Welter champ Frizie Zivic over 8 in his last bout he was an amazing 6-1 favourite.

For 2 rounds he looked the favourite as he plastered the hittable and raw Graziano around the ring but Rocky landed his vicious right hand bombs to knock Arnold out of the ring.

Graziano went on a run of wins leading to his trilogy with Tony Zale whilst Billy never came close to being a contender losing his last 5 fights to finish with a record of 41-9 at the age of 22!

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