I guess that's one way to separate yourself from club-fighter level opposition. How do you guys reckon Akiwande would of been if he had turned pro a decade earlier than he did? I honestly see him as a little underrated now. Certainly a more disciplined fighter than most of the lost generation of heavyweights, and that 86 inch reach was a great foundation for a fighter. This content is protected
McNeeley looks like he's stuck knee deep in shyte here. He used to look decent... Akinwande-Mavrovic would've been more telling. I can see Henry winning a belt in the 80's but losing it immediately. Not really high on him but he did have height to his credit.
McNeeley had that glazed look of a guy who'd just been knocked out even before the fight started. The image of McNeeley flat on his back after that last punch always looked really strange to me, almost like a big infant with a piece of brown rug glued to his chest. Kind of cartoonish looking. Amazing that the ref didn't do anything at all when he got nailed, turned his back and did that slo-mo run towards the corner just before the KO. Should have been stopped right there, or at the very least, he should have taken a second to assess McNeeley. Almost a surreal feel to this fight from start to finish. Not the World's best matchmaking here. McNeeley actually fought less than three full months after this, for the WBF World title no less, and was KO'd in 1 by Mike Bernardo. One of a million examples of what a **** show boxing had become by then. Turned out to be the last career fight for both fighters. @Sangria I agree that Akinwande could have been in that rotation of belt holders in the 80s before Tyson cleaned house.
McNeeley was very lazy with that left guard, he pretty much invited Akinwande to put him to sleep with the straight right hand. I agree with the notion that Akinwande is just a bit underrated. He was a much better than average contender. McNeeley though, let's be honest, is trash. His W/L numbers look impressive until you realise that he beat precisely nobody of note.
McNeeley was way out of his depth against anyone above regional level and was significantly worse than the majority of Foreman's 2nd career opponents. This drubbing by Akinwande was actually quite worrying - Peter looked out of it before the bell rang and achieved the impossible. He made Akinwande look like Earnie Shavers lol
I rate Akinwande pretty high up there among heavyweights … as far as height goes. He also had those long arms and wasn’t afraid to use them … to clutch his opponent like an octopus.
There was a time that I thought he was an interesting prospect. One of those guys that it was hard to tell how he'd do when matched against top competition. He did beat guys like Zolkin, Jeremy Williams, Tucker, and Schultz. Awful effort in the Lewis fight though. After Lewis, he beat Orlin Norris in a WBA title eliminator, then never got a title shot for whatever reason. Not sure what happened there. Probably wasn't too much public demand for it.
The win over Orlin in the eliminator was in December 1997. He signed to fight Evander Holyfield but tested positive for Hep C the day before the bout and it was canceled. He wasn’t cleared to fight again until spring of 1999.
That's awfully unlucky for him. I suspect Evander would have beaten him pretty comfortably but he'd have had his moments. He was pretty decent from memory.
Same here. He did hold the WBO Belt if I remember rightly very briefly. I actually thought he may have given Lennox a tough fight but he caved in against the Lion.
He was good, I've watched his wins over Jeremy Williams, Alexander Zolkin, and his one punch ko over Maurice Harris. He was good. I think he lacked mental toughness and stamina. In his fight with Olver McCall he was doing well in the first 4 rounds until McCall's physical strength started wearing him down and it was timber for Henry. I think in pretty much any era he would be a contender, even hold a belt, but not a long reigning linear champ. I could see him beating guys like Maskaev, Botha, Seldon, etc. If he fought Byrd I think he could decision him, just because he has such big advantages in height and reach.
Akinwande had a glass jaw and that's why he always looked scared to engage vs better opposition. McCall knocked him out cold with a single punch and though McCall was a hard hitter he certainly wasn't Ernie Shavers in terms of punching power. McCall couldn't drop 45 y.o. fat Larry Holmes even when he battered him for 3 minutes in round 9 of their fight Lewis was the hardest hitting opponent in Akinwande's career so Henry hugged him like his life depended on it. That was an awful fight, one of the biggest borefests ever
