REMEMBER WHEN: Michael Grant was the Next Big Thing

I remember, some people tried to make his comeback win over golota as some kind of heroic herculean win in adveristy, when in reality golota totally exposed grant and only lost to grant because he was a mental wreck and quit while well ahead. It was because of his undefeated record and size 6'7 250lb 86" that people hyped him up. he wasnt all that bad, just not world class. He did stun lewis early in the first round.

 

Won the world heavyweight title and defended a couple of times tho didn't he.

 

Maybe, i'm not totally read up on him. So the Sharkey win was a fix?

 

Well if nothing else he looked like the heavyweight champ.

 

Well i think he deserves a little bit more credit that that. Golota was very, very good.

It's not like "in reality Golota totally exposed Bowe and only lose to Bowe because he was a mental wreck", right?

It was a good win.

 

Don Turner pretty much leveraged all of the credit he got from the Holyfield-Tyson bouts into convincing people that Grant would be the next big thing.

More than anyone else, even HBO who loved Grant's appearence and story, it was Don that would always push just how awesome Grant would be at every opportunity.

To be fair to Grant, he did do well given how little boxing he had under his belt. Just 12 amateur bouts, then a 6 year pro career, and there he was challenging to become THE man. You can't even argue how he got there, he steadily beat rated guys along the way.

But his crash 'n' burn was one of the worst you'll see. And as I think the old saying goes, while success has many fathers, failure is always an orphan.

I've got copies of about 19 of his fights...sometimes the near-misses (and the can't-misses) are just as facinating as the true greats.

 

Extremely well said, especially that last line.

Kudos.

 

Golota lost to bowe because he is a ****** dirty punk who nearly prevented bowe from being able to have more kids ever. On a sidenote, I think its pretty clear also bowe had considerably declined by the time of the golota fights.

 

Too bad for Michael Grant. He was a very good athelete when I saw him fight but his boxing IQ was very low. I'm not sure who's fault that was, whether trainer or himself.

#1 His hands were low, usually with his right at midriff.

#2 He almost always tried that rediculous head shuffling on either shoulder, pseudo Roy Jones style, without proper slipping or weaving technique.

#3 His footwork was terrible and it always seemed like he was tripping over himself.

Michael Grant is very lucky that Golota didn't have much heart when they fought because he was getting his butt whupped around the ring in those early rounds. Golota should have knocked him out and it was a laugher when Grant actually came back to make Golota quit.

Lennox Lewis kinda cheated and threw illegal uppercuts underneath while simultaneosly using his left hand to push Grant's head down. Interestingly enough, Lennox Lewis gave him respect and I remember him saying "I better get rid of him now before he gets better." Michael Grant never got better after that fight.

If I were training him, I would have made sure to go over all the basic fundamentals starting with stance and footwork. At the same time I would have got rid of those stupid habits he thinks he can get away with on the account of his ego and attitude. Correcting Michael Grant's jab with a solid straight right hand would have been my main focus for his training. After that, he would learn to hook properly off the jab and hook properly after a jab-straight right combo, Kronk gym style!

 

Loved his 'Bless you' to his opponents when the ref asked them to touch 'em up