The 'obscure fighters who coulda' thread

Jeff Wooden.

6'3" but generally a fairly light 210-220lbs, the southpaw Wooden quickly rattled off 11 wins over weak opposition, including a majority decision over trialhorse Marion Wilson, before facing off in 1996 against Chris Byrd in front of 12,000 people in Michigan. Wooden matched the slippery Byrd punch for punch, and going into the 10th and final round had a chance to get a draw if he won it. Unfortunately, Wooden tired and Byrd was able to win the round and the fight by a close UD10.

Racking up 6 more wins (and 1 shock knockout loss in 4 to durable journeyman Everton Davies), Wooden was chosen by Don Turner to face the massive 22-0 Michael Grant in early 1997. Wooden was dwarfed but refused to be intimidated and kept on throwing punch after punch, battling Grant evenly by sheer workrate and willpower. Throwing his jabs in threes and fours was particularly effective. Yet again, Wooden entered the 10th and final round with a real chance to claim a draw. But sadly yet again, Wooden was exhausted. He was rocked by several hard shots and lost by split-decision in 10.

The very next fight, Wooden gave the similarly 22-0 Hasim Rahman a struggle before getting knocked out in the 9th. He finished 1997 by losing again by split-decision, this time to the unheralded James Gaines.

At the start of 1998, Wooden found himself lined up to face David Tua, 28-1 and hot on the heels of an IBF title shot (which he would secure at the end of the same year against Rahman). Tua came in heavier than usual and his problems against slick boxers was evidenced yet again, as he landed hard single shots but was frustrated by the busy Wooden and his jabbing. However, a big win would still elude Wooden, as the judges favoured Tua's heavier punches and awarded him a majority-decision.

Wooden finished his career by swapping points decisions with Derrick Banks, before finally taking on Oleg Maskaev in 1999. Dropped heavily in the 1st, Wooden never got his legs back and lost TKO3, deciding to finally hang his gloves up at the age of 31.

He was a pro boxer for only 5 years, and never challenged for a title, but Wooden is a classic example of the thin line between success and failure. Literally, if you changed just 3 rounds in Wooden's career to his favour, he would've had draws against Chris Byrd and Michael Grant, and beaten David Tua.

Instead, he's an 'obscure fighter who coulda'.

 

Didn't the middleweight Sanderline Williams similarly suffer split decision losses to some of the division's best in a competitive era (late 80s/early 90s) ?
Williams is remembered as a "tough opponent" but if judges had swung his way against those same opponents he might have been viewed as a star.

 

Bumping this ancient thread because this singular post is just that good. I've looked through records and wondered about Wooden more than once.

 

Good bump.

 

Kirkland Laing. Beat Roberto Duran then faded into obscurity

 

http://www.livefight.com/news.php?news_id=3470&y=2013&m=10

Jemal Hinton comes to mind.

 

This guy was "all over the scale):

Ralph "Tiger" Jones (March 14, 1928 - August 20, 1994) was a boxer during the 1950s. Trained by Gil Clancy, Jones was a fixture of televised boxing in the 1950s, known for an aggressive style that pleased fans. His overall record was 52 victories, 32 losses and five draws.

He became a professional boxer in 1950. In 1955 he scored an upset over Sugar Ray Robinson. Robinson was highly favored in the fight, which was Robinson's second during a comeback.[1] That was only one of his wins against top-level fighters of that era. He also beat Joey Giardello and Kid Gavilan (both these fighters were world champions at one time and, in other fights, also defeated Jones). Fighters to whom he lost include world champions Gene Fullmer, Johnny Saxton, Paul Pender, and Carl "Bobo" Olson. In all, he fought six world champions on ten different occasions.[2]

 

Zach Padilla. Non stop puncher, not stop energy.

 

Willy Wise......"slick" willie....a 86-10 amateur....who fouggt well internationally....a NY state golden gloves champion..

Incredible physical athlete with blistering hand speed,solid all round skills....and good defence...a forgotten journeyman pro who took fights on short notice....ended 26-11-4....but he did beat an aged julio cesar chavez .........prudent enough with his ring earnings that as late as recently he was driving a Maserati....

 

Offhand, I can think of Bernard 'Superbad' Mays. A Detroit product who had unlimited potential except for his desire for Malt liquour. And I am not kidding. He did a spiral downwards and was done by 25 and passed away in his early 30s. Also I recall a heavyweight named Eric 'The Whip' Curry who I saw and foresaw great things. A perfect blend of size and speed and he looked great - maybe lacking a kingsize punch but his speed was off the charts. Then he disappeared and reappeared 4 years later with an extra sloppy 30 pounds on his frame and he went nowhere.

 

Harold Petty was really good at 118 in the early '80s. He twice decisioned Daniel Zaragoza and stopped Hilario Zapata. He lost two close decisions to Richie Sandoval. Both Zaragoza and Sandoval went on to win world titles. Then, Petty lost on cuts in '84 to some no name and his career went downhill from there.

He was a really good boxer and fought from a lefty stance. He didn't have a lot of power, but was very good defensively.

 

Yeah, he made a great comeback in the early '90s at 140 lbs. and beat some solid guys while garnering the WBO title.

He had to quit after getting a head injury while sparring with Shane Moseley..

 

He set some kind of punch stat record didn't he?