Below are two articles from September 1996's 'The Ring'. The first article, by Steve Farhood, is an A to Z of 'Heavyweight Hopefuls'. The second article, by Jon Saraceno, is a look at The USA Olympic team. How the boxers will do in the Olympics and as pro's. You will note Vargas is missing. The main part of the article is about Fernando, he spends three pages slagging of De La Hoya... This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
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Sad to think that Shannon Briggs was the most successful of the lot! At any moment in time, most heavyweight prospects aren't going to make it.
I remember that article! This is the truth, however I do think if you win a gold or silver medal in either the Olympics or World Amateur championships, you are likely a top 10 contender, with close to 50% chance of winning an alphabet title. The good news for heavyweight fans is the 2012 class at super heavyweight is loaded with young talent. This is the deepest class in many years. Deeper than 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996, 1992, and 1988. Wether the 2012 class has dominating talent in the professional ranks like Bowe, Lewis, or Klitshcko remains to be seen.
Forgot about Byrd and Rahman. Byrd clinches it then; not only the most successful, but a terrific overachiever considering he was small, had little power and didn't have notably fast feet for a counter-puncher. I think that life's too short for watching Byrd's matches, but I have to respect how much he achieved on the basis of hard-work and skills. Tua never made it to the top. Briggs was lineal champion, however absurd a decision it was against Foreman, and he won the WBO title. Tua, on the other hand, was one of the best boxers to both (a) never win the title and (b) get an opportunity and waste it totally by being a lazy fat piece of **** who cowered through almost 12 rounds instead of fighting for the greatest prize in sports by risking his chin against Lewis's power. Was Tua BETTER than Briggs? Absolutely. Did Briggs go further in his career? No question.
I remember reading this! RING was amazing back in it's day, as was KO Magazine. So many good prospects like Reid, Vargas, Judah, Hatton coming onto the scene. Exciting times.
