What was wrong with Duane Bobick?

As an amateur, he was simply bigger and stronger than most of the guys he fought. I suppose he could punch a little but he beat a lot of scared, smaller, inexperienced guys who were probably psyched out by his rep.

As a pro, the higher he climbed, he lost all his size, strength, punch advantages and eventually found he was no match physically or psychologically for warfare.

 

Some guys just freeze when the enter the ring under bright lights. IMO Bobick was over rated and hyped. He was a solid top 5-10 guy at best. Nothing more.

 

He had limited skills,as has been pointed out,and after spending so long fighting second raters,he was thrown to the lion that was Ken Norton. It was too big a jump in class. A very uncharacteristic bad call from Eddie Futch.

 

Greetings spinner. I remember Sellers and that Rutgers team that went into the final four undefeated @ 30-0 then got their butts handed to them against Michigan (clearly the 2nd best team in the country) and Sellers imploding at one point wanting to start a fight. The great Indiana squad (who Michigan gave them all they wanted in the regular season) blew them out of the water for the National Championship. A year earlier, the all-time great Hoosiers were even better. Scott May (AP player of the year in the 75 season) broke his arm late in the season and Indiana lost to Kentucky in the tourney (after their first undefeated season) Without May's injury they would have went back-to-back undefeated National Champs. 70-80 games without a loss! Buckner-Wilkerson defensive guards from hell (with some offense) the brilliant May, Green at the other forward, Benson in the middle, Lazkowski, Abernathy, etc...
IMHO they would have been too much for the Alcindor UCLA 67-70 squads.
As for Bobick?
He was corn-fed as a pro, fought no one of any merit up until Norton. No real big punch against the big boys, slow as hell, no chin against top comp, I could see the writing on the wall before Norton. Any fighter gets my admiration but, IMHO Bobick was a worthless wannabe.

 

Indeed, as did Billy Owens and J.R Reid.

 

Something else to add is that Duane really was the definitive Great White Hope of the age. As such, he reportedly lived comfortably as a professional boxer, then as a color commentator after retirement [who according to one critic, shouted out whenever the in-ring action got hot as if he'd just been told he'd have to fight Norton again]. He didn't have to fight for what had already been given to him, as his subsequent broadcasting career demonstrated.

He wasn't driven, didn't have that chip on his shoulder, lacked that hunger which stokes inner fire. Jerry Quarry and Tex Cobb were far more serious entities [so far as a word like "serious" could ever be applied to Tex], and Cooney a dangerous one with much greater potential than realized.

Bobick's low left hand was awful with his style, an irresistible invitation for a crushing right. It may have been with Duane in mind that Gil Clancy commented around 1980 that he liked the way Cooney kept his hands up.

 

48-4 is a respectable number. But if I recall correctly, his first 30 fights or so were against largely forgotten non-contenders. Then he took on Randy Neumann whom he defeated in 4 rounds and became a household name as a pro. While he defeated several contenders such as Scott LeDoux and Chuck Wepner, he was clobbered by Ken Norton and never was the same after that match.

 

Hey jowcol.

I was a senior at Jefferson High School in the East New York section of Brooklyn when Phil was a freshman and well remember how dominant he was playing bball at Jefferson Sand Field where I played baseball/softball/handball back in the day. Too bad the Euro or J league were not as big back then as they are today or Phil could have gone to play in those leagues and made a small fortune!

I had that thought in mind as well but was afraid of bringing up the issue as it is generally not politically correct to do so nowadays. Indeed, he was touted as such by certain boxing commentators back in the day.

 

He was a yank!

 

Newman, LeDoux and Wepner were second raters at best. Bobick built his record fighting mainly stiffs and was broken apart by any real contender he fought.

 

...So was Yank Rachell...