Ike. I could have said Valero too, but I think he almost reached his max potential. Ike I think could have been the HW champ for a long time after Lennox retired, and would still be competitive with the brothers today.
Im going to say Valero just because of the fatal circumstances of his downfall, he was on the verge of stardom, although like Robney said he may have reached close to his potential anyways i suppose we will never find out.
Can we add Meldrick Taylor to this? Reason: he had all the skills but maybe wanted to fight rather than box
Aaron Pryor. He had a wrong trainer, who made him cheat in his biggest fight of his life (where he probably would have won without the cheating) and then he became a drug addict. I think he is overrated by many because his resume isnt impressive, but he definately had the biggest potentiel to be one of the greats, but he failed miserably. Another boxer that should be mentioned is, Prince Naseem Hamed
I seriously considered Meldrick. But for this poll I was thinking more of guys who were screwed by circumstances outside the ring rather than in. Vargas/Reid - terrible management Valero/Ibeabuchi - personal demons Pryor - cocaine addiction
valero was already a 2 weight world champ,a perfect record and he was only gettin warmed up it`s a real shame,i personally belive after what happend to oscar in sparring for pac man, that valero knew how to beat pacquiao
valero also looked incredible in his last fight out, adding impressive boxing skills to his speed and power. I cant think of any lightweight who could stick with him, and maybe he might of ripped up the light welters as well, which is probably the deepest division in boxing now.
gotta agree with this dude.Zab sticks out so badly and from what i've heard from a lot of the other boxing fans on my ship,he's a thorn to them. So much damn potential.So much talent and speed and not enough ****ing discipline to keep himself on the right path. pisses me off to think about it.
I think Valero is unproven, because he never really fought a fighter that could test his limits, all he did was bash up has-beens and fringe contenders. Personally, i think despite his power and agression, a skillfull boxer such as Marquez or Casamayor would school him anyday, unless he fought some real competition first. But lets be honest, Valero was never really going to hit the bigtime, because he wasnt allowed to fight in america, if he had, then maybe his record would be a little different, as he didnt seem so lucrative, fighting out of south america.
I'm not sure if Pryor had the most that went "unrealized" since he's in the HOF and a top 140 lb. fighter all-time, but he had the most ability & talent of these fighters IMO.
Dont know how people can say Vargas, he clearly demonstrated his potentional, he could beat top contenders but never the best. Everytime he stepped up to the elite level he got the **** kicked out of him. He was a limited fighter with a lot of heart. IMO it has to be Ike, the man crushed Byrd and beat a prime Tua in a slugging match nonetheless. He had all the tools to be a great champ.