Media Name a boxer who didn’t live up to your expectations

Joe Calzaghe is one, yeah he retired undefeated but could have crossed the pond years earlier, prob have ended up with a loss or two.

Would be no question marks though.
 
Sinister said:
Then he had ONE bad sparring session against Andre Dirrell and Floyd immediately ignored him for like the next month. Some of Floyd's other fighters even mentioned it to him, that Mike is there every day and works his ass off. This dude sold house in Philly to move to Vegas, brought his wife and kids.
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sr sounds like an asshole.
 
Back in the day, Donald Curry would've probably been the name that came up the most. Seemed to be coasting towards ATG status until losing to Honeyghan (another guy who never really made it as far as expected) and getting smoked by Mike McCallum, in a fight he was dominating. Never really recovered from that.

I think drug abuse had a lot to do with why certain fighters in the 80s never met the expectations. Lots of guys struggled with a coke habit at the time
 
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Rigo - among the greatest amateurs to ever to it, pitched a shutout against Donaire and then never really went anywhere else. I read that Freddie Roach tapped him as one of the best natural punchers he'd ever worked with.

Linares - so fast, so fluid and coordinated, could punch and box a little as well but he never had the durability to hang at the elite level. Such a hot and cold guy, lots of bad stoppages against dudes who should've been leagues him.

Josh Taylor - I don't wanna poo-poo becoming undisputed at 140 but I think his last two fights he's looked so flat and one-dimensional. Granted Teo was among the most talented of the current 135ers before he moved up, but Taylor just had no answers for him.

Andre Dirrell - I remember during the late 2000s he was being talked about as the "more talented Andre," had all the physical attributes but always came up short against elite level guys.

Broner - He's a clown now and has been for years, but if he had the discipline to stay at 140 or below he could've been in the mix with the top level guys.

Fernando Vargas - Might be less an instance of not living up and more a problem of too-much-too soon. Beating campas, winky and ike in your early 20s is nothing to scoff at but the rest of his career didn't live up to his early success.

Also for one of the current-gen guys, Shohjahon Ergashev is really squandering his career. 31 with allegedly 250+ ammy fights and he's pissing away his prime fighting absolute nobodies.
 
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TheGreatA said:
Back in the day, Donald Curry would've probably been the name that came up the most. Seemed to be coasting towards ATG status until losing to Honeyghan (another guy who never really made it as far as expected) and getting smoked by Mike McCallum, in a fight he was dominating. Never really recovered from that.

I think drug abuse had a lot to do with why certain fighters in the 80s never met the expectations. Lots of guys struggled with a coke habit at the time
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yup, he's another, there are a million of them though. An off night, outside the ring lifestyle, managerial/trainer issues, all of those can derail a career.

As far as Don Curry, (said it many times) I never thought highly of, thought he was hyped up by the boxing press. Then, just as I was starting to think I was wrong, when he beat two guys I thought would beat him (Nino Larocca,Milton McCrory) He turns around and loses to Honeyghan and was pretty much nothing afterwards. One thing about greatness is the great ones stand the test of time and prove themselves. In Curry's case, people have said that his long ammie career contributed to his downfall, that's very possible. In a sport where one fight can decimate a good man, of course 100's can do the same.

Some interviews with Curry on youtube, sad to watch that stuff. In fact, all young fighters, mma/boxing/whatever should be forced to watch older fighters and hear their stories.
 
randomg1t said:
sr sounds like an asshole.
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He was always cool with me, he just would say he knows what he wants when he sees it. So if he feels you're not the goods, he wont f*ck with you. But I didn't always agree with the way that.was handled

mozfonky said:
yup, he's another, there are a million of them though. An off night, outside the ring lifestyle, managerial/trainer issues, all of those can derail a career.

As far as Don Curry, (said it many times) I never thought highly of, thought he was hyped up by the boxing press. Then, just as I was starting to think I was wrong, when he beat two guys I thought would beat him (Nino Larocca,Milton McCrory) He turns around and loses to Honeyghan and was pretty much nothing afterwards. One thing about greatness is the great ones stand the test of time and prove themselves. In Curry's case, people have said that his long ammie career contributed to his downfall, that's very possible. In a sport where one fight can decimate a good man, of course 100's can do the same.

Some interviews with Curry on youtube, sad to watch that stuff. In fact, all young fighters, mma/boxing/whatever should be forced to watch older fighters and hear their stories.
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Don got way further than his Brothers did. And Greylin was the one people felt was best in the Amateurs. Kind of like how Pepper Roach was better in the Amateurs than Freddy
 
For the sake of this thread this isn't an example with me.

But lots of people were super high on Keith Thurman and he never came close to what was expected
 
Sinister said:
He was always cool with me, he just would say he knows what he wants when he sees it. So if he feels you're not the goods, he wont f*ck with you. But I didn't always agree with the way that.was handled



Don got way further than his Brothers did. And Greylin was the one people felt was best in the Amateurs. Kind of like how Pepper Roach was better in the Amateurs than Freddy
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i know his brother had a title at the same time but no one had him in Don's league. Never heard of Greylin though. Either way,400 fights is a lot for a young brain to take. People know more today so I doubt as many people are eager to throw their five year old into the ring.
 
mozfonky said:
i know his brother had a title at the same time but no one had him in Don's league. Never heard of Greylin though. Either way,400 fights is a lot for a young brain to take. People know more today so I doubt as many people are eager to throw their five year old into the ring.
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Eh, theres a lot of eager ones who think their kid is the next Canelo.

I only found out who Graylin was because a Coach at my former gym is the first one who beat him. He was a Cuban named Osvaldo Garcia. Garcia himself was a "could have been" as he knocked Graylin out. Then he told me promoters thought he could beat anyone and matched him hard after that, he lost his next 2 fights then ended up going to prison for murder. When he was at Tocco's he was on a lifetime parole, violated it and fled to Mexico where I heard he passed away recently.

Anyway he told me he only beat Graylin because he knew him well from sparring him. So he wasnt afraid to fight him.
 
Myself and Mike Tyson are the first two to come to mind.

But hey. Nice to see myself and Mike Tyson mentioned in the same sentence for once.
 
I thought Robert Helenius was gonna be the next special hw of this generation. I was wrong.

I love AB he did a lot, but he could've done a lot more than he did considering his talent level and how much he accomplished so young in life.
 
- jermaine taylor (beat hopkins for the title at 160, but fell off and never became the star i expected him to be)
- ricardo williams
- edgar berlanga (prediction)
 
FlowchartRog said:
That's a good one too, I was really impressed at first, he seemed legit.
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I liked him a lot, a legitimately good inside fighter in an era that doesn't have many of them. he drained himself too much tho, and then in punishment the JBC made him move up a bunch of divisions because they take weight seriously and now he's just plain undersized.
 
brundlefly said:
- jermaine taylor (beat hopkins for the title at 160, but fell off and never became the star i expected him to be)
- ricardo williams
- edgar berlanga (prediction)
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Taylor reminds me of Pavlik. Dude rose tremendously after his wins over Taylor and I thought he would be around for a lot longer, but then after his lost to Hopkins, I remember he fell hard.
 
UnicornNinjas said:
Rigo - among the greatest amateurs to ever to it, pitched a shutout against Donaire and then never really went anywhere else. I read that Freddie Roach tapped him as one of the best natural punchers he'd ever worked with.

Linares - so fast, so fluid and coordinated, could punch and box a little as well but he never had the durability to hang at the elite level. Such a hot and cold guy, lots of bad stoppages against dudes who should've been leagues him.

Josh Taylor - I don't wanna poo-poo becoming undisputed at 140 but I think his last two fights he's looked so flat and one-dimensional. Granted Teo was among the most talented of the current 135ers before he moved up, but Taylor just had no answers for him.

Andre Dirrell - I remember during the late 2000s he was being talked about as the "more talented Andre," had all the physical attributes but always came up short against elite level guys.

Broner - He's a clown now and has been for years, but if he had the discipline to stay at 140 or below he could've been in the mix with the top level guys.

Fernando Vargas - Might be less an instance of not living up and more a problem of too-much-too soon. Beating campas, winky and ike in your early 20s is nothing to scoff at but the rest of his career didn't live up to his early success.

Also for one of the current-gen guys, Shohjahon Ergashev is really squandering his career. 31 with allegedly 250+ ammy fights and he's pissing away his prime fighting absolute nobodies.
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i feel rigo was avoided a lot, which led to him challenging loma two weight classes higher. he also got a bad rap for his style...really a case of a fighter being under-appreciated because of a lack of a fanbase.

linares is talented no doubt, but as you point out, he has some significant flaws which were made apparent earlier in his career. i consider him fortunate to have gotten as far as he did.

Taylor was a big 140 pounder, which gave him advantages against prograis and ramirez. but lately he has been struggling to make weight. he also had a long layoff. ...i think he'll be better at 147, but that division is so deep, he's not cracking the top 5.

Dirrell got a bad break when he got fouled against abraham, after controversially losing to froch. that was what derailed his career. until then, he was on track to rival ward as the best at 168.

Broner got derailed by biting off more than he could chew at 147. you don't jump 3 weight classes in one year and think you can be the same fighter. but you have to admire the sheer confidence and self-belief it took for him to make the play.
 
Riddick Bowe imagine if he wasn't lazy and had someone other than Rock Newman trying to find ways to get him the easiest matches possible.
 
UnicornNinjas said:
Rigo - among the greatest amateurs to ever to it, pitched a shutout against Donaire and then never really went anywhere else. I read that Freddie Roach tapped him as one of the best natural punchers he'd ever worked with.

Linares - so fast, so fluid and coordinated, could punch and box a little as well but he never had the durability to hang at the elite level. Such a hot and cold guy, lots of bad stoppages against dudes who should've been leagues him.

Josh Taylor - I don't wanna poo-poo becoming undisputed at 140 but I think his last two fights he's looked so flat and one-dimensional. Granted Teo was among the most talented of the current 135ers before he moved up, but Taylor just had no answers for him.

Andre Dirrell - I remember during the late 2000s he was being talked about as the "more talented Andre," had all the physical attributes but always came up short against elite level guys.

Broner - He's a clown now and has been for years, but if he had the discipline to stay at 140 or below he could've been in the mix with the top level guys.

Fernando Vargas - Might be less an instance of not living up and more a problem of too-much-too soon. Beating campas, winky and ike in your early 20s is nothing to scoff at but the rest of his career didn't live up to his early success.

Also for one of the current-gen guys, Shohjahon Ergashev is really squandering his career. 31 with allegedly 250+ ammy fights and he's pissing away his prime fighting absolute nobodies.
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Funnily enough Ergashev is in the conversation to fight Matias for his belt. That would be one hell of a fight.
 
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