What fighter wasted the most promise and talent

Agreeing with me is the closest you will ever come to having an unbiased take on a topic so enjoy it while you can.

 

Everybody could've a better resume than they do.

 

I wish but I don't see it.

Green will take a look at his shoes a lot though.

 

I guess if you consider money a big factor in this, then. I'm thinking more along the lines of legacy. Tyson's reign was cut unforeseeably short, & by an ordinary fighter. He never regained the championship, even with all his natural ability. He was compromised as a fighter by the time he was in his mid-twenties --- a sign of talent being wasted, if ever there was one --- & then, between 1997 & 2005, a near-ten year period, fought largely scrubs & fringe-contenders, in a most unworthy scenario for what should have been such a fine fighter.

I think Tyson was a guy who could've gone the Joe Louis route --- been the champ for more years of his career than not. He didn't come close, & he stopped caring while still quite young. I can't believe he achieved all he could've.

 

I always object to people bringing up Camacho

the only thing that changed him was somebody finally REALLY hit him (Rosario) and he ran for his life his whole career after that

He was a fucking coward, and always would have been

 

He wouldnt have had that goddamn unbeateb record if he'd had this "better" career

what a fucking phony "great" fighter

 

I don't think he would have remained unbeaten either. However he would have garnered alot more respect if he had chased the big fights earlier ala Hatton. I know you don't like Joe but I really think he could have pulled up some trees if he had had some faith in his own ability, but hey he didn't, so I can't say shit ::

 

Except for Marion Wilson.
2-0
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9-0
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14-0
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10-0-1
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I just think he was a good fighter content to make defenses of his "title" in a crap division, almost entirely in his hometown and he waited until the only semi'threatening fighters around him were old men before he deicided he really wanted those fights

Fuck, he got knocked down by Jones at a point where my 5 year old nephew could have hurt Roy

 

Well the same could be said of Hopkins reign at 160. However I do agree he didn't really do much to help my arguement, guess I'm just going by what I saw, potential which wasn't fulfilled, and it was his own fault.

The Jones knockdown was a bit of a freak punch to be fair though.

 

Hopkins was stuck in a lousy division but he cleaned it out... his only rivals, if you could call them that, were Holmes and Joppy and he annihlated both of them... in his middleweight days he was willing to fight anybody out there for him to fight, and its not like he was this HUGE star in his home country able to pick and choose because of the guarntee of a rabid sellout of championship-starved fans

 

:crafty: .....................................................

 

mike tyson. he had no business losing to a guy like douglas. he should've fought him again immediately. chances are, douglas would've shown up fat and tyson would've wasted him in 1.

 

Well other than Ottke, who at 168 did Joe not fight?

 

Expecting a fighter to be Joe Louis is too high of an expectation.

 

I never said that, though. I said he could've spent more than fifty per cent of his career as champion --- something he got nowhere close to accomplishing.

 

Don't get mad cause I mentioned your boy Floyd. Don't act like he hasn't been a cherry picker since moving up to 140.

 

REED ISN'T Doing That...

Zab Judah Possessed GENUINE POWER in Both Hands, His HANDSPEED was Off the Charts (Remember How Much FASTER he was than Floyd???) & Not Only Did he have FootSPEED, he Also had Good FootWORK...

AND Zab was a SOUTHPAW...He Also Fought w/FEROCITY, Until Tszyu TAMED him...

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar LESS Talented Fighters than Zab have Went On to Greatness...The Problem was, Zab's Boxing IQ...This was Compounded by the FACT that he Maintained his Father as Trainer...

1nce Tszyu Took Zab's Heart, he NEEDED a LEGITIMATE "Boxing Guy" to Get him Back on the Right Track...

w/Out Question, Zab Qualifies as a WASTE of Talent, because he Definitely HAD Talent...



REED:hammert:

 

That's because he fought on well past his the point where he should of due to money issues. Tyson was pretty much done as a top fighter after the Holyfield rematch and suspension. He was still dangerous but more of a contender than championship material at that point and then eventually was just fighting on fumes.

And, outside of Louis, how many heavyweights were champions for more than 1/2 of their entire careers? Off the top of my head, I suspect the list is very small...and may only include Louis.

Of the list of top ten heavies ever, how many of them fit this description?

It IS possible one or both of the Klitschkos might get there due to stinky opposition and a variety of titles available...but that's not the same as Louis being the undisputed champ for almost 12 years.

 

Intelligence and chin are talents too. Zab had neither.

 

From the 80's...Greg Page, Michael Dokes and Pinklon Thomas all had the talent and skills to be much more successful than they were. Also Tony Tubbs and Tony Tucker. They all briefly held alphabet titles, but all were talented enough to have done much more.

 

REED Isn't Saying Zab was THE MOST Talented Guy Ever, but he WAS VERY Talented Nonetheless...Like REED Said, Faaaaaaaaaaar LESS Talented Guys than Zab have Went On to GREATNESS....



REED:mj:

 

Disagree, tbh. Far less ATHLETIC guys went on to greatness, but i don't think Zab could have went much further than he did. It's not like he went off the rails or stopped training or went to jail or picked up a coke habbit. He was just thick and chinny from the start.

 

If Intelligence & Chin R "Talents", then So is ATHLETICISM...Zab Basically had an ENABLER as his Trainer...What Zab Needed was a TEACHER, a STRATEGIST...



REED:mj:

 

Agree on athleticism being a talent

 

Obviously athleticism is a talent. It's the most important innate talent. But it's not the only one. And if you don't have a brain or a chin the lack of those talents sets a ceiling on how far you can go. Which is about as far as Zab went.

Zab might have gone a little further with a great coach but at some point he was still gonna get hit, and still gonna find himself in the kind of deep water great fighters can compose themselves and think or adapt their way out of but he couldn't.

 

I think Roy could have been the best EVER, and alot of people say he was just athleticism and nothing else, on account of how he performed once the speed and reflexes went. What you think of that?

 

Audley Harrison is probably the stand out UK waste of the last ten/fifteen years. That guy had so many tools yet has somehow managed to become an irrelevance in the worst HW division in history simply because he doesn't have the stomach for a fight.

MTF :shit:

 

I think Audley had/has terrible stamina issues. Maybe he doesn't have the heart for a scrap as well, but he seems to only fight for 15 seconds a round. Fine for amateur boxing, but not for the pro game.

 

What do I think of it? I think that against great fighters you need more than athleticism. Now Roy had more than just speed, we aren't talking about Amir Khan here, but I think against an Ezzard Charles or a Michael Spinks or an Archie Moore or Bob Foster, Roy would have to bring something more to the table than we ever saw him have to demonstrate. And the fact that when said reflex' waned he was left with nothing at all casts reasonable doubts on if he'd be up to that.

Frankly I think Jones-Hopkins at a later date when B-Hop had developed some seasoning and real belief in the extent of his abilities would have been too close to call. That's the level I regard Roy Jones on, personally. If you made a list of the top 5 Lightheavyweights of all time he'd win some and he'd lose a little more than he won, he's up there but he certainly isn't the greatest fighter of all time.