Thread: Who is the most talented boxer to never achieve anything and fade away into obscurity

Joe Mesi?

Charlie Burley, Sam Langford, and there was a story written about some guy who trained with Tyson and was amazing but drugs, crime, et cetera ruined him.


Also Ibeabuchi and Amir Mansour may have had the talent to do something but never accomplished anything. Ron Lyle only for the fact he started boxing too late.

Lamar Parks I think deserves a mention, had the potential to be real special IMO but then got HIV.

Kenny Gould was a Olympic bronze medalist and really spectacular to watch, tricky southpaw and fast as fuck, had a few setbacks as a pro and had to retire because of a bum shoulder. Should have accomplished a lot more IMO.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Charlie Burley, Sam Langford, and there was a story written about some guy who trained with Tyson and was amazing but drugs, crime, et cetera ruined him.


Also Ibeabuchi and Amir Mansour may have had the talent to do something but never accomplished anything. Ron Lyle only for the fact he started boxing too late.

Ike Ibeabuchi was headed for the title he'd eat the Klitschko's for lunch. His big mistake was calling that lying greedy hooker. That led to him being railroaded & jailed. He was kept 14 months heavily sedated because they were scared of what he MIGHT do.without being charged. No wonder he had mental problems

What about a Paul Gonzalez.

Originally Posted by C.J.Rock

Ike Ibeabuchi was headed for the title he'd eat the Klitschko's for lunch. His big mistake was calling that lying greedy hooker. That led to him being railroaded & jailed. He was kept 14 months heavily sedated because they were scared of what he MIGHT do.without being charged. No wonder he had mental problems

Soooo you don't know about how he abducted the son of his ex girlfriend and then drove his car into a bridge abutment shortly after the Tua fight? Or how he sexually assaulted a few strippers and was then declared mentally incompetent to stand trial?

He "had mental problems" because he's bipolar and was unmedicated/self medicating at the time.

Ibeabuchi looked spectacular...but there have been a few Nigerian heavyweights to look unstoppable only to turn out to be pedestrian: Sam Peter, David Izon, Friday Ahunaya, Duncan Dokiwari, Lateef Kayode.

David Reid, Meldrick Taylor....well those may be harsh

Howard Davis Jr. and Mark Breland. Google both guys. Davis was supposed to be better than Ray Leonard (who also has an interesting story from that same olympics where his own teammates were making fun and saying Ray stood no chance in the finals) and was a complete flop as a pro. Never won a world championship and he was gold medalist in the 76 olympics. Breland was also a BEAST as an Olympic Gold medalist and predicted to be the cream of the crop from the 84 team of Evander, Meldrick Taylor and Pernell Whitaker. Breland was just too nice of a guy and he never lived up to his potential as a pro.

Ricardo Williams and Pachito Bojado were two other guys who were complete wash outs, as was Ray Mercer to a degree. Lonnie Bradley also, now that I think about it. He was being called the next Ray Robinson and the biggest threat to Roy Jones Jr. at one point.

Joan Guzman.

Originally Posted by Kirkland Laing

Joan Guzman.

Nice, he's the exact guy I always think of for this. With a lot of the big flops, you hear about amateurs who were expected to do more as pros. It is often the case that they didn't have as effective a style, or weren't durable enough to have the same success there, rather than it being something the fighters did or didn't do outside of the ring. Guzman is different in that he is a PURE waste of pro talent. He had body control and reflexes on a MAyweather or Rigondeaux level for a good few years, and just never seemed to take his career seriously. He was never found out or exposed, he just didn't bother making weight or chasing the big fights, then got old. Now that is a waste. I would have picked Guzman over Pacquiao at 130 at one point.

Originally Posted by p4pking

Originally Posted by Kirkland Laing

Joan Guzman.

Nice, he's the exact guy I always think of for this. With a lot of the big flops, you hear about amateurs who were expected to do more as pros. It is often the case that they didn't have as effective a style, or weren't durable enough to have the same success there, rather than it being something the fighters did or didn't do outside of the ring. Guzman is different in that he is a PURE waste of pro talent. He had body control and reflexes on a MAyweather or Rigondeaux level for a good few years, and just never seemed to take his career seriously. He was never found out or exposed, he just didn't bother making weight or chasing the big fights, then got old. Now that is a waste. I would have picked Guzman over Pacquiao at 130 at one point.

I agree with you on Guzman being a bad style match up for Manny. I was planning on betting big on that one when it looked like they were going to fight.

Originally Posted by mikeeod

Howard Davis Jr. and Mark Breland. Google both guys. Davis was supposed to be better than Ray Leonard (who also has an interesting story from that same olympics where his own teammates were making fun and saying Ray stood no chance in the finals) and was a complete flop as a pro. Never won a world championship and he was gold medalist in the 76 olympics. Breland was also a BEAST as an Olympic Gold medalist and predicted to be the cream of the crop from the 84 team of Evander, Meldrick Taylor and Pernell Whitaker. Breland was just too nice of a guy and he never lived up to his potential as a pro.

Ricardo Williams and Pachito Bojado were two other guys who were complete wash outs, as was Ray Mercer to a degree. Lonnie Bradley also, now that I think about it. He was being called the next Ray Robinson and the biggest threat to Roy Jones Jr. at one point.

Real harsh on Breland. Breland ran into guys like Aaron Davis and Marlon Starling, plus had a chance to contend with Curry, Simon Brown, Honeyghan and a few other notables around that time at-both from light welter and jr.middle.

Sure, he didn't get a chance to fight all of the top names. But, at that time, fighting in that catch-division, everyone else was training to fight everyone else. Which means everyone was in peak condition and looking to fight.

During the early to mid-80's was probably the best, most competitive times at jr. welter to jr. middle we will ever see in boxing.

If Breland moved down, he had to face Pryor, Arguello or Kameda. If he moved up, he would have had to run into McCllellan, Benn, Mugabi and Norris.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

David Reid, Meldrick Taylor....well those may be harsh

Reid had an excuse. He couldn't see. Word has it that his eye was in bad shape from his amateur days, sorta like Joe Frazier. But his extraordinary skills is what kept him winning fights. A shame he had to retire so young.

Other guys that come to mind is David Tua. He could have done a little more to win a trinket title.

Another guy that comes to mind is Panchito Bojado. He had it.

Another guy that I really, really, REALLY wanna see back in the ring is Pierre Olivier Cote. I don't know what illness it is he has, but I hope he gets it corrected and comes back to the ring. Because, man, I saw star written all over him.

Yeah a lot of guys have been named who I wouldn't exactly say they never achieved anything.

Never achieve anything in Boxing, like a Championship

* Domingo Ayala
* Hector Carrasquilla