Guys I Wish Loved Glory More

[marbleheadmaui]

At the top of the list of course is Floyd Mayweather, but that's the last time I will comment on him.

There are a series of guys around now or relatively recently retired who I wish would, or had, chosen different career paths. In each case I wish they had been more daring matchmakers. In no order

Felix Sturm-He's a pretty good fighter who performed admirably against Oscar and really had a chance to jump into the limelight in the US. Looking back the 160's from 2005 or so forward have been pretty weak and who knows how well he might have done!

Nonito Donaire-The guy has stepped up HUGE each time he has had a big fight. But come on from 25-28 he fought Vic and Montiel and that's it? REALLY Now it's not too late for him but man has he wasted years. His next four fights oughtta be Agbeko, Moreno, Mares and Kameda in whatever order he wants. He's got a chance to build a really special resume. But he must stop wasting time.

Omar Narvaez-Unbeaten in 37 fights, 20 or so defenses of his 112 and 115 straps and in all that time he's fought two ranked guys and fought outside Argentina four times? From what I can tell watching film? he's pretty good. But how can one really tell given the competition? He was in a division with Vic D and Donaire and Wonjonkam and he's wasted it.

Johnny Tapia-One of my all time favorite fighters but he really only faced one stud and two pretty good guys. Had he not been banned for three years for failing a drug test he had guys like Gilberto Roman and Khaosai Galaxy and Robert Quiroga and Sun Kil Moon in front of him. What a waste.

Chris John-Unbeaten with wins over JMM (it wasn't a robbery. I thought it was a very close fight)and Rocky Juarez and Smoke Gainer and Hiroyuki Enoki. That's enough to determine he is a fine fighter. The question is he a great one? There is plenty of opportunity at 126 to find out for sure. Gamboa, JuanMa and Orlando Salido. Hell Chris at least fight Hawsegawa!

Samson Dutch Boy Gym-I dunno. He retired 43-0 and the only three guys I recognize on his resume are Rolando Pascua, Cruz Carbajal and Hugo Rafael Soto. A pretty good fighter. Gym drilled the former in eight and the latter in six and Carbajal in four. So he wasn't a stiff, but how good was he? I dunno...and i wish I did.

Roy Jones-[sigh] I just wish he'd taken on MaCallum and Calzaghe earlier and Liles and Nigel Benn and Eubank and Darius. Now was Roy great? Yup. How great? I wish I could have seen. Think about how different his resume looks with those guys instead of Antoine Byrd and Pazienza and Eric Lucas and Bryant Brannon.

Now in several of those cases the guys have made big money staying home. Good for them. In other cases they became revered without doing what I would have preferred. Good for them.

I just wish these men prioritized glory more than they do/did.