Where does Breland compare to other great amatuers?

[Fox McCloud]

3 time Olympic champs like Papp, Stevenson and Savon are obviously pretty good.

Some who went pro early like Howard Davis Jr. and Jorge Luis Gonzalez were also pretty badass.

Of course there were some amatuers who turned into excellent professionals who were also very adept at being a badass amatuer, like Ray Leonard.

So where does Mark Breland fit into all of this?

Also, who is the best amatuer boxer of all time?

[Silencers]

Read this article by Iceman John Scully.

http://www.maxboxing.com/News/Scully070808.asp

[Fox McCloud]

I haven't read it all yet, but...

What a ****ing beast I am!

I didn't even think long about the other great amatuers of history when I came up with Papp, Stevenson, Savon, Davis Jr. and Leonard!

I feel like a real badass right now.

I guess Jorge Luis Gonzalez wasn't really included, but I did hear that he beat almost everyone he could have, including Stevenson before he jetted for the pros.

[Silencers]

Those guys were great amateurs indeed.

[Fox McCloud]

I'm convinced. Great article by Scully.

Wow... poor guy... so good, but didn't make a ton of money off of it, because he couldn't fight in the pros like he did as an amatuer.

And that quote from Starling about his jab has me rattled still. That is insane.

[Silencers]

Expectations were way too high for him when he turned pro, there was no way he could have lived up to them. He was still a very good professional though.

The only time I've seen someone hurt twice from a jab in one fight was in Breland vs Honeyghan. Breland knocked down and hurt Honeyghan twice with a jab, Breland had one of the more underrated jabs in history.

Edit: And Breland had the skinniest legs I've ever seen on a welterweight.

[Fox McCloud]

Expectations were way too high for him when he turned pro, there was no way he could have lived up to them. He was still a very good professional though.

The only time I've seen someone hurt twice from a jab in one fight was in Breland vs Honeyghan. Breland knocked down and hurt Honeyghan twice with a jab, Breland had one of the more underrated jabs in history.

I feel like both De La Hoya and Taylor's careers were partially ruined because they were stepped up too early to try to meet the tremendous expectations that preceeded them.

I'm guessing that was the case with Breland times like 100,000 because he was the best amatuer ever. That's a real shame.

[Silencers]

I feel like both De La Hoya and Taylor's careers were partially ruined because they were stepped up too early to try to meet the tremendous expectations that preceeded them.

I'm guessing that was the case with Breland times like 100,000 because he was the best amatuer ever. That's a real shame.

I can agree about Taylor, it was perhaps too soon to throw him in against Chavez and while he wasn't shot after that fight, he was never the same.

About DLH though, considering what he has become I don't think his career was ruined at all by stepping up too soon.

With Breland, it wasn't really him stepping up too soon, it was just the expectations of him being a dominant pound for pound fighter for years were way too high. He had a good career just not as great as people expected of him.

[Fox McCloud]

I can agree about Taylor, it was perhaps too soon to throw him in against Chavez and while he wasn't shot after that fight, he was never the same.

About DLH though, considering what he has become I don't think his career was ruined at all by stepping up too soon.

With Breland, it wasn't really him stepping up too soon, it was just the expectations of him being a dominant pound for pound fighter for years were way too high. He had a good career just not as great as people expected of him.

Funny how it was accurate for Meldrick Taylor, and I wasn't even talking about him.

I was actually referring to Jermain Taylor, who I do think has never really been the same since Hopkins really crushed his confidence. The jab went away, and he has never been able to settle into a style. He can't figure out whether he is a boxer or a fighter, and it has hurt him a lot. Although it does look like he had it figured out against Pavlik in the rematch. Let's hope so.

[Silencers]

Funny how it was accurate for Meldrick Taylor, and I wasn't even talking about him.

I was actually referring to Jermain Taylor, who I do think has never really been the same since Hopkins really crushed his confidence. The jab went away, and he has never been able to settle into a style. He can't figure out whether he is a boxer or a fighter, and it has hurt him a lot. Although it does look like he had it figured out against Pavlik in the rematch. Let's hope so.

True, Jermain Taylor didn't look the same after the second Hopkins fight. He looked much better in the second Pavlik fight though, he now needs to work mainly on his stamina and workrate, if he can get that sorted out, he can become a force at 168.