Name me examples of prospects/young fighters who stepped up too soon

An interesting case is sean o' grady, his father didn't want him to have the pressure of having to keep his "0", so he threw him in there with Danny Little Red Lopez. Sean had 30 pro fights but was only 16 and those fights were against softies. Luckily Sean recovered and was able to hold a world title for a short time before his dad made him give up the WBA belt. Little Red Lopez isn't the type of guy you just throw an inexperienced teenager in with, he was a monster puncher. Canelo against Mayweather. And Canelo against GGG later. Canelo is too young and clearly wasn't experienced enough. He also needed at least 4 more years before he was acclimated to 160 and at least another 3 years before he was ready for a real MW like GGG. I don't think Canelo will ever recover. :rofl: :rofl:

and to cheat nonstop Exactly....well said...pulled a Ward on him

His chin was going to get checked eventually, but seeing Khan and Ortiz being mentioned, Thomas dulorme comes to mind. Super hyped amateur and was supposed to be the next big PR star until he got stopped by a journeyman.

Lewis made sure he fought grant early. and to cheat nonstop

Never understood this question tbh I always just think of Muhammad Ali (then, 22 years old) stepping up to Liston. If you got the boxing ability, you should be okay. And the thing is, these guys are athletically at their peaks around 20-25. Scientifically your body starts to decay at 25. (correct me if I'm wrong.) So by 'stepping up' I am sure you mean: by taking a risk? It's never too early if you're going out to take names.

Michael Grant stepping in with Lennox Lewis is still probably the biggest one Fernando Vargas stepping in with Tito Trinidad is another Lewis made sure he fought grant early.

Canelo against Mayweather. And Canelo against GGG later. Canelo is too young and clearly wasn't experienced enough. He also needed at least 4 more years before he was acclimated to 160 and at least another 3 years before he was ready for a real MW like GGG. I don't think Canelo will ever recover.

Michael Grant stepping in with Lennox Lewis is still probably the biggest one Fernando Vargas stepping in with Tito Trinidad is another lewis cheated as much as ward in that fight. holding grant behind the head and knocking him down over and over. tony weeks was prob the ref

Fernando Vargas comes to mind.

Michael Grant stepping in with Lennox Lewis is still probably the biggest one Fernando Vargas stepping in with Tito Trinidad is another

He was too inexperienced in the pro's. If Loma would fight Salido now would you still pick Salido to win ? Salido is shot to hell even more than he was when he fought Loma the first time. Loma should have beat him then and if he can't beat him now than theres something wrong. And weight excuse is ridiculous, lesser fighters have beaten guys that a weight advantage of 15 lbs or less.

tony yoka is 25. Olymic gold and gold in the world amateur championship. Should he fight against povetkin or ortiz in his third fight? amateur boxing and pro boxing is a very different game. You need to get accustomed to the changed pace, the longer rounds and the scoring. Its the same the other way around. Last olympic games weve seen decent, but not elite pro boxers trying their luck at olympic games. They failed. Loma had like 6 fights in the WBS that were pretty much pro fights that aren't counted on his pro record. so you could say he had 6 fights where he was fighting under pro rules and scoring. You can't deny his a talent but you could argue that if FLoyd or Roy Jones stuck around in the amateurs till they were 25, that they would have been able to do what Loma has. Its more impressive to turn pro at an early age and win a title around 21. Plus Loma won a vacant title against a talented and unproven Mr. TBA Russell.

*record*....

In topics like this ( regardless of recorded at the time) Joe Lipsey vs Bernard Hopkins always comes to mind.... Lipsey had yet to fight a fight the caliber of Bhop, and was KO (badley) and never fought again. Joe Lipsey was a very good boxer puncher, wasn't ready for that step up though. Most called it before the fight, just didn't expect that brutal ending.

Loma was 25 and had tons of amateur experience. If he had fought Salido a year or two after turning pro at 18 then thats a different story. Loma gets too much credit for what he's done but people forget to look at his age. He was too inexperienced in the pro's. If Loma would fight Salido now would you still pick Salido to win ?

Loma was 25 and had tons of amateur experience. If he had fought Salido a year or two after turning pro at 18 then thats a different story. Loma gets too much credit for what he's done but people forget to look at his age. tony yoka is 25. Olymic gold and gold in the world amateur championship. Should he fight against povetkin or ortiz in his third fight? amateur boxing and pro boxing is a very different game. You need to get accustomed to the changed pace, the longer rounds and the scoring. Its the same the other way around. Last olympic games weve seen decent, but not elite pro boxers trying their luck at olympic games. They failed.

Connor McGregor obviously :)

my picks. Canelo stepping up to Mayweather Julian Williams stepping up to Charlo Canelo gets beat by Mayweather at any stage in his career. In my opinion.

You consider Moore fighting Duran being a step up to soon? i It would seem to me to be good matchmaking as Duran looked to be on the downside and Moore had already beaten a couple of champions and was a champion himself. Plus he was much bigger. Moore had about 12 pro fights at the time he fought Duran. That was a big step up from anyone he had fought prior. Duran had just destroyed Cuevas in his previous fight and went on to fight Hagler for 15 rounds (with a broken right hand for the last ten rounds) after the Moore fight.

Marvis Frazier vs Larry holmes. I believe Marvis was 14-0 at the time? While Holmes was 44-0?. Just from memory though i could be way off.