Fighters who were expected to do nothing, but went on to become champion or contender

[geribeetus]

pac probably seemed destined to gatekeeper status or less after those early knockouts, same with wladimir klitschko. hopkins losing his first fight can't have instilled a lot of confidence in him. i don't think margarito had much amateur experience and he lost several of his early fights. hagler dropped some decisions early on.

[Marcov]

My first thought on this subject was
Micky Ward. If you seen him get beat by Mike Mungin and Harold Warren early in his career, you'd think he was headed to a short uneventful career. Yes he never won a title, but his accomplishments are amazing if you seen him as a young fighter.

[mickey malone]

Tommy Burns.. He wasn't even supposed to win the HW championship, let alone defend it 10 times in 4 years..

John Ruiz.. Would have been like Ron Stander if he was fighting in the 70's..

Steve Collins.. Everyone thought he was washed up after losing to Reggie Jonson and Mike McCallum in America.. He wasn't expected to come back to the UK and become a 2 weight world champion..

Steve Robinson.. Journeyman who came in as a late sub to fight for the vacant WBO featherweight title, won it and defended it 7 or 8 times against some quality opposition before eventually losing to Nassem Hamed..

[dcull111]

im gonna say hagler here. he lost two decisions early in his career, and i doubt anyone could have ever guessed the magnificent heights that his career would get to.

im gonna say barerra too. after losing twice to an average joe like junior jones, who would have thought he would get where he did in his career?

[wmute]

billy backus?

[dmcw]

Dennis Andries anybody?

[BennyST]

im gonna say hagler here. he lost two decisions early in his career, and i doubt anyone could have ever guessed the magnificent heights that his career would get to.

im gonna say barerra too. after losing twice to an average joe like junior jones, who would have thought he would get where he did in his career?

Completely disagree on both those fronts. Hagler lost to two very solid, top rated guys that people still argue whether he ever did lose. He avenged both brutally and was considered a top prospect very early on going on to big things. People didn't think of him like Ray Leonard or Tommy Hearns, but those who knew him in the circles saw as him as a major fighter at 160 for a long time.

Barrera was thought of as the next Chavez from the moment he hit the scene. Jr Jones was anything but your 'average Joe' as well. He was a top fighter/champion with one of the biggest single punches that has been seen at that weight in a long time. Great fighter. Before those fights, Barrera was seen as the next great thing, and when he lost those, some of his luster went out but he got it back pretty damn quickly.

Neither of those guys were ever seen as anything but great fighters on the rise with a few minor setbacks.

Dennis Andries anybody?

Very much agree with this one. He was a weird fighter man. Ended up being a really great champion for quite a long time though. Came from being a pure wild brawler, about as wild as it gets and turned himself into a very solid brawler/puncher.

I'll always remember his fights, especially the first one, with Jeff Harding. If ever there was a real life Rocky story, it's that. That was the great first fight that got me into boxing. Me and my dad watched it live and man, that was something else.