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Kirkland Laing, this guy had it all: dazzling footwork, dazzling handspeed, dazzling reflexes, a dazzling jab and a dazzling, solid combination puncher who could hit hard enough to stop any opponent if he landed frequently enough.
As an amateur, he won the ABA's as a 17-year-old - but he was a very young 17 who looked more like he was 11 or 12. Although he was prone to showboating and dropping his hands, usually his skills were more than adequate to avoid any trouble, and even back then he possessed a wide variety of shots that he could land almost at will.
Kirk's problem was that his training regime was conducted on the dance floor, and the only supplements he used was the white stuff you shoved up your nose. He beat Roberto Duran's ass, having trained properly for the fight, but that was about the only time he ever trained right.
Herol 'Bomber' Graham, he broke the mould by fighting 'free-style' in the British amateur ranks and winning schoolboy title after schoolboy title in Nottingham, then flew off to the Netherlands as a 17-year-old late replacement not given a hope in the Multi Nations tournament he'd be boxing at due to his supposed lack of technical skill - Bomber came home with a gold medal, moved to Sheffield and hooked up with equally eccentric Brendan Ingle, won the 1978 ABA middleweight title and turned pro.
Everybody expected Bomber fella to win the British title, then the Commonwealth title, then the European title, and then the world title. It was almost a full-gone conclusion. He was the Muhammad Ali of Sheffield, and BBC Grandstand followed his career much like ITV are doing to Khan's. He was light-middleweight.
Bomber was an incredible boxer who taunted opponents with his hands by his waist, dodged their blows, countered and danced out of range as easy as a cuppa tea - if they didn't take the bait he simply peppered them with shots that opponents would say they could only hear, not see! If they retaliated, they were swinging for ghosts.
Now what happened with Bomber fella is that he was too good for his own good - he was just wasting his time hoping that Hagler, Leonard, Hearns or Duran would come to Sheffield and fight the most awkward boxer in the business for peanuts! Over the years, Bomber's reflexes eroded and by the time he got his world title opportunities, he was years past his best.
Errol Christie, the ABA light-middleweight champion in 1981, was a sensational amateur. He won a record number of schoolboy and junior titles, and had a combination of skill, speed and power that seemed perfect for the professional sport. He built an impressive early record as a pro and appeared to be an awesome technician, and was sent to further his education in the famous Kronk gym in Detroit, where he sparred with world champions such as Tommy Hearns and was declared "magnificent" by one of the sport's foremost professors, Emanuel Steward.
Christie wore the golden trunks of the Kronk, when he fought in Las Vegas and won 13 consecutive bouts to begin his professional career. But then he was matched with a moderate Belgian named Jose Seys, in a less glamorous venue, Shoreditch. Seys was a light-heavyweight and stopped the middleweight Christie inside a round. Errol was never the same again.
George Collins, this guy was supposed to be destined for superstardom on boxing skill alone. Collins had 78 amateur fights, won 77 and was one of the best amateurs of the 1980's. His sole defeat in the amateurs was somewhat of a fluke, he was 67-0 and had to win one more fight to break a world record - the fight was screened on the Guinness Record Breakers programme on BBC and his opponent, an unknown southpaw Northerner (and future celebrity) called Gary Stretch, knocked him out in one round, caught him cold in front of the camera's.
Anyway, 17-year-old Collins signed pro forms for a young man called Frank Warren, who had broke the mould by muscling his way in ahead of the stranglehold of Mickey Duff, Terry Lawless and Jarvis Astaire. It was all very exciting. Together they would take professional boxing by storm.
Collins displayed varieties of hooks and uppercuts on ITV that simply were not British-esque, and seemed to have the capabilities to find furious fight-ending barrages at any given time. However, Warren was milking him dry and milking the public dry to the point where all interested had drained away from Collins, and still, Warren continued to milk him to the point where his skills actually eroded by fighting so many mediocre opponents. He retired at 22, without even a British title to his name.
Colin McMillan, this guy was Britain's answer to Sugar Ray Leonard. A well-educated kid who gave up the chance to go to university to focus on boxing and hopefully make the 1988 Olympic team, when he failed to make the team though he worked as a trainee technician and boxed as a pro but didn't turn full-time professional boxer for some time after receiveing sponsorship. An inspired move that turned out to be.
McMillan was a fleet-footed boxer with lightning handspeed and as a technician few rivaled his style and application, his only problem seemed to be that he didn't seem to carry a knockout punch. A thinking man's fighter if you will and arguably the best prospect anywhere in boxing - his footwork was a delight and his hands as fast as anything out there.
'Sweet C' had superstar potential written all over him but disaster struck as he dislocated his shoulder in front of his home fans at Olympia in the first defense of his world featherweight title, and had to be carried on a stretcher, requiring surgery and never the same again.
I hope with Amir Khan everything goes sweet
As an amateur, he won the ABA's as a 17-year-old - but he was a very young 17 who looked more like he was 11 or 12. Although he was prone to showboating and dropping his hands, usually his skills were more than adequate to avoid any trouble, and even back then he possessed a wide variety of shots that he could land almost at will.
Kirk's problem was that his training regime was conducted on the dance floor, and the only supplements he used was the white stuff you shoved up your nose. He beat Roberto Duran's ass, having trained properly for the fight, but that was about the only time he ever trained right.
Herol 'Bomber' Graham, he broke the mould by fighting 'free-style' in the British amateur ranks and winning schoolboy title after schoolboy title in Nottingham, then flew off to the Netherlands as a 17-year-old late replacement not given a hope in the Multi Nations tournament he'd be boxing at due to his supposed lack of technical skill - Bomber came home with a gold medal, moved to Sheffield and hooked up with equally eccentric Brendan Ingle, won the 1978 ABA middleweight title and turned pro.
Everybody expected Bomber fella to win the British title, then the Commonwealth title, then the European title, and then the world title. It was almost a full-gone conclusion. He was the Muhammad Ali of Sheffield, and BBC Grandstand followed his career much like ITV are doing to Khan's. He was light-middleweight.
Bomber was an incredible boxer who taunted opponents with his hands by his waist, dodged their blows, countered and danced out of range as easy as a cuppa tea - if they didn't take the bait he simply peppered them with shots that opponents would say they could only hear, not see! If they retaliated, they were swinging for ghosts.
Now what happened with Bomber fella is that he was too good for his own good - he was just wasting his time hoping that Hagler, Leonard, Hearns or Duran would come to Sheffield and fight the most awkward boxer in the business for peanuts! Over the years, Bomber's reflexes eroded and by the time he got his world title opportunities, he was years past his best.
Errol Christie, the ABA light-middleweight champion in 1981, was a sensational amateur. He won a record number of schoolboy and junior titles, and had a combination of skill, speed and power that seemed perfect for the professional sport. He built an impressive early record as a pro and appeared to be an awesome technician, and was sent to further his education in the famous Kronk gym in Detroit, where he sparred with world champions such as Tommy Hearns and was declared "magnificent" by one of the sport's foremost professors, Emanuel Steward.
Christie wore the golden trunks of the Kronk, when he fought in Las Vegas and won 13 consecutive bouts to begin his professional career. But then he was matched with a moderate Belgian named Jose Seys, in a less glamorous venue, Shoreditch. Seys was a light-heavyweight and stopped the middleweight Christie inside a round. Errol was never the same again.
George Collins, this guy was supposed to be destined for superstardom on boxing skill alone. Collins had 78 amateur fights, won 77 and was one of the best amateurs of the 1980's. His sole defeat in the amateurs was somewhat of a fluke, he was 67-0 and had to win one more fight to break a world record - the fight was screened on the Guinness Record Breakers programme on BBC and his opponent, an unknown southpaw Northerner (and future celebrity) called Gary Stretch, knocked him out in one round, caught him cold in front of the camera's.
Anyway, 17-year-old Collins signed pro forms for a young man called Frank Warren, who had broke the mould by muscling his way in ahead of the stranglehold of Mickey Duff, Terry Lawless and Jarvis Astaire. It was all very exciting. Together they would take professional boxing by storm.
Collins displayed varieties of hooks and uppercuts on ITV that simply were not British-esque, and seemed to have the capabilities to find furious fight-ending barrages at any given time. However, Warren was milking him dry and milking the public dry to the point where all interested had drained away from Collins, and still, Warren continued to milk him to the point where his skills actually eroded by fighting so many mediocre opponents. He retired at 22, without even a British title to his name.
Colin McMillan, this guy was Britain's answer to Sugar Ray Leonard. A well-educated kid who gave up the chance to go to university to focus on boxing and hopefully make the 1988 Olympic team, when he failed to make the team though he worked as a trainee technician and boxed as a pro but didn't turn full-time professional boxer for some time after receiveing sponsorship. An inspired move that turned out to be.
McMillan was a fleet-footed boxer with lightning handspeed and as a technician few rivaled his style and application, his only problem seemed to be that he didn't seem to carry a knockout punch. A thinking man's fighter if you will and arguably the best prospect anywhere in boxing - his footwork was a delight and his hands as fast as anything out there.
'Sweet C' had superstar potential written all over him but disaster struck as he dislocated his shoulder in front of his home fans at Olympia in the first defense of his world featherweight title, and had to be carried on a stretcher, requiring surgery and never the same again.
I hope with Amir Khan everything goes sweet
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