Biggest Waste of Heavyweight Talent of The Last 20 Years...

[DiegoFuego]

Easily Ike. He would destroy every guy in the current heavyweight division, and maybe could have beaten Lewis. This man outslugged David Tua after like 15 fights and KO'd Chris Byrd 7 years before anyone else did.

[Jim Jeffries]

Not now, but back in his prime. No one would give him a shot, guys like Ruiz, Rahman, Maskaev (recently) were getting titles shots and Tua only got one against Lennox Lewis of all people. Bad Management.

He probably would've gotten more than one shot had he not lost to Ibeabuchi and Byrd, ya think?

[DiegoFuego]

Discussing Ike is a good way to find out who's followed boxing for 3 years and who's followed it for a decade. It could go a long way in separating the clueless from the valuable posters here because it seems more and more that we just have these young dumbass posters come on here and hype guys like Kessler (0 impressive victories) and Calzaghe (10 year champion with 1 good win on his resume) for looking good against nobodies. Ike beat Tua in a SLUGGING match and KO'd a guy that was considered impossible to hit with a flush uppercut in Byrd. I mean that is ****ing insane when you consider he only had like 18 fights at the time. For comparison's sake, Andre Berto has 22 or 23 fights

[DiegoFuego]

Wladimir Klitschko had what 40 fights before he KO'd a faded Chris Byrd? Other than Ike, Tua has only lost to highly skilled boxers who went on to hold titles (Lewis, Byrd, should have lost to Rahman twice)

[MWMerlino]

The President--and its not even close. He was on his way to being an elite HW before he ****d that stripper and started hearing voices...

Everyone else at least had the ability to guide their careers. I guess Ike is getting out soon but he'll be 38 when he does and unless he's been lifting weights and boxing in the penn I doubt he'll resurrect his career...

[Guest]

Discussing Ike is a good way to find out who's followed boxing for 3 years and who's followed it for a decade. It could go a long way in separating the clueless from the valuable posters here because it seems more and more that we just have these young dumbass posters come on here and hype guys like Kessler (0 impressive victories) and Calzaghe (10 year champion with 1 good win on his resume) for looking good against nobodies. Ike beat Tua in a SLUGGING match and KO'd a guy that was considered impossible to hit with a flush uppercut in Byrd. I mean that is ****ing insane when you consider he only had like 18 fights at the time. For comparison's sake, Andre Berto has 22 or 23 fights

Ike had a great war with Tua, but Lewis really made beating Tua look ridiculously easy. He won basically 11 of the 12 rounds so I just really wonder if Ike would of perhaps lost had he kept going. We'll never know.

That uppercut that felled Byrd was sick as well and Ike seemed to have a lot of the tools necessary to be a great.

There were a lot of reports that Ike was doing some strange **** even before the Byrd fight so I suppose it was only a matter of time before he completely cracked.

[DiegoFuego]

Ike had a great war with Tua, but Lewis really made beating Tua look ridiculously easy. He won basically 11 of the 12 rounds so I just really wonder if Ike would of perhaps lost had he kept going. We'll never know.

That uppercut that felled Byrd was sick as well and Ike seemed to have a lot of the tools necessary to be a great.

There were a lot of reports that Ike was doing some strange **** even before the Byrd fight so I suppose it was only a matter of time before he completely cracked.

it was basically after the Tua left hook in round 11 that Ike went insane. that punch changed his life. I think Ike even said that he never felt right after that punch

[Stickman]

None of the above:

Corrie Sanders was, without question, the biggest waste of talent in any division that I can remember in a long, long time. A southpaw with enormous power, handspeed that would've been great even a couple divisions down, size, a great beard, natural talent and predatory instinct, good finisher, excellent skills, both offensive and defensive...only things he lacked were discipline/training and conditioning. The only time I remember seeing him in great shape, he blew out Wlad Klitschko like it was a walk through the park, ruined the kid for years.

If he'd ever bothered to train seriously, I think he'd have been nearly unstoppable.

Guys who for one reason or another couldn't pull it together mentally or physically to reach their immense potential as fighters...

1. Ike Ibeabuchi (imprisonment and mental instability)

2. Oliver Mccall (mental instability and well... crack!)

3. Michael Grant (china chin, perhaps was rushed into a championship fight to soon)

4. Golota (huge mental problems, can anyone say Golota-Bowe I and II?!?)

5. David Tua (never seemed to hone his skills in the ring to advance his arsenal past just being a contender with devestating punching power.

6. Tye Fields (because its fuc.king funny!)

7. James Toney (doesn't do the neccessary roadwork/strength training to get his body in great shape. Imagine how good he would have been if he was in excellent condition with his skills!)

8. Dominick Guinn (was touted as the next great heavyweight until he lost a bunch of stinkers, including getting dominated by Toney)

9. Tommy Gun Morrison (never could get it done on the grand stage. What a left hook though)

10. Other. Please Explain

[Guest]

None of the above:

Corrie Sanders was, without question, the biggest waste of talent in any division that I can remember in a long, long time. A southpaw with enormous power, handspeed that would've been great even a couple divisions down, size, a great beard, natural talent and predatory instinct, good finisher, excellent skills, both offensive and defensive...only things he lacked were discipline/training and conditioning. The only time I remember seeing him in great shape, he blew out Wlad Klitschko like it was a walk through the park, ruined the kid for years.

If he'd ever bothered to train seriously, I think he'd have been nearly unstoppable.

Yep, I said that earlier in the thread. His management was terrible.
And for not training, he laid a lot of guys out. He got it too a couple of times.

[Stickman]

Yep, I said that earlier in the thread. His management was terrible.
And for not training, he laid a lot of guys out. He got it too a couple of times.

Sorry, didn't read yours before I put mine up.

He was still standing when they stopped the Rahman fight (premature in my opinion), and against Vitali as well (definitely not premature).

I didn't get to see the Tubbs fight (2nd round KO), did he just get caught with a perfect shot?