Fighters who fell short ..

[theclawoftheTiger]

Name some fighters who fell very short of their potential,
here are some off the top of my head ..

Kirkland Laing
Herol Graham
Donald Curry
Mark Breland
George Collins
Ryan Rhodes
Dean Francis

.. Who else?

[USA4LIFE]

Andrew Golata?

[Rockin']

Carig Payne
Arthel Lawhorne

Rockin'

[scap]

Gerald McClellan
Lamar Parks
Michael Nunn

[JUYJUY]

Dean Francis is my buddy, I've known him for 13 years. I train at his Dad's gym in Basingstoke. Dean was the one with the natural talent, our stablemate Glenn Catley openly admits that he wasn't as talented as Dean but Glenn was the one who knuckled down, Glenn had heart and courage to go with a menacing bald head but he was an overachiever whereas Francis was an underachiever.

It was beautiful when you saw Deano Machino leap in with those left hooks and uppercuts with either hand. Dean trained at his Dad's gym mostly but he used to come and train at my gym (Empire) four weeks before each fight apart from championship fights where he trained in Jersey for four weeks, so I sparred Dean a lot of times at Empire. That man's body was Very Strong, it seemed as if you were punching a 300lb man because he wouldn't budge. Even though he looked more like a cruiserweight somehow fighting at 168, he never weighed any more than 12 stone believe it or not, and could eat everything in sight and not put on weight. Francis actually didn't have power, he honestly lacked punching power but it was just that he was able to put full momentum into a lot of his punches, he had that natural talent to get full momentum and when he did you'd feel like you were hit by a bus.. and then the follow-ups.. he had real force at times but not so much knockout power.

Francis' problem was that he was lazy, he never took boxing seriously enough and lacked discipline I suppose. Obviously his spells in prison didn't help. But Dean, he was drinking and smoking weed a lot and couldn't bring himself to train hard until a couple of weeks before a fight.

Dean has sparred with Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, they both gave him glowing praise. If Francis fought Calzaghe in the pro's, it could of gone either way.. probably wouldn't of lasted three rounds.

[BLOODSHED]

Wladamir Klitschko. Remember he was supposed to be better than Vitali?

[JUYJUY]

Oh and I also used to spar with Ryan Rhodes at Neville Brown's gym in Burton. Ryan was a heck of a prospect, very awkward and he could really whack for his naturally small size.

[Londonerz]

Oh and I also used to spar with Ryan Rhodes at Neville Brown's gym in Burton. Ryan was a heck of a prospect, very awkward and he could really whack for his naturally small size.

Ryan rhodes looked a great prospect....then it was realised he had zero defence.

[Brother Mouzone]

ike ibeabuchi
andrew golata
michael grant
panchito bojado
ricardo williams
david reid

[Orange Sneakers]

George Collins was better prospect than Amir Khan & Kevin Mitchell put together