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Lucian Bute stands out for me.
People were saying he was better than Ward etc. lol.
People were saying he was better than Ward etc. lol.
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Amir Khan.Comment
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Amir Khan. Dude's been starched twice and dropped more times than I can remember and he's still looked at highly by his fanbase. I will never understand...Comment
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Floyd. People say he can beat SRL etc... but let me tell you, Floyd isn't even in the era of Duran/SRL etc...
Who is Floyd's best win? All 3 of his best wins don't even equate to one of them in their prime.Comment
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Chad Dawson, I was a fan and backed him up since the Pascal loss.Comment
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Amir Khan, was and still is. I remember going many rounds with quality posters who thought this guy deserved a Floyd fight. Many rounds. Then are are people who believe they are sane who (still) do.Comment
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When considering how many things can derail a fighter, how circumstances can affect a fighter, how a few too many loses, or taking on an opponent too early can destroy a fighter, virtually 95% of fighters are hyped.
When we look and see the landscape of talented fighters....guys like Michael Grant, Juan Ma, Nando, Khan, Judah, and the list goes on and on....were these guys overhyped?
Then you have guys who fly under the radar, get the tools they need to succeed later, at a young age usually, but have not been put into the hype, man love machine....guys like Chisora, a guy who is maybe 25 and has fought world class comp already. A guy who has fought the most exciting heavyweight bought of the last few years arguably....(much to the chagrin of the boxing machine).
the problem is not the fighters, it is the hype machine. What is so horrible about a fighter taking loses to get better? A few guys can manage to get through all these obstructions, are lucky and maybe even get brought along properly. Lets look at Floyd and Ward carefully. Are they SO much better?
Neither guy is really superfast, or super athletic. Both guys learned from guys capable of teaching and supporting them. Floyd has a family with guys like Roger....yes Roger sounds like a moron but the guy is a boxing genius. And Ward came up under the tutilge of the same guy and support system...slowly and surely. Both of these guys have natural gifts but they also know the sport.
If more guys had the support of great trainers, great infrastructure and were not being exploited we would have less guys getting exposed....and if when a guy got exposed the ethic was "go back and correct the problem" we would have more champions that would make adjustments and not fall down.
The secret is that America loves out heroes almost as much as we love to see them fail. Mike Tyson syndrome. "Mike we love you, you arethe best ever.....Mike you are a rapist, a criminal and a quitter."Comment
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Bute was a big slab of disappointment; came billed as Froch's nemesis and the man with the guns to clear up the debris and win all the belts in the aftermath of the gruelling Super Six tournament.
But Bute left Nottingham with his head very publicly shoved right-up his own backside by Froch. Definitely not the Destroyer of Nations he was advertised as...but I did not actually see that one coming.
So - predicatably - it has to be Audley Harrison. Right from the outset he looked over-hyped, unwilling to make the big changes in style and preparation he needed to and thought he could get to the top without listening to anyone else.
Can clearly remember Dominic Negus - a guy with the most basic levels of ability and technique - being able to suddenly make things ugly and difficult for Audley for a round or so..with Negus being able to make it a street brawl and Audley suddenly looking spooked.
Audley won the fight and Negus took a battering but he should not have actually taken a punch himself against that kind of 'Z' list opposition and that was very telling indeed. Sorry Audley...but it is you again!Comment
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