Any fighters come to mind when you hear the term "unfulfilled potential"?

[SOPH~ REP.]

Andre 'The Matrix ' Dirrell has all the physical tools to be an all time great but the head on his shoulders

[Guest]

Andre 'The Matrix ' Dirrell has all the physical tools to be an all time great but the head on his shoulders

His next fight will tell us everything.

He wasted a lot of time. We'll see if he is what he was.

I don't think so though.

[JJRod]

Andre 'The Matrix ' Dirrell has all the physical tools to be an all time great but the head on his shoulders

His brother has a lot of talent too.

[b00g13man]

tokumbo olijidae, or however you spell it.......

Whoa!!! Forgot about him completely.

[Tay Roc]

Floyd Mayweather
Manny Pacquiao

[vorgaphe]

I think Zab Judah and Golota are two of the best shouts on here.

[b-litus88]

Gamboa has all the tools and the skill set to be great. He always comes to mind when I think about wasted potential

[TintaBoricua]

Victor Ortiz
Jermain Taylor

I wouldn't exactly categorize them as "unfulfilled potential". Yes, they could've been better, but they did WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more career-wise than Joan Guzman did. Taylor became the UNDISPUTED middleweight champion, drew with Winky Wright, beat Cory Spinks, fought Kelly Pavlik twice, fougt Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham. He crashed spectacularly towards the end of his career with those really bad back to back KO losses to Froch and Abraham but he had a REALLY good run at it.

Victor Ortiz falls enormously short to Taylor's accomplishments, but he fought some big names and was always in the fight regardless who he fought. With names like Marcos Maidana, Lamont Peterson, Josesito López, Floyd Mayweather, Luis Collazo, he merits some kudos. With perhaps the exception of Floyd and Collazo (only because of how early it ended), he was competitive in those fights.

Franky Gomez
Andre Berto
Victor Ortiz
Both dirrell brothers haven't lived up to their talent
James Krkland
Francisco Bojado
Ricardo Williams
Joel Julio
Rocky Juarez

I remember Joel Julio...the love child. Unfortunately, all I remember him is for his losses to Quintana and Kirkland.

Odlanier Solis - you idle fat ****.

ROFL!!!

Joan Guzman and Chad Dawson

Kinda ironic that both was with Mayweather Sr and became world champions with him. After they left him it went all down hill after that. Guzman couldn't make wait and Dawson got to the Top and was one of the best P4P Fighters and just stopped working hard

I agree that Dawson could've been a lot better, but at least he had some names in there, though. Tarver and Glen Johnson twice each, Tomasz Adamek, fought Jean Pascal, and beat Bernard Hopkins convincingly before making the mistake of going down in weight to chase Andre Ward. His subsequent implosion against Stevenson pretty much took all the momentum off of his career.

David Reid. Why match making and a willingness to throw in the towel is required.

Wow, yes. David Reid. An Olympian whose stubbornness would not allow him to yield against a young juggernaut in Tito Trinidad. What a beating that poor bastard took.

I'm not sure Ortiz was ever that good. He had his moments in fights but he faded badly in lots of them. He's a bit like Zab, except Zab was much more talented.

Agree on James Toney. He could have been whatever he wanted.

Depending on how deep you want to dig, I think you could look at a guy like Amir Khan as not having fulfilled his potential too. In his amateur years his handspeed was so exceptional several other aspects of his game got ignored. Imagine how good he could be/have been if he was technically sounder.

Apart from the ones who didn't seem to have it upstairs, those guys who have a severe imbalance in their skillset are the ones you look at and think they could have been incredible with the right development. Broner is a guy who's development went wrong. Fights in the wrong style given the things he's good at. A sharp, accurate combination puncher with fast hands waddling around the ring in a shell posture. He's an offensive fighter who tries to fight as a counter-puncher. It just doesn't work.

Matthysse is another one. If he had Golovkin's technical schooling he could have been immense. Unlike Golovkin he's too uncertain in initiating offence and doesn't have the same quality of foot placement. He boxes too much for the natural bruiser he is. If he was more creative in setting up attacks he'd be twice the fighter he is.

Excellent post.

He was a real talent at HW, I'm still baffled at his behaviour in the bowe fights.
Totally dominating and then threw it away.

I don't understand that either. Golota was right there in the trenches with Bowe giving him all he could handle...and then he threw--not one--but both fights away.

His next fight will tell us everything.

He wasted a lot of time. We'll see if he is what he was.

I don't think so though.

I agree. Andre Dirrell was one of my favorites during the Super Six...I remember the boards going hard on him when they aired one of the Super Six episodes and they asked Dirrell what was the name of the doctor that gave him the results (about his head injury from the Abraham disqualification), and he went, "Uhhhhh...Dr. Shaw...hi."

Gamboa has all the tools and the skill set to be great. He always comes to mind when I think about wasted potential

His fighting style and abilities remind me of a young Roy Jones, Jr. Unfortunately, jumping ship to 50 cent slowed down his activity immensely. He sat on the shelf for way too long.

[IMDAZED]

Rid**** Bowe
Ricardo Williams
Panchito Bojado
Joan Guzman
Kelly Pavlik

[piojo del norte]

Odlanier Solis - you idle fat ****.

I agree, I thought this guy was going to make it big, he is running out of time it might be over for him

Prince Naseem Hamed.

Sure, he's being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.

Sure, over here in Britain at least he's considered to be great but then again people like to hype up one of their own.

He was certainly good. He could have been great.

I think he did alright for himself. Let's not forget about the money he made. After all, this is a job

CHavez Jr.

Has the Chin, the power, and the fanbase to be to be great for the sport....he also could care less.

Andrew Golota could have been good but his mental demons were the worst I've seen.

I agree that Broner could be on that path, his management (and lack of defense) might be his doom though.

Marvis Frazi.....hahahahahahaha

Panchito Bojado
Ricardo Williams

Frankie Gomez might be going that path

Chavez Jr. Still has time, but it's running out