If you view AB as a whole, singular entity operating on his own, then no, he did not underachieve--his lack of intelligence and character were always defects which would lead inexorably to his self-destruction.
If, on the other hand, you speculate on what AB could have achieved given ideal or near-ideal circumstances, such as a coach he trusted and had bonded with who guided him from his early teens onward, and an ideal support system (family, friends, etc.)--then yes, AB could have been far, far better than he has been.
Not at all. He just wasn't that good to begin with. All the excuses in the world won't change that he lost to a past best De Leon but got a gift. It won't change the fact that a finished Malignaggi pushed him to the wire in a close fight. And that's all before he lost any time he stepped up.
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