Who Did You Think Was a Sure Fire Bet To Be Champ?

[HomicideHenry]

Was there ever a guy out there, who you thought was destined to be champion, but it never happened?

For me, I always thought:

-Tommy Morrison
-Ray Mercer
-Herbie Hide

As far as heavyweights go, would have become world champion. Sure each of those men held the WBO strap, but at the time it wasnt deemed a real title, that the WBC/WBA/IBF were the bosses. My father, on the other hand, thought Gerry Cooney would have become champion. I think, had he fought Coetzee rather than Holmes, he could have been.

[dr_devious]

I always thought that David Tua would hold at least one of the main belts at some point, seems like his time has passed.
I thought Razor Ruddock would win the title in the early 90s too.
Agree about Mercer, thought he would too. Hide was always too chinny.

[Seamus]

Kenny Gould

[hhaehre]

In a weak division Kirk Johnson looked like the real thing after destroying Maskaev but boy was I wrong on that one.

[My2Sense]

Yaqui Lopez after he destroyed Mike Rossman.

Incredibly, it was Rossman who became champ.

[bjermaine]

I always thought that David Tua would hold at least one of the main belts at some point, seems like his time has passed.
I thought Razor Ruddock would win the title in the early 90s too.
Agree about Mercer, thought he would too. Hide was always too chinny.

i agree with tua. thought he would win a title instead it was ruiz who goes on the win a belt.

it was sad to watch him last week but i remember watching omar sheika on tuesday night fights 12 years ago and thinking it was just a matter of time for him to be champ.

[Pill_85]

My biggest mistake was predicting Lee Haskins to go on and win a world title.

[SLK]

From the amateurs and very early pro fights, Bojado. Then the wheels came off

[Robinson]

I always thought Grant would become champ.
In 2000 I never thought he would beat Lewis
but I never expected him to be blown away
like he was.

I just thought by that stage that he would
lose, and come back at a later stage, say
the following year or two.

In 1999 I believed he would be the next big
champion.

How wrong I was.

[HomicideHenry]

I asked my father this same question the other day, and he replied, as far as heavyweights were concerned, in his life time, he would have thought Jerry Quarry and Gerry Cooney would have been champions; he also thought, after seeing Foreman edge Alex Stewart, that Stewart could have became something as well, considering how grossly beaten up George was.

Another two who come to my mind, as far as HW's go, were Fransisco Damaini and Zeljko Mavrovic, who gave Lennox Lewis problems. Unfortunately, Damaini was never the same following his loss to Ray Mercer and "Zed" came down with an illness that took him out of boxing forever, I believe it was muscular dystrophy or something to that nature.

I also thought Pierre Coetzer would have become something too, but after losses to Foreman, Bowe, and Bruno it was apparent that Coetzer was good, but just a notch below the best HW's of the day, and considering it was the 1990's (arguably the second best era for HW's) that isnt so bad.

[Seamus]

From the most boring division. Ike Ibeabuchi and Andrew Golota.

[BoxBuzz]

I thought Dokes and Page were headed that way......and thought it would have been great to see them face one another. None of these events materialized.


When Page beat Young even granberry took notice.

[Dart340]

ESPN did a great job building up guys.

I believed John Meekins was a shoe-in for a long title reign.

I also believed Ed Hopson was a Pernell Whittaker in the making.

Oh, how wrong I was.

[BoxBuzz]

USA hyped Ed Mahone in that fashion....I wasn't drinkin' the KoolAid

[jaclem2]

..not sure fire...but i thought oba carr had a good chance to become welterweight champion.

[tennessee]

lonnie bradley in the mid 90's middleweight, won the wbo title but must of had some problems i thought he was going to be great

[Matt W]

Not exactly sure fire due to his nature but I thought Golota could and probably should have won a title.

[AngryGoon38]

Lawrence Cley Bey-"Reminded me of Ray Mercer but i thought he was a better skilled version of Mercer...Quicker and Busier."
Ike Ibeabuchi-"Seemed like an obvious future great"
David Tua-"Seemed like a tank and hit like a truck...i thought,now this beast is a sure bet to be the next Tyson"
Chris Byrd-"I just knew after the 1st bout i seen em in"..."Even though it was only against Waxxom Fikes"
Jorge Luis Gonzalaz- "I guess the size and the Image fooled me for awhile."

[metchampion]

Roy Rowland
Collin Derrick
Jimmy Flint

[Young Edward]

Ayone remember Eusebio Pedroza? I thought for sure at one point he would clean up for a long time. But no...

[Young Edward]

oops. I meant Engels Pedroza.