I have just finished reading a piece on former Super-Bantamweight prospect Spencer 'The Omen' Oliver and it got me thinking about what he accomplished and what could have been.
First thing is that I never realised that Spencer came from such a fighting family. His grandfather fought in the fairground booths, his father fought as an amateur, his uncle john also boxed as a professional as did Spencers older brother Danny who fought in the USA. I think this maybe him?
http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=127066
Spencer had a sucsessfull amatuer Boxing for England winning Bronze at the multi-nations and a silver at the Commenwealth games both in 1994. There was talk of Spencer going to Olympics but he became disillusioned wih the amateur game and decieded to turn professional.
Spencer Oliver embarked on a fast moving professional career winning the European Super-Bantamweight Title in only his 11 fight!! He is best remembered for his domestic classic with the then unbeaten Patrick Mullings.
Before the ill fated final fight against Serguei Devakov a fight Oliver was expected to win with little trouble there was talk of big money fights with fellow Super-Bantam prospect Michael Brodie and then a move up to 9st to tackle Naseem Hamed. Sadly this never happened.
Spencer Oliver was very highly regarded by many in the fight game and big things were expected from him. He had a crowd pleasing all action style, good skills and respectable power mainly in his right hand, from what I recall.
How far do you guys think he could have gone? What would have happened if 'The Omen' had fought Brodie or Hamed?
Any thoughts, opinions or memories fight fans?
Spencer Oliver Revisited.
This is going to sound OTT, but I truly believe Oliver had the talent to be one of the greatest fighters this country had ever produce. He could fight, move and punch. His chin was untested (I would like to forget about his final fight - he wasn't right there). He was superb.
What age was he 22? and dominating at European level, always thought he was significantly more complete than Brodie.
Its a double shame about his final fight, because it was his first fight where he made a Hamed esque entrance. I don't know if the pressure of that entrance played something to his performance, but it is a shame that it happend with all that build up - he was gaining national TV exposure that week aswell (through chat shows) and was getting noticed.
His movement was similar to Paul Ingle (how ironic) but he had that little bit more snap in his punches and I think could war it better than Ingle. Ingle achieved world title honours in his short career and gave Hamed fits. I think Oliver would have done the same, perhaps even beat the Prince.
What age was he 22? and dominating at European level, always thought he was significantly more complete than Brodie.
Its a double shame about his final fight, because it was his first fight where he made a Hamed esque entrance. I don't know if the pressure of that entrance played something to his performance, but it is a shame that it happend with all that build up - he was gaining national TV exposure that week aswell (through chat shows) and was getting noticed.
His movement was similar to Paul Ingle (how ironic) but he had that little bit more snap in his punches and I think could war it better than Ingle. Ingle achieved world title honours in his short career and gave Hamed fits. I think Oliver would have done the same, perhaps even beat the Prince.
Yeah i reckon he has put on a fair bit of weight Tony, must admit i have never seen him fight that i can recall, i must get some of his bouts on tape.tonyevs wrote:Spencer was a very good fighter to watch, all action and good skills.
I don`t think he`d have had any chance against Hamed but against Brodie he could have made a good stand for a while.
What is he weighing now though, I could not get over the size on him last time Sky had him on.