There is a difference between guys who were inherently undeserving of a title shot and not very good fighters..........and those who are undeserving of a title shot and once good/great fighters shot and a shell of a man they once were.sevenofgeorge wrote:With Samuel Peter and Shannon Briggs ready to face their respective Klitschko brother, I want to pose the question of who are the worst of the worst heavy weight challengers?
First that comes to mind is Riddick Bowe vs both Michael Dokes and Jesse Ferguson. Next would be Tyson vs Tony Tubbs. Holmes' worst would be Zanon, Evangelista, LeDoux, Leon Spinks and a washed up Ali. Of Ali's opponents, I would say Coopman, Dunn and Evangelista. Joe Louis had a few duds during his tenure though my favorite has to be the aptly named Johnny Paychek, who lasted one round to earn his pay cheque.
In fairness to Rademacher, he made a decent fist of his career, all things considered. They threw him to the wolves from the outset, & looking over the rest of his career, they never stopped doing just that. His competition is fantastic.crusader wrote:Pete Rademacher without doubt. No professional bouts and never went on to do anything significant. Far worse challenger then the likes of Peter, Arreola, Cobb, Wepner, etc...
Bit harsh on David Bey, he ended up as a trialhorse but at the time he was unbeaten and coming off a win over Greg Page. I would say Roman, Roper, anyone Herbie Hide beat in his paper championship bouts, Zyglewicz, Terry Daniels, Ray Austin, Coopman and Zanon, for starters.[/quote]Flump wrote:There is a difference between guys who were inherently undeserving of a title shot and not very good fighters..........and those who are undeserving of a title shot and once good/great fighters shot and a shell of a man they once were.
As you rightly pointed out guys Larry Holmes feasted on such as Scott Frank, Evangelista David Bey,Le Doux, Leon Spinks and Randall Tex Cobb fall into the first category.
Guys like Holyfield, Dokes fall into the latter.
Samuel Peter was perhaps the no 1 challenger to the Klitchkos the first time he met Wladimir but he was totally shot in his match against Vitali and it is a wretched wretched fight to have been made right now, just shows the sorry state of the HW division.
mugabi wrote:Bit harsh on David Bey, he ended up as a trialhorse but at the time he was unbeaten and coming off a win over Greg Page. I would say Roman, Roper, anyone Herbie Hide beat in his paper championship bouts, Zyglewicz, Terry Daniels, Ray Austin, Coopman and Zanon, for starters.Flump wrote:There is a difference between guys who were inherently undeserving of a title shot and not very good fighters..........and those who are undeserving of a title shot and once good/great fighters shot and a shell of a man they once were.
As you rightly pointed out guys Larry Holmes feasted on such as Scott Frank, Evangelista David Bey,Le Doux, Leon Spinks and Randall Tex Cobb fall into the first category.
Guys like Holyfield, Dokes fall into the latter.
Samuel Peter was perhaps the no 1 challenger to the Klitchkos the first time he met Wladimir but he was totally shot in his match against Vitali and it is a wretched wretched fight to have been made right now, just shows the sorry state of the HW division.
Harsh perhaps, but considering he came in over weight and only lasted two rounds makes him not the best of choices. Then again Tyson was killing everyone at that time so maybe Tony was screwed period. Tony could kick my ass any day of the week, in shape or not, but he was often labeled as an under achiever who never made the most of his in ring skills. Of all the guys I mentioned in the first post minus a faded Ali and a washed up Dokes, Tubbs is the best of the bunch.mugabi wrote:yes including tubbs is very very harsh. Tony was a talented and good guy.