who showed promise in the amateurs..BUT

[handsofstone]

I've never enjoyed watching Zou Shiming since he turned over

[Ezzard]

Bernard Superbad Mays was supposed to be the middleweight Ray Leonard

[reggaereggae]

Ricardo Samms. 4 pro wins. Made it to Olympic box offs. Then he found a girl, got a degree and is now working in the states

Completely forgot he existed. Decent shout.

There was also a West Ham kid called Dudley o Shaughnessy or somethimg. Think he won the ABAs was a puncher, looked like he would make a good pro....

Then he Cobra'd Rhianna and disappeared. Retired; never went pro.

[orbtastic]

Bernard Superbad Mays was supposed to be the middleweight Ray Leonard

Great call.

Very interesting story too.

[reggaereggae]

Bernard Superbad Mays was supposed to be the middleweight Ray Leonard

Great call.

Very interesting story too.

I never heard of this guy; so googled and found this interesting thread on Boxrec.
http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41023

What a sad story; not just because he was a talented boxer but the story shows the power of alcoholism. The fact he drunk himself to death at 33 is pretty frightening in itself

[orbtastic]

Yeah, I saw an article like that a few years ago after reading the Hearns biography where Steward talked effusively about May. Started drinking at the age of 12 and dead by the time he was 33, pretty crazy story.

This is a post I made on another forum on exactly the same topic:

I just did a bit of googling because the story interested me so much and what you say seems to be the general gist of the guy.

I didn't realise but by all accounts his talent wasn't natural the way it supposedly was with SRL (Manny says that at 15 he was easily the most naturally gifted fighter he's seen) and that it was purely by chance that Manny came upon this guy as he was short of fighters to train and he ended up giving him something close to a year's one on one tutelage but because he was THAT good, by the time he was 15/16 he was bored of it all - and had the fame etc (2000 people cramming in to see a 12 year old box?!?!) and had already started drinking etc that like you say, turned pro with someone else so he could continue his habits.

His last pro fight ended in a stoppage, apparently a body shot that his inflamed pancreas couldn't take.

My googling took me to a few discussions elsewhere and a few other names cropped up that i'm not entirely sure fit the bill but Kelcie Banks had a fantastic ama run but just never really got anywhere as a pro..again, don't know too much about him but definitely remember the name.

Breland is by all accounts one of the, if not THE greatest ama of modern times but his pro career sort of fizzled out really, certainly in direct comparison to his ama career. I mean, as a child he was beating everyone on the world scene. Marlon Starling said that his jab was just something he's never encountered before or since and he sparred the likes of Hearns and Hill and fought Nunn, Blocker, Honeyghan and Curry etc.

Johnny Bumphus is another who seemingly was destined for great things after a pretty good ama career but apparently coke and crack did for him?

[rpms]

Ricardo Samms. 4 pro wins. Made it to Olympic box offs. Then he found a girl, got a degree and is now working in the states

Completely forgot he existed. Decent shout.

There was also a West Ham kid called Dudley o Shaughnessy or somethimg. Think he won the ABAs was a puncher, looked like he would make a good pro....

Then he Cobra'd Rhianna and disappeared. Retired; never went pro.

Yeah nice marketable kid too,beat Skeete in the ABA final if I remember correctly.
It`s a very long way from the grind of a top amateur career to being a very well-paid model,best of luck to him though

[palooka]

Ricardo Samms. 4 pro wins. Made it to Olympic box offs. Then he found a girl, got a degree and is now working in the states

Completely forgot he existed. Decent shout.

There was also a West Ham kid called Dudley o Shaughnessy or somethimg. Think he won the ABAs was a puncher, looked like he would make a good pro....

Then he Cobra'd Rhianna and disappeared. Retired; never went pro.

O thought Glen Foot beat him in the final?

[manno]

Ricardo Samms. 4 pro wins. Made it to Olympic box offs. Then he found a girl, got a degree and is now working in the states

Completely forgot he existed. Decent shout.

There was also a West Ham kid called Dudley o Shaughnessy or somethimg. Think he won the ABAs was a puncher, looked like he would make a good pro....

Then he Cobra'd Rhianna and disappeared. Retired; never went pro.

O thought Glen Foot beat him in the final?

Duds lost to liam cameron twice, saw him lose a thriler in cyp final in wintergdns blackpool. Skeete beat foot in cyp final a few year ago but Glenns trainer screamed blue murder at the time. O shaunessey was verry exciting and talented but dont think he would have Won titles imo

[mickey1975]

Dudley hardly disappeared. He's on MTV every five minutes in that Rhianna video. He's a top model as well, and Cobra'd her... Beats £1000 every few months for getting your head punched in.

[reggaereggae]

Dudley hardly disappeared. He's on MTV every five minutes in that Rhianna video. He's a top model as well, and Cobra'd her... Beats £1000 every few months for getting your head punched in.

Fair point. Definitely the right decision. And he can go around Cobraing many girls without worrying about whether it takes the strength out of his legs.

[palooka]

I hope Dudly doesn't bump intro Froch, 'Cobra'd' is a trade mark.

[magwitch]

There are very few top amateurs who don't at least make 'good' pros. There are plenty that don't live up to their amateur pedegrees: Henry Tillman and Jorge Luis Gonzalez would be two examples.

I think I saw something about Gonzalez the other day. I'd never heard of him. Won a medal for the USA at the 84 Olympics if it's the same guy.

[reggaereggae]

There are very few top amateurs who don't at least make 'good' pros. There are plenty that don't live up to their amateur pedegrees: Henry Tillman and Jorge Luis Gonzalez would be two examples.

I think I saw something about Gonzalez the other day. I'd never heard of him. Won a medal for the USA at the 84 Olympics if it's the same guy.

You're thinking of Paul Gonzales (I mentioned him earlier :-) - he won a gold medal in 1984, and was billed as being the first man who was going to win world titles in 6 divisions. Ultimately he disappointed, didn't win one. I think it was Orlando Canizales who derailed him

[magwitch]

Stevenson would have beat them all, just like Big George says in this tribute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAFvQUyA470

Cheers Reggae for the correction!

Enjoyed this video. Teofilo looks like a bigger, ganglier version of Bruno (sorry for the comparison but I aint got too many other such men by way of a frame of reference). He's got some serious height, looks about 6'8'' to me, some nice feet and obvious power. There's probably a chapter on him in In The Red Corner; a journey into Cuban boxing. I've never actually read it cover to cover but what I have is good.

I think George actually stops just short of saying he and Ali would lose, but it was as close to an admission as you'll get!

[Coco]

Solis is another one you could add, another one who easily had the talent but caught fat American disease, who is to say Stevenson wouldn't have gone the same way

[Boxerbeetle]

Enjoyed this video. Teofilo looks like a bigger, ganglier version of Bruno (sorry for the comparison but I aint got too many other such men by way of a frame of reference). He's got some serious height, looks about 6'8'' to me, some nice feet and obvious power. There's probably a chapter on him in In The Red Corner; a journey into Cuban boxing. I've never actually read it cover to cover but what I have is good.

In The Red Corner isn't really a journey into Cuban boxing, it's basically the story of a writer who goes to live in Cuba for a while in an attempt to set-up a fight between Tyson & Savon. I think there is a chapter looking at Kid Gavilan & Kid Chocolate, but that's about it for history as far as I recall. It's worth a full read anyway imo.

As for boxers who showed promise in the amateurs but never lived up to it in the pro's, there was loads of hype surrounding Daniel Teasdale from a very young age, but obviously it didn't work out for him.

[Londonirish]

Joe Gallagher trained a lad who won 2 national schoolboy titles at same time as Ricky Hatton, and he was reckoned to be at least as good as Hatton, in fact they boxed an exhibition bout in Germany (I think) and he looked to have the edge. You wonder what sort of career he could have had if he hadn't made some wrong choices.

What was his name? Halton won Class A School boys at 42kg beating and Micheal Bury in the finals the following year I was in the 42kg Class A..




Adrian Dodson was a Great Am..

[palooka]

Patrick Blue Boy Gallagher was a really good amateur - junior champ, represented England and ABA champ - he beat some good fighters.

[Londonirish]

Joe Gallagher trained a lad who won 2 national schoolboy titles at same time as Ricky Hatton, and he was reckoned to be at least as good as Hatton, in fact they boxed an exhibition bout in Germany (I think) and he looked to have the edge. You wonder what sort of career he could have had if he hadn't made some wrong choices.

What was his Name? Hatton won the Class 42kg beating and Stopping Micheal Bury in the Final the following year I was in the Class 42kg..

Adrian Dodson was a Great Am..

[stevedoc]

Joe Gallagher trained a lad who won 2 national schoolboy titles at same time as Ricky Hatton, and he was reckoned to be at least as good as Hatton, in fact they boxed an exhibition bout in Germany (I think) and he looked to have the edge. You wonder what sort of career he could have had if he hadn't made some wrong choices.

What was his Name? Hatton won the Class 42kg beating and Stopping Micheal Bury in the Final the following year I was in the Class 42kg..

Adrian Dodson was a Great Am..

When I see you martin at about 13 I told everyone to keep an eye on you a future champ..

[Londonirish]

Joe Gallagher trained a lad who won 2 national schoolboy titles at same time as Ricky Hatton, and he was reckoned to be at least as good as Hatton, in fact they boxed an exhibition bout in Germany (I think) and he looked to have the edge. You wonder what sort of career he could have had if he hadn't made some wrong choices.

What was his Name? Hatton won the Class 42kg beating and Stopping Micheal Bury in the Final the following year I was in the Class 42kg..

Adrian Dodson was a Great Am..

When I see you martin at about 13 I told everyone to keep an eye on you a future champ..

Nice one mate Thanks Maybe I should of done a bit more as a pro but I hated Training fell out of love with it and wasn't in the gym much approaching fight..

[Manchester Massive]

Joe Gallagher trained a lad who won 2 national schoolboy titles at same time as Ricky Hatton, and he was reckoned to be at least as good as Hatton, in fact they boxed an exhibition bout in Germany (I think) and he looked to have the edge. You wonder what sort of career he could have had if he hadn't made some wrong choices.

What was his Name? Hatton won the Class 42kg beating and Stopping Micheal Bury in the Final the following year I was in the Class 42kg..

Adrian Dodson was a Great Am..

Levi Tute, won 2 schoolboy titles, I've seen the clip of him sparring Hatton in an exhibition bout and he looks to have the edge

[Londonirish]

Joe Gallagher trained a lad who won 2 national schoolboy titles at same time as Ricky Hatton, and he was reckoned to be at least as good as Hatton, in fact they boxed an exhibition bout in Germany (I think) and he looked to have the edge. You wonder what sort of career he could have had if he hadn't made some wrong choices.

What was his Name? Hatton won the Class 42kg beating and Stopping Micheal Bury in the Final the following year I was in the Class 42kg..

Adrian Dodson was a Great Am..

Levi Tute, won 2 schoolboy titles, I've seen the clip of him sparring Hatton in an exhibition bout and he looks to have the edge

I remember Hatton fought Levi Coats (sure it was Levi not his borther Albert?) what a fight that was!!

[ERIC GUY]

ricky boxed albert coates, nabc at leicester, went 3 rounds hatton on points