Consensus top prospects who never made the grade

[Lenny]

Matthew Thirwell
Leo O'Reilly
Ryan Rhodes?? Relatively speaking

[mickey1975]

Matthew Thirwell
Leo O'Reilly
Ryan Rhodes?? Relatively speaking

I really can't see how Rhodes never made the grade. Had a great career.

[SMALL AXE1]

Oscar De La Hoya ( Not the fishnet wearing Tranny, but the one from Ecuador who won the Olympics at lightweight in the 80s).

[palooka]

Engles Pedroza

[reggaereggae]

Engles Pedroza

Good one. I remember him, he had a big knockout streak.

Duane Bobick?

[palooka]

Rudy Zavala

[Bodyshot3]

Matthew Thirwell
Leo O'Reilly
Ryan Rhodes?? Relatively speaking

Good calls, especially Thirlwell who was heavily hyped at the time and perhaps overly so?
And you are entirely right to use the relatively speaking statement about Rhodes...excellent career but he was tipped to be so much more.

David Walker - part of the same heavly tipped crew as Matt Thirlwell I think - was bloody good to watch and pretty successful but was not really quite as good as he was first - and perhaps overly optimistically - billed.

To his credit, Walker delivered entertainment and effort...but both he and Matt were put on a hype train that did them few favours and over-stated where their careers were actually destined.

[Monte Fisto]

Matthew Thirwell
Leo O'Reilly
Ryan Rhodes?? Relatively speaking

I really can't see how Rhodes never made the grade. Had a great career.

I too was going to say rhodes, a good late rally, but I think he had the ability to have left a much greater legacy.

Depends of what "the grade" means, but if it means didn't fulfil their potential then I think I would agree with rhodes due to his ability.

[rpms]

Rhodes career was probably expected to mirror Naz's and his legacy suffers because of it I reckon

[Lenny]

Matthew Thirwell
Leo O'Reilly
Ryan Rhodes?? Relatively speaking

I really can't see how Rhodes never made the grade. Had a great career.

He did have a great career and his late comeback was an excellent story and shows the character of the bloke.

Could he have achieved more? I'd say yes.
Was more expected of him? Hell yes.

[Counter-puncher]

I'd agree on Rhodes, there, fellas, though it feels like its difficult to say that without wanting to seen critical, if you know what I mean?

Take a similar example, Jamie Moore, achieved basically to a very similar level, which makes me wonder why Ryan's name came up and his didn't.

And it makes me think that as someone has already mentioned, that the expectations themselves being premature, or slightly schewed, is a big part of some of these answers

[Counter-puncher]

I mean to say, Moore didn't have the same early buzz around him, wasn't the top prospect.

[mickey1975]

Rhodes was expected to equal Naz, his own fault, as he gave it all the Naz talk. He was never going to be THAT good, but I'd still say he had a great career. He earned well with Wazza, who turned on him in the Naz split and caused untold grief, got attacked outside of the ring, then came back and chinned Moore! He did alright...

[James Harte]

Michael Maguire

[Boxing Prospect]

Too soon to mention Callum Johnson and Joe Selkirk?

[orbtastic]

I suppose you could mention Jaffa, I know he used to post on here and get stick but having watched him live with his cornerman shouting at him and clearly showing frustration, he just didn't really seem like he wanted to be there. I know he had the hand problems but even before that he just never seemed particularly engaged with pro boxing.

[magwitch]

Rhodes career was probably expected to mirror Naz's and his legacy suffers because of it I reckon

Exactly the way I see it too. The pair were on the same Sky cards a lot of the time. Both would win and then Naz would talk massive and Sky would lap it up. Very much The Spice Boy at the time was Rhodes. He wasn't quite as precocious as Hamed though and it came apart for him a bit and so he looked after himself, shaved all his hair off and bounced back.
Woolcombe was probably fancied to beat him.....Moore was definitely fancied to beat him and on top of that he went 12 rounds comfortably - twice - at World level and I THINK may still be the youngest, if not fastest winner outright of the Lord Lonsdale Challenge Belt. It was a super career.

[palooka]

Rhodes career was probably expected to mirror Naz's and his legacy suffers because of it I reckon

Exactly the way I see it too. The pair were on the same Sky cards a lot of the time. Both would win and then Naz would talk massive and Sky would lap it up. Very much The Spice Boy at the time was Rhodes. He wasn't quite as precocious as Hamed though and it came apart for him a bit and so he looked after himself, shaved all his hair off and bounced back.
Woolcombe was probably fancied to beat him.....Moore was definitely fancied to beat him and on top of that he went 12 rounds comfortably - twice - at World level and I THINK may still be the youngest, if not fastest winner outright of the Lord Lonsdale Challenge Belt. It was a super career.

He also had a fantastic battle with Gary Lockett who was a very good box fighter and a punishing boxer to face, Ryan was really good.

[palooka]

Frankie Gavin hasn't made the grade how many thought he would.

[magwitch]

Frankie Gavin hasn't made the grade how many thought he would.

Correct about Locket. I'd forgotten about that fight. Saw Locket on TV doing his training job. What a nice guy he seems like. I think he'll do well as a trainer.

I was surprised at how casually Gavin was written.off against Kell Brook. I think what happened there is that Brook is bigger and stronger and just as good a boxer by the looks of it. Looking forward to seeing how far he can go.

[palooka]

Gary Lockett has posted on here before and he was really polite and not at all up himself - he seemed a man who was OK with himself, he didn't need to brag etc.

[rpms]

Top bloke is Gary,really nice calm guy but has that aura of authority about him,a bit like Rob McCracken personality wise.
He was quite a prodigy as a junior amateur wasn`t he,knocking them out for fun when kids that age don`t usually have ko-power.

[palooka]

Top bloke is Gary,really nice calm guy but has that aura of authority about him,a bit like Rob McCracken personality wise.
He was quite a prodigy as a junior amateur wasn`t he,knocking them out for fun when kids that age don`t usually have ko-power.

He did, I remember reading about him going abroad for a tournament, maybe Finland, and he stopped all 3 opponents over the weekend with body punches.

[steve689]

Francisco Bojado is the one that obviously springs to mind. Ricardo Williams as well.

Someone mentioned Michael Maguire. Forgot about him, where did he go?

[freddydoesdallas]

Ronnie Heffron has to be up there. A lot of hype around him early on and how he was going to be the Hatton etc. Not sure he's ended up getting a British title shot