They wasted their great potential - my top 5 list

[Tony1244]

Leon Spinks and Hector Camacho could have been better, but both loved to party up a storm, I reckon Leon still does.

[matthewcb]

Frankie Gavin was a waste in my mind.

All sorts of skill and ability, but his aversion to training and fighting at the wrong weight has meant he didn't fulfil his great potential.

[Tanzio]

Tyson doesn't belong to this group. He had achieved a lot......
The youngest HW champion, extremely popular, worldwide recognized...

I disagree. Tyson squandered his potential. That just goes to illustrate what immense potential he had. Mike reminds me of a Chinese meat cleaver. It is only stout enough for heavy jobs if the edge is expertly sharpened.

[tiny_acres]

Leon Spinks and Hector Camacho could have been better, but both loved to party up a storm, I reckon Leon still does.

Leon is clean and sober and has been for a numerous of years.

[Tony1244]

Leon Spinks and Hector Camacho could have been better, but both loved to party up a storm, I reckon Leon still does.

Leon is clean and sober and has been for a numerous of years.

He is? I heard he was working at a minimum wage job. Whats the point of his being clean and sober I ask only half kiddingly.

[littlepug]

Leon Spinks and Hector Camacho could have been better, but both loved to party up a storm, I reckon Leon still does.

Leon is clean and sober and has been for a numerous of years.

He is? I heard he was working at a minimum wage job. Whats the point of his being clean and sober I ask only half kiddingly.

minimum wage didn't need mentioning, WORKING was worth mentioning

[Tony1244]

Leon is clean and sober and has been for a numerous of years.

He is? I heard he was working at a minimum wage job. Whats the point of his being clean and sober I ask only half kiddingly.

minimum wage didn't need mentioning, WORKING was worth mentioning

I do see your point. My point was that unfortunately like too many boxers he isn't doing very well. No shame in minimum wage but it must be depressing for someone who was on top of the world.

[littlepug]

He is? I heard he was working at a minimum wage job. Whats the point of his being clean and sober I ask only half kiddingly.

minimum wage didn't need mentioning, WORKING was worth mentioning

I do see your point. My point was that unfortunately like too many boxers he isn't doing very well. No shame in minimum wage but it must be depressing for someone who was on top of the world.

fair comment

[tiny_acres]

He is? I heard he was working at a minimum wage job. Whats the point of his being clean and sober I ask only half kiddingly.

minimum wage didn't need mentioning, WORKING was worth mentioning

I do see your point. My point was that unfortunately like too many boxers he isn't doing very well. No shame in minimum wage but it must be depressing for someone who was on top of the world.

I'm trying to find a quote by Leon where he said something to the effect..... that he has no one to blame for his problems but himself. He's happy to take care of his wife and help underprivileged kids get off the street with boxing....
To me it sounds like he may not have money but he has his self respect back.
I wish him well

[Tony1244]

minimum wage didn't need mentioning, WORKING was worth mentioning

I do see your point. My point was that unfortunately like too many boxers he isn't doing very well. No shame in minimum wage but it must be depressing for someone who was on top of the world.

I'm trying to find a quote by Leon where he said something to the effect..... that he has no one to blame for his problems but himself. He's happy to take care of his wife and help underprivileged kids get off the street with boxing....
To me it sounds like he may not have money but he has his self respect back.
I wish him well

I wish him well too. Can't forget the headline: "Ali is the Greatest, but Spinks is the Latest." We were both born on July 11th. I was a huge fan starting with the his late amateur career right before he hit LH Olympic Gold. Irony is he is probably happier than a lot of wealthy people.

[ValMar]

Tyson doesn't belong to this group. He had achieved a lot......
The youngest HW champion, extremely popular, worldwide recognized...

I disagree. Tyson squandered his potential. That just goes to illustrate what immense potential he had. Mike reminds me of a Chinese meat cleaver. It is only stout enough for heavy jobs if the edge is expertly sharpened.

He was HW champion. Extremely popular champion....Enough for me.....

[Tanzio]

Tyson doesn't belong to this group. He had achieved a lot......
The youngest HW champion, extremely popular, worldwide recognized...

I disagree. Tyson squandered his potential. That just goes to illustrate what immense potential he had. Mike reminds me of a Chinese meat cleaver. It is only stout enough for heavy jobs if the edge is expertly sharpened.

He was HW champion. Extremely popular champion....Enough for me.....

Tyson's potential was greater than all those listed in your first post combined. He lost focus and made poor decisions that cost him his titles, his money and his freedom.

I acknowledge that he also accomplished far more than all those on that list combined too. That does not change the fact that he had the opportunity to be the GOAT, fabulously wealthy, etc..

I do appreciate the person who Tyson has become, btw, after all he has been through.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Zab Judah could have been better with more focus.
Shoulda started at 135,
and then max out at 140.

I know money is money, but Zab wasn't right at 147.
6 of his 9 losses was at welter.
Kinda like Broner, coulda been dominant 140 and below.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Judah is one of the most consistent fighters of the last few decades. He's a product of expectations beyond his talent and people not being able to admit they're wrong.

[Grant]

Now go easy on me here but i would like to throw Aussie Anthony Mundine into the mix. Fought and lost to Kessler when he was very inexperienced then made what i thought were a couple of bad career choices and had the chance to fight Mikkel again as the Champion. Was looking forward to that but it never happened. That fight could have made him. Then he dropped two divisions when he was really in his prime years but as i have said elsewhere if a prize fighters career was measured in dollars he was extremely successful.

[Like a Boss]

Mikey is still going.

If you are going to mention Mikey, Ward should be mentioned as well.

I can't see why?

[Like a Boss]

An argument could probably be made for the great Teofilo Stevenson.

[Grant]

An argument could probably be made for the great Teofilo Stevenson.

couldn't agree more. Were other Cubans allowed to go Pro?

[Jip]

Judah is one of the most consistent fighters of the last few decades. He's a product of expectations beyond his talent and people not being able to admit they're wrong.

judah fought a lot. but he didnt trained a lot. he was thin and athletic, in no way should he have gased against the better conditioned floyd. had he not lost condition in the second half of the fight, he would have won, he won the first half of the fight.

imagine the athletiscm and speed judah had, which was superior to floyd, which everybody could see during there fight, imagine judah with the talent he had with a training urgency a floyd or pac had, judah would probably be a atg top 10

[jezzamundo]

Judah is one of the most consistent fighters of the last few decades. He's a product of expectations beyond his talent and people not being able to admit they're wrong.

judah fought a lot. but he didnt trained a lot. he was thin and athletic, in no way should he have gased against the better conditioned floyd. had he not lost condition in the second half of the fight, he would have won, he won the first half of the fight.

imagine the athletiscm and speed judah had, which was superior to floyd, which everybody could see during there fight, imagine judah with the talent he had with a training urgency a floyd or pac had, judah would probably be a atg top 10

It was more than just Floyd's superior conditioning that won him that fight - after the third round he completely changed his fighting style, keeping his hands up and walking Zab down.

[Jip]

Judah is one of the most consistent fighters of the last few decades. He's a product of expectations beyond his talent and people not being able to admit they're wrong.

judah fought a lot. but he didnt trained a lot. he was thin and athletic, in no way should he have gased against the better conditioned floyd. had he not lost condition in the second half of the fight, he would have won, he won the first half of the fight.

imagine the athletiscm and speed judah had, which was superior to floyd, which everybody could see during there fight, imagine judah with the talent he had with a training urgency a floyd or pac had, judah would probably be a atg top 10

It was more than just Floyd's superior conditioning that won him that fight - after the third round he completely changed his fighting style, keeping his hands up and walking Zab down.

yeah, it was a combo of both. what you mentioned and the fact that judah didnt has as much energy left as he used to have beginning.

had judah prime pacquiao kind of condition, he would have countered with quiciker reflexes or put on some combos with more pop behind it. wouldve shoudve couldve, floyd won, but judah had an emens potential.

[jezzamundo]

judah fought a lot. but he didnt trained a lot. he was thin and athletic, in no way should he have gased against the better conditioned floyd. had he not lost condition in the second half of the fight, he would have won, he won the first half of the fight.

imagine the athletiscm and speed judah had, which was superior to floyd, which everybody could see during there fight, imagine judah with the talent he had with a training urgency a floyd or pac had, judah would probably be a atg top 10

It was more than just Floyd's superior conditioning that won him that fight - after the third round he completely changed his fighting style, keeping his hands up and walking Zab down.

yeah, it was a combo of both. what you mentioned and the fact that judah didnt has as much energy left as he used to have beginning.

had judah prime pacquiao kind of condition, he would have countered with quiciker reflexes or put on some combos with more pop behind it. wouldve shoudve couldve, floyd won, but judah had an emens potential.

immense?

It was a far closer fight than the judges had it. Zab clearly won rounds 1-3 and 12, so 116-112 (115-112 if the KD was counted) should be the widest any judge should have it. The 4th round is debatable, which if you give to Judah and count the KD becomes a 114-113 fight. I think Judah's mental frailty and lack of boxing brain would stop him from being an ATG, ever with better training.

[man]

Edwin Valero

i cannot believe it is 6 years, time flies

wow.

[Syntax Error]

Odlanier Solis has to feature on most lists of this type.

He was a disgrace who took obesity & laziness to new heights.

He had the talent to be an excellent HW, but sadly, it was never realised.

Michael Dokes, Greg Page & John Tate.

All excellent fighters who could & should have achieved more than they did.

[caldo2025]

1. Solis
2. Helenius
3. Gamboa
4. Chavez Jr.
5. M. Garcia

Remark : I hope M. Garcia will be back. I doubt this for the rest.

Please don't call me a Troll until you read my reasoning. but I honestly think that the greatest waste of potential is none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr. and it's not even close. Floyd is the most talented boxer that i've ever seen in my life and I honestly feel that we could have just witnessed the best boxer in history in our generation but history will not even come close to agreeing with that statement. Why? Because Floyd ducked and dodged the difficult fights and failed to test himself against the very best when they were at their very best. He held various titles for over a decade and never faced a #1 challenger. He safely navigated his career to avoid risks of any kind and focused more on money than solidifying his legacy through facing the best. And sadly, Floyd walked away without us ever seeing his best in the ring because he chose not to be tested. THAT is the saddest thing to me. We never ever saw him at his best so who knows how great he could be or was? That's unfulfilled potential and there's nothing sadder.