When you knew they were special

[coghaugen11]

Ali/Cleveland Williams, Hamed/Vincenzo Belcastro, Jones Jr/Thomas Tate, and Eubank Sr/Denys Cronin

I remember seeing this on regional London TV (also on Eurosport), I remember Denys Cronin as a top international amateur who had one-shot kayos as a pro.

To stand still on front of an opponent and counter in combination with power without a care in the world like that was pretty damn impressive - reflexes, timing and technique

[JimJim2009]

I know he was hardly a secret by then but when Naz utterly toyed with Belcastro for 12 rounds, despite being a total novice, that stood out for me. I'd managed a brief chat with Brendan Ingle at the Wharton/Benn show, and he mentioned this young kid Naz, who was going to turn the boxing world upside down, and soon afterwards Naz made Belcastro look like he'd never stepped foot in a boxing ring before. I went to see his next fight down in Sheffield where he defended the European title, blowing his opponent away in three rounds. Loads of names on that bill, Scrap Iron Ryan, Clifton Mitchell, Robin Reid, Duke McKenzie, Kevin Adamson and Michael Carruth and I sat next to a young Johnny Nelson for most of it :)

[coghaugen11]

I had heard about Hamed, never seen him til Belcastro fight. I was like, WTF!

[coghaugen11]

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Former+b ... a078883809

Oh dear.

He was tough, rough with an awesome physique, tight defense and dangerous hook.

[mickey1975]

Naz about 13.

[MightyWarrior]

When Eubank easily beat Anthony Logan, who’d just gone life & death with Benn. I knew he’d beat Benn then as well.

[margaret thatcher]

well maybe not quite special, but i watched some of sergey kovalevs early fights and it was obvious he was going places, he was hurting and koing guys just with jabs, and then the way he destroyed campillo after campy had just got robbed vs cloud was really impressive

[gilgamesh]

Terence Crawford when I first saw him against Breidis Prescott I knew he was sharp enough that he'd be a problem for a long time to come.

I had seen Ennis before, but over the weekend was the first time that I saw that he's pretty much a lock to become a World Champion.

I actually knew Lomachenko would go on to great things even when he lost to Salido. Because even though he lost it was only his 2nd bout, and he finished the fight stronger than Salido. I chalked it up to he was trying too much to pace himself, and worrying too much about trying to point out he was being fouled to the ref rather than just responding in kind. He learned a lot from that fight, and hasn't repeated those mistakes.

[oogiebe]

Ray Leonard/Adolfo Viruet. Thought Viruet would be tougher for Ray than he was. He put up a good fight, but it showed me Ray was special alright.

[gilgamesh]

well maybe not quite special, but i watched some of sergey kovalevs early fights and it was obvious he was going places, he was hurting and koing guys just with jabs, and then the way he destroyed campillo after campy had just got robbed vs cloud was really impressive

Yep Kovalev caught my eye with the Campillo destruction as well. Campillo was coming off of two robbery losses actually. Cloud and Shumenov. He beat both handily I thought, and then here comes Kovalev just running through him like a hot knife through butter.

[margaret thatcher]

Ah yes, Crawdaddy, his special moment for me was when he KTFO Andre Gorges

[gilgamesh]

Ray Leonard/Adolfo Viruet. Thought Viruet would be tougher for Ray than he was. He put up a good fight, but it showed me Ray was special alright.

This reminds me of another one. Miguel Cotto vs Lovemore Ndou. Though he had won more impressively prior to this fight, this one showed me that Cotto had the grit necessary to tough it out when challenged. Ndou gave him a hard night, and Cotto just got by with a 115-113 type win, but he showed grit and the ability to adjust in this fight. A crucial element to succeeding at the highest level.

[oogiebe]

Ray Leonard/Adolfo Viruet. Thought Viruet would be tougher for Ray than he was. He put up a good fight, but it showed me Ray was special alright.

This reminds me of another one. Miguel Cotto vs Lovemore Ndou. Though he had won more impressively prior to this fight, this one showed me that Cotto had the grit necessary to tough it out when challenged. Ndou gave him a hard night, and Cotto just got by with a 115-113 type win, but he showed grit and the ability to adjust in this fight. A crucial element to succeeding at the highest level.

Yup. That champion heart and determination as well as the abliity to make in-ring adjustments. Good shout!

[gilgamesh]

Ray Leonard/Adolfo Viruet. Thought Viruet would be tougher for Ray than he was. He put up a good fight, but it showed me Ray was special alright.

This reminds me of another one. Miguel Cotto vs Lovemore Ndou. Though he had won more impressively prior to this fight, this one showed me that Cotto had the grit necessary to tough it out when challenged. Ndou gave him a hard night, and Cotto just got by with a 115-113 type win, but he showed grit and the ability to adjust in this fight. A crucial element to succeeding at the highest level.

Yup. That champion heart and determination as well as the abliity to make in-ring adjustments. Good shout!

I'm pretty sure Ndou had gotten a noteworthy upset win prior to this too. So it's not like he was just some slouch either. He was a solid fighter in his own right. Certainly no pushover.

[Deserter]

Naz vs Belcastro is a great shout.
Lewis vs Ruddock is another one for me.

[Coco]

Denys Cronin was a damn good fighter, ABA champ too

[oogiebe]

Naz vs Belcastro is a great shout.
Lewis vs Ruddock is another one for me.

Lewis/Ruddock. Absolutely. I still remember being nervous for LL before the opening bell.

[Coco]

Naz vs Belcastro is a great shout.
Lewis vs Ruddock is another one for me.

Lewis/Ruddock. Absolutely. I still remember being nervous for LL before the opening bell.

Belcastro was made to look like a complete novice, one tough novice though!

[JimJim2009]

Naz vs Belcastro is a great shout.
Lewis vs Ruddock is another one for me.

Lewis/Ruddock. Absolutely. I still remember being nervous for LL before the opening bell.

Belcastro was made to look like a complete novice, one tough novice though!

Possibly the highest technical compliment you can pay Brendan Ingle is that when he instilled the skills into the right fighter (eg Naz), even a good opponent (like Belcastro) hadn't got a clue what to do with him, because nothing Belcastro had ever learned in the gym, or through his experience as a professional fighter, was any use at all against Naz. That style reduced a good fighter into somebody who just couldn't do a thing against him. I've always admired that. You neutralise everything your opponent brings into the ring, not just because you are better, but because nothing they've so far learned and experienced is of any use whatsoever. About all they can do is defend, otherwise Naz would have pole-axed him.

[Noxy]

Collins vs Storey. It was the first time I heard of Collins.

[dookus]

Fury (if we can call him special yet) is a strange one - he looked good and bad and indifferent at different times throughout his development but just gradually moved up levels and improved.

For me the Kevin Johnson fight was where he first showed he could box at world level and shut opponents down. At that time Johnson was 33 and had only lost to Vitali Klitschko (outside of a Prizefighter decision loss). Fury gave him practically nothing to hit all night.

[oogiebe]

Fury (if we can call him special yet) is a strange one - he looked good and bad and indifferent at different times throughout his development but just gradually moved up levels and improved.

For me the Kevin Johnson fight was where he first showed he could box at world level and shut opponents down. At that time Johnson was 33 and had only lost to Vitali Klitschko (outside of a Prizefighter decision loss). Fury gave him practically nothing to hit all night.

His dismantling of Wilder convinced me.

[littlepug]

You could easily turn this around because there’s plenty I’ve seen that I would’ve bet big money that they were gonna be the goods but didn’t turn out that way

[oogiebe]

You could easily turn this around because there’s plenty I’ve seen that I would’ve bet big money that they were gonna be the goods but didn’t turn out that way

I have the worst one no matter what anyone else says. (I've posted about it before)

[littlepug]

You could easily turn this around because there’s plenty I’ve seen that I would’ve bet big money that they were gonna be the goods but didn’t turn out that way

I have the worst one no matter what anyone else says. (I've posted about it before)

Lol who was it?