BoxRec

i saw LM bewilder and pretty much beat up joe bugner in 1972, i think. joes jaw was broken and middleton looked real good. why did his career go nowhere? what happened? many people thought middleton was a heavyweight title contender once upon a time...

Good but not good enough about summed him up

Middleton was a big tall fighter, I think 6'5ish, who I think would've been better served with some more meat on his bones to help his strength (something I rarely say about heavyweights) At 200-208 he could get bullied around too much, especially since he wasn't a natural puncher. I think he would've been able to sit down on his shots more and gain more respect weighing around 220, which he could've carried very well on his big frame. Not that I think that would've made him championship calibre. As he was he was a solid top 15-lower top 10 gatekeeper type into the true upper echelon of the division.

It may have been interesting if he was a bit heavier and fought in another era.
Another thing that may have held him back was his management. He was not fighting frequently enough. In his first 6 yars as a pro, he only had 18 fights. He should have been fighting almost every month during his early years to get experience.
Then later, he got thrown to the wolves. He fought Quarry, Lyle twice, Ellis, and Bonavena in a stretch of 6 fights!

that does sound like a manager chancing his arm and ruining a career in the process. middleton certainly had talent and i think youre right a bit more weight and a more cautious ride up the ladder and who knows...