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Who do you think is or was the most avoided fighter of the last 25 years. I Al start the bidding with South African heavyweight Corrie Sanders. The only stand outs on the slate for The Sniper are the Klitschko brothers and Hasim Rahman. All the big heavyweight names such as Bowe, Holyfield, Lewis et Al avoided him like the plague for his Southpaw stance and quick hands and stinging power.

Mike 'The Bounty' Hunter was avoided when he was at it his best.

I always thought the words 'rangy southpaw' struck fear into the hearts of matchmakers.

Audley Harrison!

David Haye, avoid him cause he wont show up.

In seriousness I would say Herol Graham in the UK. Many would say they never avoided him but never got the opportunity.

mimmy123 wrote:Audley Harrison!

David Haye, avoid him cause he wont show up.

In seriousness I would say Herol Graham in the UK. Many would say they never avoided him but never got the opportunity.

Totally agree on Herol Graham.

Mike McCallum was the most avoided fighter, probably going back a bit further than 25 years.

dr_devious wrote:Mike McCallum was the most avoided fighter, probably going back a bit further than 25 years.

And kalambay so there fought each other

stevedoc wrote:

dr_devious wrote:Mike McCallum was the most avoided fighter, probably going back a bit further than 25 years.

And kalambay so there fought each other

I had a lot of respect for Nunn when he fought Kalambay, then he blew him away and didn't really get much credit for it.

keithmoonhangover wrote:

stevedoc wrote:

dr_devious wrote:Mike McCallum was the most avoided fighter, probably going back a bit further than 25 years.

And kalambay so there fought each other

I had a lot of respect for Nunn when he fought Kalambay, then he blew him away and didn't really get much credit for it.

Amazing result for Nunn ,it pisses me off a bit when sambu doesn't get the respect he's due because of that one fight he beat McCallum ,herol Graham ,Steve Collins and Iran Barkley not a bad bunch of fighters

stevedoc wrote:I had a lot of respect for Nunn when he fought Kalambay, then he blew him away and didn't really get much credit for it.

Amazing result for Nunn ,it pisses me off a bit when sambu doesn't get the respect he's due because of that one fight he beat McCallum ,herol Graham ,Steve Collins and Iran Barkley not a bad bunch of fighters[/quote]

Me too. I think non-American fighters get a rough ride.

Kalumbay near-schooled McCallum in the first fight, and did pretty well in the second part of the second fight

you're damn right he doesn't get enough credit- winning about 16(? maybe more) of 24 rounds vs McCallum is really no joke.

Counter-puncher wrote:Kalumbay near-schooled McCallum in the first fight, and did pretty well in the second part of the second fight

you're damn right he doesn't get enough credit- winning about 16(? maybe more) of 24 rounds vs McCallum is really no joke.

A superb fighter with some great victories. Although in fairness, Duane Thomas, Ayube Kalule, Herol Graham, Iran Barkley, Mike McCallum, Doug DeWitt, Robbie Sims, Michael Nunn, Francesco Dell'Aquila, Steve Collins and Chris Pyatt didn't avoid him.

Most of the time, we don't know a fighter is being avoided, or if he himself is avoiding others.

I can't believe that Holyfield, Lewis, Bowe etc. avoided Corrie Sanders. Doubt he was even on their radar.

Ambling Alp II wrote:Most of the time, we don't know a fighter is being avoided, or if he himself is avoiding others.

I can't believe that Holyfield, Lewis, Bowe etc. avoided Corrie Sanders. Doubt he was even on their radar.

100% agree. There's a bit of revisionist history with Sanders me thinks.

IRLangmaid25 wrote:Who do you think is or was the most avoided fighter of the last 25 years. I Al start the bidding with South African heavyweight Corrie Sanders. The only stand outs on the slate for The Sniper are the Klitschko brothers and Hasim Rahman. All the big heavyweight names such as Bowe, Holyfield, Lewis et Al avoided him like the plague for his Southpaw stance and quick hands and stinging power.

I do not agree with almost any sentence.

First of all, Rahman was not big name when he took Sanders. The fight with Lewis (his only claim to fame) happened one year after Sanders.

Wlad also did not take Sanders because he thought it was worthy contender. At that time, Sanders was considered semi-retired golfer and generally a step-down after McCall.

As to anyone avoiding him - Sanders became big name only after defeating Wlad, before that he was just a prospect (who got KO'd by Tubbs and Rahman on top of that). At that point (Sanders-Wlad) Bowe was still retired after brutal beatings from Golota, Holy was already way past prime (losing to any top fighter he was facing) and Lewis had only one fight left.

The only guy who avoided Sanders could be Wlad for rematch. And this is only a possibility since there were contradictory opinions why the rematch did not happen.

Kalambay is one of the greatest European middleweights of all time

In the second part of his career Terrible Tim Witherspoon was dodged by all when in shape

ClivePatrickLyons wrote:In the second part of his career Terrible Tim Witherspoon was dodged by all when in shape

In fairness, if I was a promoter I wouldn't have put him on a show. He was in and out of shape and you never knew what you would get.

He threw away a shot at Tyson, which, if he'd won, he could have bought out his contract with Don KIng and made a fortune.

gregor wrote:

IRLangmaid25 wrote:Who do you think is or was the most avoided fighter of the last 25 years. I Al start the bidding with South African heavyweight Corrie Sanders. The only stand outs on the slate for The Sniper are the Klitschko brothers and Hasim Rahman. All the big heavyweight names such as Bowe, Holyfield, Lewis et Al avoided him like the plague for his Southpaw stance and quick hands and stinging power.

I do not agree with almost any sentence.

First of all, Rahman was not big name when he took Sanders. The fight with Lewis (his only claim to fame) happened one year after Sanders.

Wlad also did not take Sanders because he thought it was worthy contender. At that time, Sanders was considered semi-retired golfer and generally a step-down after McCall.

As to anyone avoiding him - Sanders became big name only after defeating Wlad, before that he was just a prospect (who got KO'd by Tubbs and Rahman on top of that). At that point (Sanders-Wlad) Bowe was still retired after brutal beatings from Golota, Holy was already way past prime (losing to any top fighter he was facing) and Lewis had only one fight left.

The only guy who avoided Sanders could be Wlad for rematch. And this is only a possibility since there were contradictory opinions why the rematch did not happen.

I in turn do not agree with almost any sentence of yours.
Just a sampling...

First of all, Rahman was not big name when he took Sanders.

What nonsense is that?
He was top 10, and had already been the USBA heavyweight champ, the IBF intercontinental champ, and had already fought David Tua and Oleg Maskaev.
The fight against Sanders was for the WBU title, and Rahman thus fought Lennox Lewis for the heavyweight championship a scant 11 months later.

Holy was already way past prime (losing to any top fighter he was facing)

Unfortunately for your opinion, Holyfield drew with the heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis 12 months before the Sanders/Rahman fight.
Sanders was additionally in the top 10 before then for quite a while.

As to anyone avoiding him - Sanders became big name only after defeating Wlad, before that he was just a prospect

Nonsense.

There were negotiations taking place for Moorer to defend his title against Sanders (26-1 at the time) in March 1995, but Moorer lost his next fight against George Foreman.
Foreman refused to entertain a fight vs Sanders, instead labouring to an extremely close MD decision against Axel Schultz, before being stripped by the IBF for refusing a rematch with Shultz.
He was the WBU champion when he faced Rahman and had a record of 37-1, with only the loss vs Tubbs when he was caught cleanly whilst moving with a peach of a punch. He was in the top 10 of all the bodies.
Is a "big name" only the actual heavyweight champion to you then?
Does nobody in the top 10 rankings qualify as, to quote you, "big name"?

Lewis and Sanders were actually quite good friends outside the ring.
There's an interview out there with Corrie Sanders on The Sweet Science where he openly states he sought a fight with Lewis for years, and tried harder after the Klitchko victory. Lewis was candid enough to say him and his team were concerned and did avoid a fight as too risky.
Lewis has never refuted that.

Sanders had his issues, well known.
Partly, he didn't actually like boxing, and he had suffered a knee injury in rugby that additionally hindered his training with regards to roadwork.
He struggled to secure fights when he was in the top 10 against big names...that is irrefutable.

Leaving aside his training issues...he was a big, heavy hitting southpaw that had some of the fastest hands I've ever seen on a heavy.
That is extremely high risk, as the Lewis comment alludes to.

But I think I've seen your personal campaign against him before on here, so I'll let you carry on building it up on the hate, even when that warps rather obvious facts right there in front of you. :P

keithmoonhangover wrote:

ClivePatrickLyons wrote:In the second part of his career Terrible Tim Witherspoon was dodged by all when in shape

In fairness, if I was a promoter I wouldn't have put him on a show. He was in and out of shape and you never knew what you would get.

He threw away a shot at Tyson, which, if he'd won, he could have bought out his contract with Don KIng and made a fortune.

I think he took a dive :?? against Bonecrusher Smith to get out of his contract with The DON KING and was then FROZEN OUT OF THE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE PICTURE lost to some fighter's that didn't have a inch of his ability when not serious

ClivePatrickLyons wrote:In the second part of his career Terrible Tim Witherspoon was dodged by all when in shape

Don King froze Witherspoon out of the big fights. King was running the heavyweight division at the time and it was his way or the highway. For Witherspoon it became the latter.

bogan whisperer wrote:

ClivePatrickLyons wrote:In the second part of his career Terrible Tim Witherspoon was dodged by all when in shape

Don King froze Witherspoon out of the big fights. King was running the heavyweight division at the time and it was his way or the highway. For Witherspoon it became the latter.

All he had to do was beat Smith and he would have fought Tyson, simple as that.

It has got to be witherspoon by a country mile.during 88-92 he was avoided by everyone.than his second coming circa 95-97 he was avoided and ironically ended up fighting the hardest contender (as opposed to elite level) guy in mercer and lost a very close 1!

keithmoonhangover wrote:

bogan whisperer wrote:

ClivePatrickLyons wrote:In the second part of his career Terrible Tim Witherspoon was dodged by all when in shape

Don King froze Witherspoon out of the big fights. King was running the heavyweight division at the time and it was his way or the highway. For Witherspoon it became the latter.

All he had to do was beat Smith and he would have fought Tyson, simple as that.

I can see where Keith is coming from. Personally I don't think that beating Smith would have allowed Witherspoon to buy out of Kings clutches. I think he was already intimidated/frustrated by the prospect of facing Tyson (you really would want to be focused for that fight) with Don King as banker. I don't think it's simple.

I think we will never know for sure if Tim threw the fight with Bonecrusher. But the best you can say for him is that he didn't give everything that night. Whatever the circumstances, I think that is inexcusable. He was capable of beating Tyson, and winning the fight with Smith would have put him in that fight. I guess he just didn't have the willpower or belief to overcome the situation he was in. I don't judge him too harshly on that, but I wouldn't say he deserves a pass either.

I wouldn't say it's as simple as he only had to beat Smith. I would say it's a case of him having to beat Smith AND Tyson for his endeavours to have been worthwhile.

But to address the topic at hand, I've always believed that Witherspoon was avoided in his late career, undoubtedly due King freezing him out, but to what extent he was avoided by Bowe, Foreman and Lewis I have no idea.

And as a side note, I don't think that Bonecrusher gets enough credit for Beating Witherspoon that night. He came for the prize and he left the ring a winner.

I think there's a Floridian Southpaw who was allegedly avoided by quite a lot of fighters. In the middleweights.

Ambling Alp II wrote:Most of the time, we don't know a fighter is being avoided, or if he himself is avoiding others.

I can't believe that Holyfield, Lewis, Bowe etc. avoided Corrie Sanders. Doubt he was even on their radar.

Corrie Sanders wasn't avoided by anybody. He was simply never in contention. He spent most of his career far outside the action, boxing in South Africa, and the odd time he made a US or UK cameo on a major bill he failed to impress (The desultory showings versus Mike Dixon and Garing Lane, having to come off the floor versus Arthur Weathers(!)). The idea that Lewis, Bowe, Holyfield, Foreman and co were avoiding the fringe contender who got KOd by Nate Tubbs is comic fiction.