Consensus top prospects who never made the grade

[johnswan1]

Price being the most recent one of course.

I'm not sure who the last heavily hyped British prospect was who failed to make the grade. Ignore people like Audley who never convinced as a pro and never seemed likely to follow up on his amateur achievements.

You could argue Frankie Gavin was one, but again he never showed himself as a potential world beater as a pro and always seemed to be a division or two ahead of where he should really be.

Price is somebody who not just had a strong amateur pedigree but also did enough in his first few years as a pro to have himself talked about as a serious future contender. Going into the TT fight many already considered him the top heavyweight in the country and just a fight or two away from challenging for the world title. I remember Sky wheeling him out at one of Wlad's fights and Price was standing there sucking up the atmosphere and imagining that being him in the future.

I don't recall anybody having as spectacular a fall from grace as poor Pricey did. What others have had a similar fate?

[stevedoc]

Rod Douglas was thrown in with herol graham way to early and was made to look ordinary a bad bit of match making by duff there.

[MarkMcBurney]

Too early to say Tom Stalker?

[davie]

Too early to say Tom Stalker?

I've never seen anything from Stalker to make me believe he would make it past domestic level

[Boxerbeetle]

Too early to say Tom Stalker?

I've never seen anything from Stalker to make me believe he would make it past domestic level

Yeah I don't think Stalker was ever considered a top prospect?

[palooka]

Allan Hall
Mark Elliott
Mark Ramsey
Gary Logan

[rio]

Helder Ali.......warren guaranteed this guy would be a world champion. So did gym mate Kevin Mitchell.

[orbtastic]

Peter Richardson (not entirely his fault, skin made of paper)
Errol Christie

[Stuarty]

Paul Appleby was well thought of up here but never quite reached the heights expected of him. Staying on the Scottish front I think Alex Arthur under achieved considering the talent he had.

[magwitch]

Paul Appleby was well thought of up here but never quite reached the heights expected of him. Staying on the Scottish front I think Alex Arthur under achieved considering the talent he had.

I used to like Appleby. Even against Walsh when he lost he put up a real effort, he could give it and take it too. I saw that fight re-run quite recently.

Martin Conception turned pro as an ABA champion I believe and an amateur record akin to a wrecking-ball.........roll on to his tenth or eleventh fight and he'd been KO'd about four times.

He was last seen slugging it out for an area title I believe.

[Boxing Prospect]

Bojado was the obvious call, Yohei Tobe was getting a lot of attention by Japanese fans after a few fights (his first few fights included wins over a former world champion and a guy who holds a title at the moment)

[banjo]

I remember about 10 years ago people raving about a debutant called George Hillyard who seemed to have the tools to be a very good fighter but from what I saw had a severe lack of discipline.

[stevedoc]

George Collins was hyped a lot and never won anything I think the same with his brother Tony

[johnswan1]

I remember about 10 years ago people raving about a debutant called George Hillyard who seemed to have the tools to be a very good fighter but from what I saw had a severe lack of discipline.

I think Hillyard was more of a ticket selling hype job as opposed to being genuinely well regarded. Bit like Georgie Keane. I was actually there at York Hall the night Hillyard got handed his first loss - a points decision in a four rounder.

[TheCobra]

Yeh I agree Paul Appleby was a standout young pro, seemed to have a lot of the attributes to go far but just seemed to plateau and then fade.

[magwitch]

Yeh I agree Paul Appleby was a standout young pro, seemed to have a lot of the attributes to go far but just seemed to plateau and then fade.

My memory of Appleby is that.for a period of a couple of years he won and then defended the British title - before getting unexpectedly sparked by an Irishman by the name of Martin Lindsay (unexpected to me anyway, maybe not in.Ireland, I'm not sure) but I would say Appleby certainly did not bomb....yes he drifted out probably some way before his thirtieth birthday, but he both entertained and achieved.

[Matt W]

Ricardo Williams

[orbtastic]

Wasn't Bojado the dude who made it into one of the Fight Night games? I remember going through the roster once and doing a WTF

[GPTM1403]

Peter Richardson (not entirely his fault, skin made of paper)
Errol Christie

Errol Christie is a good call, was rated highly as an amateur and people still talk highly of him but lost the big ones and then slumped after that.

On Price, it doesn't help he can bang way too hard, meaning he just blitzed people and looked great too soon. But once he was in with a guy who could avoid getting sparked he was struggling. Would be a potential worry with Joshua that he might face someone too good without having had a chance to learn how to deal with them. Maybe also Price's age didn't help, he possibly moved pro a bit too late and had to jump too fast to keep track with the likes of Fury and Chisora.

[Bodyshot3]

Neville Brown....not entirely unsuccessful as a pro to his credit....but never kicked through as some people predicted.
Kelly Oliver was highly-fancied as well after a very good amateur career but Kelly probably fell short of what had been expected of him.

[handsofstone]

John Fewkes looked a great prospect for a while then disappeared

[crusader]

Dominick Guinn was heavily hyped at one point and had some standout performances on the major American network HBO, but he lost a close fight to Monte Barrett before making the transition from top prospect to top contender and went downhill from there. He turned out to be very useful in a 'give em rounds' journeyman role though, and he's yet to be stopped even though he's fought good opposition.

[littlepug]

Saw Alan temple in the amateurs and was sure he would do well. I also thought Alex moon was destined for world honours after facing him in ABAs.

[crusader]

Wasn't Bojado the dude who made it into one of the Fight Night games? I remember going through the roster once and doing a WTF

Can't remember if Bojado was in it, but somehow Billy Dib managed to get in one. Ali, Frazier, Lewis, Leonard, Hagler, Dib.

On another note, for a while I thought David Lemieux was going to fit in this group, but I'm glad to see that he's turned his career around.

[keithmoonhangover]

Allan Hall

Best amateur boxer I've ever seen.