BoxRec

Here is a list of ten fighters who stood on the brink of of greatness, but who never crossed the threshold. Fighters who had already accomplished much and should have still been in the prime of their career. Perhaps someone can fill in some details as to why they never lived up to their hype and or potential, or maybe you have some ad ons I may have left off of the list.

Here are my top ten in order, number one being the biggest disapointment.

10-Michael Nunn-looked unbeatable until he was knocked out by James Toney, any chance of reviving his career went up in smoke when he lost to club fighter Steve Little.


9-Hilmer Kenty-never recoverd from loss to the very ordinary Sean Ogrady, was subsequently knocked out in the second round by Roberto Elizondo.

8-Ray Boom Boom Mancini-lost his last four fights in a row starting with a knockout loss to unhealded journyman Livingstone Bramble.

7-Big John Tate-followed up his knockout loss with a lackluster knockout loss to Teaver Berbick. Final nail in his coffin was a loss to club fighter Noel Quarless.

6-Milton Mccrory-faded into oblivian after being knocked out in the second round by Donald Curry.

5-Edwin Rosario-the height of his demise was a first round knockout loss to Akinobu Hiranaka.

4-Meldrick Taylor-his fate was cemented with a loss to club fighter Kirino Garcia.

3-John The Beast Mugabi-looked unstoppable with a devestating knockout of Curtis Parker in round one where Parker was knocked out of the ring, but fade into oblivian after a knockout los to Marvin Hagler.

2-Greg Page-looked like the next Mohamed Ali until his dismal preformence in dropping a ten round decsision to Treavor Berbick.

1-Donald Curry-this one I really don't understand. Here was a guy who in the first half of his carrer looked like he might have the tools to defeat Marvin Hagler. That was a far cry from the Donald Curry who lost to Rene Jacquot.


Welcome any insights as to what might have turned the fortunes of these fighters who stood so close to greatness.

Agree with everyone on the list -

Trying to think of a few recent guys off the top of my head?? -

David Reid
F. Vargas

(though I think both were over-rated to begin with).

My understanding was Kenty quit that fight with Elizondo.Maybe his heart wasn't in it, plus his detached retina.Same with Tate, but those two knockouts probably damaged whatever credibility he had as a legit heavyweight force.McCrory really got messed up after the Colin Jones fights, before, I actually thought he was better than Curry, but afterwards, that ruined his standing.Page was a combination of lack of motivation, training habits, and being too much of a nice guy for his own good.

Curry began to think he could punch and got his head out in front of his gloves. Taylor and Rosario got their careers beaten out of them by Chavez; McCrory fought McCallum, who shattered his body like Curry had done to his psyche. O'Grady put a Chavez style beating on Kenty and Mugabi literally gave all he had in trying to defeat Hagler

Corn Griffin.. never REALLY proved himself, but many were impressed with the kid at primo carnera's camp before the baer fight. people were already calling him the next champ, the next great heavyweight...

were any of these people really on the cusp on greatness? Id argue that most were not. Curry probably had the closest shot.

Rory McCloskey wrote:Corn Griffin.. never REALLY proved himself, but many were impressed with the kid at primo carnera's camp before the baer fight. people were already calling him the next champ, the next great heavyweight...

Corn Griffin? The best you could say about him was that he was on the cusp of mediocrity after that great win over Battling Bozo.

klompton wrote:were any of these people really on the cusp on greatness? Id argue that most were not. Curry probably had the closest shot.

The way that I define a fighter on the verge of greatness is, has he won a title of signifegance, has he fought and beaten some serious contenders, does he have a high knockout ratio, is he undefeted or close to it, and has he avoided loosing to inferior opposition. At one time the fighters I selected all fit somewhere close to those categories. The one argument I will concede is that some of them had fought their share of second rate fighters. Maybe even a few third and fourth rate fighters.

The Great John L wrote:

Rory McCloskey wrote:Corn Griffin.. never REALLY proved himself, but many were impressed with the kid at primo carnera's camp before the baer fight. people were already calling him the next champ, the next great heavyweight...

Corn Griffin? The best you could say about him was that he was on the cusp of mediocrity after that great win over Battling Bozo.

he reached the top of his hype after almost knocking out heavyweight champ primo carnera at his camp for the baer fight. people already were calling him the next great champ.. im not saying he was!

Curry was worn out.

i'd say tony ayala was on the verge of becoming a great fighter until he threw it all away.

and roy jones ?

I left fighters like Tony Ayala and Aaron Pryor off my list because they lost it out of the ring. They would actually fit into a different category.

Roy Jones would also fit into a different category because he actually did acheive greatness, but now is struggling to make a comeback after he is past his prime. That would be more like Mohamad Ali, Mike Tyson, Ray Leonard, Joe Louis Ect. Fighters who fought and lost because they were past their prime.

Mike Tyson is a good example... had the talent to be great but was fatally flawed between the ears.
Another would be Nazseem Hamed... was talked of as a 'legend' but poor performances against Kelley, Johnson, Medina and loss to Barrera will keep him forever in the 'good' rather than 'great' catagory.

Qawi?

Just couldn't win the big fight despite being a superb fighter.

Yes Quawi is a good one... his losses to Spinks and Holifield keep him from true 'greatness'... though he was an excellent fighter and probably would have given most of the lightheavies of all time a run for their money.
John Conteh is another.... had all the skills to reach 'greatness' but bad hands and problems out of the ring curtailed his success.

On the brink.... Buster Douglas. He had one great performance and that was it....

Mando Ramos... world champion at 20 but washed up by 24... could have been an all time great with the talent he had...

kick asner wrote:7-Big John Tate-followed up his knockout loss with a lackluster knockout loss to Teaver Berbick. Final nail in his coffin was a loss to club fighter Noel Quarless.

Not so sure about this one. Tate was a very good amatuer with wins over the likes of Page, Dokes and Stinson but was also brutally KO'd by Emory Chapman & Teofilio Stevenson whilst wearing the vest. Ok getting stiffed by The Cuban Missile Launcher is no disgrace but it still along with the other KO loss a chink in his armour.

Tate fought some tough fighters on his way up such as Eddie 'The Animal' Lopez, Bernardo Mercado, Duane Bobick and hard hitting Kallie Knoetze in South Africa in front of about 60,000 hostile fans. He then returned to South Africa to win his WBA Title from the unbeaten Gerrie Coetzee in front of 86,000 fans this time.

A good CV but not a great one. Then of course his KO loses to Weaver and Berbick finished him at the top level.

Tate had a lot of ability who did everything well (but not great) but lacked the durability and mentality to go any further.

The drugs didn't help either. A good fighter but he never had that 'sparkle' of potential greatness in my eyes.

I remember watching the Tate/Knoetze fight and also his fight against Coetzee. What I forgot was the number of fans who showed up for these fights.

All I can say is that any country that has 60,000 fans show up in support of Kallie Knoetze must love the sport of boxing.

dalek wrote:i'd say tony ayala was on the verge of becoming a great fighter until he threw it all away.

Good one.

KOJOE90 wrote:

kick asner wrote:7-Big John Tate-followed up his knockout loss with a lackluster knockout loss to Teaver Berbick. Final nail in his coffin was a loss to club fighter Noel Quarless.

Not so sure about this one. Tate was a very good amatuer with wins over the likes of Page, Dokes and Stinson but was also brutally KO'd by Emory Chapman & Teofilio Stevenson whilst wearing the vest. Ok getting stiffed by The Cuban Missile Launcher is no disgrace but it still along with the other KO loss a chink in his armour.

Tate fought some tough fighters on his way up such as Eddie 'The Animal' Lopez, Bernardo Mercado, Duane Bobick and hard hitting Kallie Knoetze in South Africa in front of about 60,000 hostile fans. He then returned to South Africa to win his WBA Title from the unbeaten Gerrie Coetzee in front of 86,000 fans this time.

A good CV but not a great one. Then of course his KO loses to Weaver and Berbick finished him at the top level.

Tate had a lot of ability who did everything well (but not great) but lacked the durability and mentality to go any further.

The drugs didn't help either. A good fighter but he never had that 'sparkle' of potential greatness in my eyes.

When did he beat Page?

I left fighters like Tony Ayala and Aaron Pryor off my list because they lost it out of the ring.
Pryor reached greatness and is a deserving hall of famer.

and roy jones ?

Roy Jones is an all time great who just fought past his prime.

Taylor and Rosario got their careers beaten out of them by Chavez;

So true. I think you can make an argument that these two deserve the hall of fame anyway. I actually beleive they had more impressive careers than Curry. At least the reason for their downfall was a merciless beating at the hands of one of the greatest fighting machines that ever lived. Curry seemed to become shitty for no reason.

mmmmmm, Curry got a pretty serious mugging from Honeyghan. He never seemed the same after that.

Roy Jones an ATG ?
Don't think so.