Thrown in the deep end

Who started off with the toughest fight - Debut onwards.

I revisited the Ike -Tua fight and was shocked to see that it was only Ibeabuchis 17th fight, can you name any fighters who had a similarly tough test earlier in their career?

Degale v groves was a gamble for both fighters very early on

Davey Moore. World Belt holder after 8 fights. Duran after 10 fights. Career over after that.

I think its hard to top Rademacher fighting for the heavyweight title in his debut but off the top of my head I think Collins fought McCallum in something like his 15th fight and Bivins fought (and beat) Burley in his 13th or 14th fight in his first year as a pro.

Leon Spinks. Ali in 7th or was it 8th fight?

Can remember Olympian gold medallist David Reid getting threw in against a raging Tito Trinidad after a few more than a dozen fights I remember.

Reid performed admirably even dropping Felix but took an hellish beating In the process, ultimately finished his young short career.

Cheers Rodders

Leonard fought Geraldo very early in his career........Think Springer would have been a better choice!!

Holy fought Qawi after ten or so fights I believe...That was a barnstormer..

Reid was going to have a short career anyway due to his drooping eye lid. Arum wanted to cash in on him quickly.

Yeah true Az, had good skills Reid shame about the eyelid.

Cheers Rodders

Davey Moore has to be the worst case out there, yes Duran was showing significant signs of decline and vulnerability but you don't put a relative novice in with someone as dirty, violent and nasty as him especially when he knows a thing or two about how to box.

Moore was a natural 154 pound champ and one of two world champions!!!..Should have beat Duran....maybe he would have If he had two eyes.

If you choose to win a belt you should defend against the best..

Not just the Duran fight but his career in general was all a bit too rushed, he lacked the know how to deal with Duran.

The referee didn't help... a disgrace...

That's all beside the point Truss, someone with a bit more experience like a Hearns or Benitez wouldn't let it happen in the first place. It was man against boy.

bellew is another one, mckensie x2, cleverly, mcintosh, miranada and bolonti and still only had 20 fights

Chisora.The guy's a novice and hasn't had the amount of learning fights before he fought Vit or world level fighters for that matter.

Was Hearns-Duran man against boy???

More one sided than the Moore fight..at least Davey landed once or twice!!

Different type of beating Truss

Hearns blitzed Duran with power while Duran tortured Moore with spiteful aggression. It's up there with Chavez/Rosario as one of the worst beatings i've seen, really difficult to watch.

Yes but it was more competitive as was Chavez-Rosario.....

So it's Man v Boy when a guy gets a sustained beating but is in the fight...

and not when a guy gets completely trashed and doesn't land a decent blow!!

I don't follow your logic..but fairplay!!

Fernando Vargas got his IBF title shot after just 14 fights against 74-fight champ Yory Boy Campas, and forced him to quit on his stool. He did well defending it 5 more times before running into Trinidad. Bit off more than he could chew against Oscar too.

Vargas fought a ridiculous amount of quality fighters for someone who only had 31 fights.

Wright
De La Hoya
Mosley *2
Castillejo
Marquez
Campas
Mayorga
Trinidad
Rivera
Quartey

Safe to say he ducked nobody.

I always got the impression he was a little too brave for his own good. He had good, not great skills & power, but was good enough to (just) beat Winky.

Granted he had a "gimme" against Howard Clarke but his resume is impressive. There were rumours he & Reid were going to fight, but I think he would have been too much for Droopy.

In hindsight think he would have been better off building himself up to world level a bit slower but with his weight issues he was never going to have a long career in the 154lb division.

Rodney wrote: Can remember Olympian gold medallist David Reid getting threw in against a raging Tito Trinidad after a few more than a dozen fights I remember.

Reid performed admirably even dropping Felix but took an hellish beating In the process, ultimately finished his young short career.

Cheers Rodders

Sad to hear that Reid has struggled outside of the ring: http://deadspin.com/david-reid/

Both he and Vargas were ruined by Trinidad.

Pete Rademacher would be hard to top. Challenged for the world heavyweight championship (back when there was such a thing) on his debut.

hazharrison wrote:
Sad to hear that Reid has struggled outside of the ring: http://deadspin.com/david-reid/

Both he and Vargas were ruined by Trinidad.

Pete Rademacher would be hard to top. Challenged for the world heavyweight championship (back when there was such a thing) on his debut.

That story about Reid genuinely brought tear to my eye, so very sad.