Unknown Superstar boxers?

i was thinking about how in most sports, certain players may turn out to be better than expected, but most of the time, average college players dont turn into actual superstars in their sport. so i started thinking about boxing. people like SRR, pep, ali, etc, had great amateur careers and people knew that they were going to be special. but how many fighters came out of nowhere to become superstars in boxing? and by superstars i mean like the elite. im not talking about a sergio martinez type of guy who wasnt much of anything but became really good, im talking about someone that came out of nowhere and became a manny pac or floyd mayweather. pac does fit the description im looking for. who else came from nowhere to rise to the elite level of the sport?

rocky marciano is a perfect example...alvarez of today with no amatuer background and turning pro at 15 is one heading in that direction..johnny unitas is one in football..good idea for a topic.

now if we go back many years then jack dempsey would qualify maybe even harry greb.extensive amatuer backgrounds in that era i think were almost non existent in relationship to lets say oscars or mosleys pre-pro history.so in that era there maybe were many.they were unknown starting out as a pro for sure..
but lets say from the last 75 years or so when amatuer boxing started to flurish marciano may be the finest example..i like your topic..

robinson pep ali ray leanord oscar like you said were examples of cant miss as a pro and developed a reputation as someone who either is special or will be special as a amatuer..looking for the oposite is what you want.

archie moore also is one that fits what your looking for .

Good subject, Power puncher. I really had to think for this one and I'm still working to come up with examples.

"Buster Douglass" is the most famous one hit wonder I know. As far as great fighters are concerned, this is difficult because I grew up in an age where boxers were on television every weekend. Tommy Hearns was famous in Detroit, but little by little became a household name. Marvin Hagler was another one who rose to superstardom in the days when "HBO" was responsible. I think he may meet your description.

From my experience, a huge star like "Ali" or "Leonard" make the fighters around them famous. Ken Norton was a star after his fights with Ali. As great as Duran was, it was his fights with Sugar Ray Leonard that introduced him to the American general public. You didn't have to know anything abouut boxing to know who Duran was. I think "dmar" gave the best example with Marciano. I'd love to hear some other opinions.

dmar5143 wrote:now if we go back many years then jack dempsey would qualify maybe even harry greb.extensive amatuer backgrounds in that era i think were almost non existent in relationship to lets say oscars or mosleys pre-pro history.so in that era there maybe were many.they were unknown starting out as a pro for sure..
but lets say from the last 75 years or so when amatuer boxing started to flurish marciano may be the finest example..i like your topic..

i was thinking that same thing because most fighters did just come from nowhere to be great back when amateur boxing wasnt really there. marciano is a good example and also i was thinking of archie moore just like you.

great point about Alvarez Dmar. i think there is going to be an increase an Alvarez type stories in fighting. i think the amateur game and professional game have become so different now that there is every possibility it can happen/ you also have these amateur squads where each amateur fighter is fed, clothed, housed, all travel paid for etc etc. they are basically mollycoddled now, by the time they become professional the adaption is too difficult to make. i think a lot of the guys lose the hunger because the reality of the real world fight game becomes too daunting for them. if you like at amateur world champions they have gone on to be something special as a professional now, the ratio is declining. Mayweather was a solid amateur but by no means regarded as the best, now look at him. i think the fact the entire male generation of his family before him were prizefighters helped that cause massively. i agree that Manny Pacquiao matches the criteria you're looking for, he came from poverty in the Phillipines to KOing Barrera and then going on to become a 4 weight undisputed champion. Did anybody expect those things of Pacquiao? i mean everytime he fought in the last 2 years, except Clottey, the odds were almost always stacked against him. even the Margarito fight people thought Manny was taking a step too far. Pacquiao is a come from nowhere to superstar IMO

The Klitschkos?

gomez1012 wrote:The Klitschkos?

they had good amateur records. didn't Vitali get banned from an Olympics because of medication a doctor had given him being on the banned list? i think Wladimir won a Gold medal didn't he?

my bad, he didn't win an Olympic Gold

In 1993, Klitschko won the Junior European Championships as a heavyweight. In 1994, he received 2nd place at the Junior World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1995, he won the gold medal at the Military Championships in Ariccia, Italy, defeating Luan Krasniqi, who he had lost to in the third round of the World Championships in Berlin, Germany earlier that year. In 1996, he captured 2nd place as a Super Heavyweight at the European Championships in Vejle, Denmark. He had an amateur record of 134-6.

Known as "The Steel Hammer," Klitschko first achieved world attention at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He defeated Paea Wolfgramm to win the Super-Heavyweight gold medal. He is now announced as "Dr. Steel Hammer," a name more in the vein of his brother, Vitali, who goes by "Dr. Ironfist."

Considering they are the top HWs, I think they have an unknown status to them

In think "Jersey Joe Walcott" is a good example. Nobody really knew him until he got ripped off in his fight against "Joe Louis." He went on to fight the likes of Marciano, Charles and Louis again.

In my lifetime I'm not sure anybody came out of nowhere quite like Salvador Sanchez. Yeah he was 35-1 or something when he showed up on CBS to fight Danny Little Red Lopez for the featherweight title. The announcers didn't know anyhting about him, he'd only beaten two or three names, and those guys weren't ranked. Heck I don't even think Sanchez was ranked when he fought Lopez for the first time. Then in just over two years he knocked off HOFers on four occasions and through in wins over excellent fighters like LaPorte and Castillo.

The last guy Sanchez fought also sort of came out of nowhere (at least for US fans). Azumah Nelson was a fine amateur and the Brit champ at 126. But he'd only fought maybe a dozen times before he put on an extraordinary show of skill and heart against Sal.

Don't the handful of true teenage champions in history have to count here? I mean how well known can you be as a teenager?
Tony Canzoneri, Lionel Rose, Pipino Cuevas, Manny P, Wilfredo Benitez.

gomez1012 wrote:Considering they are the top HWs, I think they have an unknown status to them

maybe that's because they aren't American. in Germany they are Rockstars. there is life beyond the United States

i havent heard about arguellos amateur background. did he have one? did people already know that he was going to be special?

powerpuncher wrote:i havent heard about arguellos amateur background. did he have one? did people already know that he was going to be special?

Arguello was a pro as a teenager. But he didn't really come out of nowhere. He gradually worked his way up so that by the time he fought Ernesto Marcel (his first title fight) when he was 21-22 he already had lost 3-4 times and had beaten name fighters like Jose Legra and Octavio Gomez and was kind of a name already.

He lost to Marcel and then beat Art Hafey to get a second shot and then he beat the great Puas, Ruben Olivares and he was off to the races.

Unlike Sanchez, you kinda saw Arguello coming...kind of.