DO YOU REMEMBER THE BEAST?????

John Mugabi was a 1 man wrecking machine when in his pomp. He waded his way through his rivals like they were nothing. Duff guided him well enough to make this rough, raw African bruiser a fan fav in the states. Mugabi had great power, unstoppable aggression, and the look of a killer about him. Question marks will always be asked about his chin as I remember Terry Norris pole axing him early. Yet funny enough his best performance for me was his loss to Haglar. He gave Haglar nightmares in that fight but Mrvin proved he was an ATG by defeating Mugabi. How do you feel Mugabi would do against today's middleweights?

When we have a LMW as MW champ - and no-one of note around to give him a decent challenge - I'd say that Mugabi would do pretty well in today's MW scene. Would probs be considered an ATG.

Probably has the beating of most; with the exception of Martinez. Not sure he could beat Pavlik or Williams, but would certainly cause them problems.

Yeah I think he could walk through quite a lot of the MW scene today but he was not good enough for the MW scene back in the 80's with the talent back then. Just shows how good the scene was back then.

The Martinez fight would be interesting. As I have said Mugabi's chin was not the best and Martinez has the power to drop him but I see Martinez dancing around Mugabi and winning by decision. Cant see him trading with John or its goodnight.

He was a pretender...Duff is a brilliant matchmaker and put up guys that stood in front of him for his 28 kayos before Marvin...check his record out....

Bit of a yellow belly as well.....Lane said he could have gotten up against Marvin and Duff kept telling him you're giving up....Quit against Thomas months later and then lost to a skilled fighter in Terry by humiliating 1st round slap..

Just a pretender..

Thats harsh TRUSS.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:Thats harsh TRUSS.

No it's not Duff put him in soft then the Hagler fight came along and flung hi in at the deep end with an ATG. Struggled against most of the decent opposition he faced. He never had a geat chin either and his high KO% is only so high due to the lame ducks he fought. Martinez, Williams and Pavlik wouldn't have struggled to much with Mugabi IMO.

John 'the beast' Mugabe vs Frank 'the animal' Fletcher, always gives me a laugh that! Hadn't he previously fought quite a bit at LMW? Agree he gave Hagler a pretty tough fight but did very little after. Reminds me of Pavlik in that respect.

sohotnot wrote:John 'the beast' Mugabe vs Frank 'the animal' Fletcher, always gives me a laugh that! Hadn't he previously fought quite a bit at LMW? Agree he gave Hagler a pretty tough fight but did very little after. Reminds me of Pavlik in that respect.

Pavlik has personal reasons for his career falling away Mugabi just wasn't that good. Had his greatest night against Hagler and he got KOd says it all really.

prettyboy1304 wrote:

sohotnot wrote:John 'the beast' Mugabe vs Frank 'the animal' Fletcher, always gives me a laugh that! Hadn't he previously fought quite a bit at LMW? Agree he gave Hagler a pretty tough fight but did very little after. Reminds me of Pavlik in that respect.

Pavlik has personal reasons for his career falling away Mugabi just wasn't that good. Had his greatest night against Hagler and he got KOd says it all really.

Mugabi was an absolutely beast. Huge punching power and a strong chin. He lacked dedication and was totally nuts. Almost on par with Kirk Laing. I recall being told by "insiders" that Micky Duff didn't like him fighting in USA because Mugabi loved to party and once when he was training for the fight they literally locked him in the rented appartment which was on the ground floor. Mugabi climbed through the window and went out looking for women. They rented the appartment on the second floor the following day and locked him in.

Dedication is as big a part of a world class fighters make up. He wasn't a top fighter he was nuts. I would have loved to go out on the pull with him though.

prettyboy1304 wrote:Dedication is as big a part of a world class fighters make up. He wasn't a top fighter he was nuts. I would have loved to go out on the pull with him though.

True all round. He drank like a fish also. By all accounts a huge laugh.