would nick wells have been an actual contender if he went pro alot earlier?

[kolcade4]

would nick wells have been an actual contender if he had went pro earlier in his career? he was 189- 18 110ko's 72 1st rd ko's. yet he was 13-8 as a pro before he called it aday. so he was actually fighting in his prime as an amateur. this baffles me, why did this happen?

[kolcade4]

he had already fought 186 fights as an amateur before going pro, so was he to be considered already done by the time he went pro? he fought for the military (us air force) and fought tons of international compettion. when would have been the ideal year for him to break out. i say 1972 after he had beaten holmes for the second time. holmes had only fought a couple more fights before he went pro but wells went pro in 1976 but holmes in early 1973. holmes lit the world on fire and is one of the greatest pros to have ever graced the ring. nick on the other fought a bunch of nobodies in the pro ranks.

[kolcade4]

nick did not amount to anything in the pros . he fought mike koranicki and lost . according to nick his moronic trainer made nick lose 20 to 25 pds to make this fight making nick like 195 pds. nick said that he was tired and weak and hungry and didnt feel himself at that weight. he was more comfortable at the 215- 220 range. he reeled off 4 wins to begin his pro career against nobodiies but i guess you have ease or tune yourself before facing real compettion but still did not come through. this pisses me off!!!!

[kolcade4]

why was he wasted? he could have been the great white hope of that era. a beacon of light for the ever so rare great white fighters. this should be punishable. his trainer / manager winky groom did him wrong.

[kolcade4]

help me out with this guys feel free to bash if you must , i can take it . i just want to hear everyone's true opinions on this , in the most professional of manners. im coming out right now. i am nick wells jr.

[kolcade4]

sorry for the deciption but i felt it necessary for the time being to stir the pot.

[GPater11093]

the best deabte ever

kolcade are you ok man your talking to yourself

[kolcade4]

i just keep posting thoughts, they seem to be easier to read if they are not all jumbled in one long paragraph.

[kenmore]

Wells was certainly an excellent amateur, but does that mean he had the talent to make it as a top flight pro? There's a distinction between the amateur and the pro game. Certainly a stellar amateur career is a good prognostic indicator for professional potential, but it's not a sure fire litmus of pro success.

Wells was not a big heavyweight...I think he was around 6'0" tall and 200 lbs. at his best. Thus, he would have needed to compensate for lack of size with some other natural attribute. Given that Wells was not a devastating puncher, and considering that he didn't have the slick boxing talent of a Jimmy Young, my guess is that he would never have made a truly world class fighter as a professional.

[Longhhorn71]

The Wells I saw had good power as a left handed fighter.

My sources in Texas said Wells' management was not the best for a pro career.

[kolcade4]

Wells was certainly an excellent amateur, but does that mean he had the talent to make it as a top flight pro? There's a distinction between the amateur and the pro game. Certainly a stellar amateur career is a good prognostic indicator for professional potential, but it's not a sure fire litmus of pro success.

Wells was not a big heavyweight...I think he was around 6'0" tall and 200 lbs. at his best. Thus, he would have needed to compensate for lack of size with some other natural attribute. Given that Wells was not a devastating puncher, and considering that he didn't have the slick boxing talent of a Jimmy Young, my guess is that he would never have made a truly world class fighter as a professional.
you say that he was not a devestating puncher but yet he is mentioned as one the most powerful and most devestating punchers of his time. i think his record speaks for itself w/ 110 kos , 72 of those being in rd 1.as far you saying that he would have never make a world class fighter brings me to my question. did he stay amateur too long? was he at the ass end of his career when he went pro? like i said he had already fought 186 fights before going pro in 76'. i think he completly missed the open window of oppurtunity by not turning pro in 72' after he ko'd larry holmes for the second time that year. i think that leads back to the ultimate answer which is what i have heard on hear alot and that is that he needed a trainer to have developed a style around his power. fair enough, but another question comes to mind. could the right trainer developed an oxygen tank(stamina) for nick to be able to venture into the later championship rounds?

[kolcade4]

The Wells I saw had good power as a left handed fighter.

My sources in Texas said Wells' management was not the best for a pro career.
are you kidding me, the management he had completly sucked for a pro career. i don't know what this guy was doing. his name winky groom. more like dumb ass to me.

[kolcade4]

well his pro career does speak for itself. he absolutley sucked as a pro. now can we blame that on mngtmnt or could we blame it on the fact that maybe he just wasn't that good. but lets take into account that he does go pro in 1972 and does get the right support. well maybe this turns out to be different story altogether. what i would like to see is list of his opponents that he fought during his amateur career, and see if there are notable wins to be accounted for.

[My dinner with Conteh]

help me out with this guys feel free to bash if you must , i can take it . i just want to hear everyone's true opinions on this , in the most professional of manners. im coming out right now. i am nick wells jr.

I knew you were. I said that weeks ago. :good

[kolcade4]

good job dinner,you are a regular dick tracy.

[albinored]

..i've written about nick wells several times and i won't get into the hows and whys he didn't have a successful pro career.....i jiust want to make one point.... the fellow who said wells was not a devastating puncher and even the one who said he had good power...i have seen a lot of fighters over a lot of years....and nick wells was one of the hardest hitters of them all. he may even have hit harder than bob satterfield. like satterfield he faded if he didn't get his guy out early...though satterfield didn't fade as early.

[kolcade4]

i like your input albino, but i would like you to answer the question posted. read thru some of my posts and start there please? i agree with what you said about his power, some people do not realize the scary power that he possesed but his oxygen tank was lacking. his pro career has 0 noteables. nick was loosing to some chumps.i dont get it. he went pro in 1976. he should have gone pro in 72 or 73. he had fought 186 fights before going pro.although a something to remember is the cut that he possesed (during the 1972 olympic trials)from a hotel door from a teamate never healed properly and gave him fits through his pro career. it was too close to the bone. a real manager would have had the bone shaved down or something. this cut cost him the heavyweight spot on the72 olympic team to duane bobick. bobick had nothing to due with the cut as far as creating it. all he had to due was breath on it to reopen it. why did wells suck so horribly as a pro? i just dont get it . was he done already by the time he went pro? i guess so , because the proof is in his pro record.

[albinored]

..i have always been puzzled as to why nick wells didn't go farther as a pro. it's not that he failed to reach the top....he failed to get to any rating at all as he had such a poor record. maybe you're right...maybe he just burned himself out when he was an amateur. while scoring all those kncokouts as a simon pure may give the impression that he hadn't had to fight many rounds then, his style was so intense...charging right out and landing his big bomb could have drained him more than taking it a little easier. i just don't know.

[kolcade4]

another thii like your input albino, but i would like you to answer the question posted. read thru some of my posts and start there please? i agree with what you said about his power, some people do not realize the scary power that he possesed but his oxygen tank was lacking. his pro career has 0 noteables. nick was loosing to some chumps.i dont get it. he went pro in 1976. he should have gone pro in 72 or 73. he had fought 186 fights before going pro.although a something to remember is the cut that he possesed (during the 1972 olympic trials)from a hotel door from a teamate never healed properly and gave him fits through his pro career. it was too close to the bone. a real manager would have had the bone shaved down or something. this cut cost him the heavyweight spot on the72 olympic team to duane bobick. bobick had nothing to due with the cut as far as creating it. all he had to due was breath on it to reopen it. why did wells suck so horribly as a pro? i just dont get it . was he done already by the time he went pro? i guess so , because the proof is in his pro record.

[albinored]

...nick, as i have written before..i just don't know. i told rollie schwartz i thought your dad was the hardest hitting amateur i ever saw...and rollie pretty much agreed, and he had seen everybody. maybe he did burn himself out.....maybe it was a problem in getting into condition...whatever... i have to think that awesome power would have followed him into the pros...i just wish he had done better so more people would have seen him. he'd have been one of the most exciting heavies ever and perhaps could have gone all the way.

[kolcade4]

.,

[kolcade4]

my bad

[Duodenum]

Amateur success and accomplishment just doesn't necessarily translate into professional success. Clint Jackson and Davey Lee Armstrong were the most accredited members of the 1976 US Olympic team in Montreal, yet neither managed to win gold, and both had mediocre professional careers. Howard Davis, Jr. won the Val Barker Cup for those games, and never won a professional world championship.

From what I gather, the fact that Wells stopped most of his amateur opponents hindered the development of his stamina and endurance horribly. If he passed up an opportunity to be guided by the well connected Lou Duva, then that's a fantastic error in career judgment. Taking on a distance oriented veteran stylist like Mike Koranicki after just four quick knockout wins (none longer than the amateur limit) is just plain madness. (Anybody who's seen the tape of Koranicki ruining the career of Kallie Knoetze knows what I mean.) Maybe he simply never had the heavyweight chin to compete at the world class professional level either.

Competing in the armed forces means that he was probably required to wear headgear, not necessarily an advantage for one aspiring to punch for pay. Less concentration is applied to trying to defend against head shots, and the impact of such blows can tend to be muted when they do connect. It can be a rude shock to then perform without this protective equipment.

[kolcade4]

Amateur success and accomplishment just doesn't necessarily translate into professional success. Clint Jackson and Davey Lee Armstrong were the most accredited members of the 1976 US Olympic team in Montreal, yet neither managed to win gold, and both had mediocre professional careers. Howard Davis, Jr. won the Val Barker Cup for those games, and never won a professional world championship.

From what I gather, the fact that Wells stopped most of his amateur opponents hindered the development of his stamina and endurance horribly. If he passed up an opportunity to be guided by the well connected Lou Duva, then that's a fantastic error in career judgment. Taking on a distance oriented veteran stylist like Mike Koranicki after just four quick knockout wins (none longer than the amateur limit) is just plain madness. (Anybody who's seen the tape of Koranicki ruining the career of Kallie Knoetze knows what I mean.) Maybe he simply never had the heavyweight chin to compete at the world class professional level either.

Competing in the armed forces means that he was probably required to wear headgear, not necessarily an advantage for one aspiring to punch for pay. Less concentration is applied to trying to defend against head shots, and the impact of such blows can tend to be muted when they do connect. It can be a rude shock to then perform without this protective equipment.
Wells in the Koranicki fight had dropped to I believe 195 to 200 lbs at the advice of his deranged buisnessman /mgr Winky Groom. Nick said he felt weak and hungry .He felt more comfortable at 215 - 220 lbs. He just did not feel himself, and another fact of this fight is that Koranicki wasnt even the scheduled fight to begin with. He was thrown in last minute when Wells had been training for a completely different fighter.Groom did not protect his fighter. On the side he was making side bets to benefit himself and he will have to answer for his sins one day.
Wells was a firefighter at the same time as pro fighter due to the more consistant income.He unfortunatly could not focus 100 percent of his time to boxing.Truly a waste of talent.

[Duodenum]

Wells in the Koranicki fight had dropped to I believe 195 to 200 lbs at the advice of his deranged buisnessman/mgr Winky Groom. Nick said he felt weak and hungry. He felt more comfortable at 215 - 220 lbs. He just did not feel himself, and another fact of this fight is that Koranicki wasnt even the scheduled fight to begin with. He was thrown in last minute when Wells had been training for a completely different fighter. Groom did not protect his fighter. On the side he was making side bets to benefit himself and he will have to answer for his sins one day.Disgusting. Might the sins of the father, Tinky Winky, be visited upon his son, Brock?Wells was a firefighter at the same time as pro fighter due to the more consistent income. He unfortunately could not focus 100 percent of his time to boxing. Truly a waste of talent.Fort Worth produced the Curry brothers, and Gene Hatcher. Where the hell was Dave Gorman when Nick turned pro?

[kolcade4]

Disgusting. Might the sins of the father, Tinky Winky, be visited upon his son, Brock?Fort Worth produced the Curry brothers, and Gene Hatcher. Where the hell was Dave Gorman when Nick turned pro?
No shit, where was Gorman ? I know that he was around.How do you know of Brock?

[Duodenum]

No shit, where was Gorman? I know that he was around. How do you know of Brock?I know of Brock just by idly surfing online. Also, I have a girlfriend from the area (Denton, to be exact, although she also had family in Fort Worth), and while she's not a fan, knowing her has spurred me to know a little more about the area she originated from than I might otherwise learn. (In fact, the laptop and accessories I'm using were a Christmas gift package she bought me a few years ago.)

While I don't know when Gorman got started in the business, he was already a distinguished looking gentleman when Mad Dog and the Cobra became famous, so I imagined he must have been around for some time before that.

[kolcade4]

I know of Brock just by idly surfing online. Also, I have a girlfriend from the area (Denton, to be exact, although she also had family in Fort Worth), and while she's not a fan, knowing her has spurred me to know a little more about the area she originated from than I might otherwise learn. (In fact, the laptop and accessories I'm using were a Christmas gift package she bought me a few years ago.)

While I don't know when Gorman got started in the business, he was already a distinguished looking gentleman when Mad Dog and the Cobra became famous, so I imagined he must have been around for some time before that.
Yea, Gorman does seem like a good fit. Why Winky Groom ? I can see Gorman developing Nicks power into a style that would adapt to the pro ranks .He couldve developed Nicks oxygen tank and put him into a better posistion.

[Duodenum]

Yea, Gorman does seem like a good fit. Why Winky Groom? I can see Gorman developing Nick's power into a style that would adapt to the pro ranks. He could've developed Nick's oxygen tank and put him into a better position.Ron Lyle turned professional when he was already 30. In his fifth fight, he went the five round distance with Leroy Caldwell, a cagey stylist with little power. Win or lose, Caldwell would have been a great experience for any rising prospect. As hard as Lyle hit, he was matched with low risk veteran opponents like Leroy Caldwell, Manuel Ramos and Bob Stallings, who could take him the distance, and this paid huge dividends as his career progressed. Just having the background of having won over ten or 12 rounds can provide a world of confidence, and no amount of training can take the place of being extended like that. (Koranicki might have been such a building experience with proper preparation and training. The fact is that Groom never amounted to anything in boxing. Too bad it was at the expense of Wells that we discovered Groom was clueless.)

[timmers612]

Nic was something else before turning pro but.....I saw him at his best in the finals of the '72 National Golden Gloves after ko'ing easily the 3? he fought to get there and then Duane Bobick just took him apart both technique and powerwise. The final punch was a right hand to Nic's chest that put him down for good. I thought at the time that Nic might make an exciting pro for awhile but never be able to hang with the upper twenty or so guys.

[kolcade4]

Its funny how you describe the 72 olympic trial fight.From what I understand the ref stopped the fight while Nick was on the stool due to a horrible gash above his eye that was not caused by bobbick but by horseplay at the team dormroom.all you had to due was breath on it to reopen it.nick broke bobbicks nose and was easily winning the fight , but due to the blood in the eye the ref called it. that is when holmes fought bobbick in the box offs and lost, the olympic committe had voted for wells to fight but the team doctor said the cut was to the bone.the cut once again was caused by a extremly heavy door not bobbick. the door was opened on to nick's eye as he was chasing a teamate out of the dormroom for throwing a lemon at him.as he made it to the door full speed the door was reopened by his teamate , wham, a horrible stupid accident that would plaugue him the rest of his carrer.

[kolcade4]

Nic was something else before turning pro but.....I saw him at his best in the finals of the '72 National Golden Gloves after ko'ing easily the 3? he fought to get there and then Duane Bobick just took him apart both technique and powerwise. The final punch was a right hand to Nic's chest that put him down for good. I thought at the time that Nic might make an exciting pro for awhile but never be able to hang with the upper twenty or so guys.
Its funny how you describe the 72 olympic trial fight.From what I understand the ref stopped the fight while Nick was on the stool due to a horrible gash above his eye that was not caused by bobbick but by horseplay at the team dormroom.all you had to due was breath on it to reopen it.nick broke bobbicks nose and was easily winning the fight , but due to the blood in the eye the ref called it. that is when holmes fought bobbick in the box offs and lost, the olympic committe had voted for wells to fight but the team doctor said the cut was to the bone.the cut once again was caused by a extremly heavy door not bobbick. the door was opened on to nick's eye as he was chasing a teamate out of the dormroom for throwing a lemon at him.as he made it to the door full speed the door was reopened by his teamate , wham, a horrible stupid accident that would plaugue him the rest of his carrer

[kolcade4]

I also have found something out that is of interest.Nick could not ever find anyone to spar with him.He was hard pressed as well as his manager to find the right guys to do so.The reason I m assuming is that they afraid of getting hammered .So that seems to help me out a bit.If you can't find someone to spar with you on a consistant basis for 10 rds how do expect to go that long in a fight.Interesting.

[timmers612]

Its funny how you describe the 72 olympic trial fight.From what I understand the ref stopped the fight while Nick was on the stool due to a horrible gash above his eye that was not caused by bobbick but by horseplay at the team dormroom.all you had to due was breath on it to reopen it.nick broke bobbicks nose and was easily winning the fight , but due to the blood in the eye the ref called it. that is when holmes fought bobbick in the box offs and lost, the olympic committe had voted for wells to fight but the team doctor said the cut was to the bone.the cut once again was caused by a extremly heavy door not bobbick. the door was opened on to nick's eye as he was chasing a teamate out of the dormroom for throwing a lemon at him.as he made it to the door full speed the door was reopened by his teamate , wham, a horrible stupid accident that would plaugue him the rest of his carrer. I didn't say 72 Olympic trials,,,,,! I said 72 finals of the national golden gloves in Minneapolis MN and Nic didn't get up after the last Knock down. I honestly can't see how Nic could have easily been beating Duane later at the trials based on how totally he was handled in this tournament.