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Masao Ohba – 1966-1973 (35-2-1, 16 KOs): One wouldn’t think that a link could exist between a Mexican featherweight and a Japanese flyweight, but the stories of Salvador Sanchez and Ohba are tragically and eerily similar. Sanchez is revered in the boxing world because of his considerable achievements during his two-plus year reign as WBC featherweight champion. By age 23, Sanchez amassed nine defenses against excellent opposition that included Danny Lopez (twice), Ruben Castillo, Patrick Ford, Juan LaPorte, Wilfredo Gomez and Azumah Nelson. Incredibly, he was still a couple of years away from his physical prime.

But fans would never get to see Sanchez at his very best because he was killed in an automobile accident just three weeks after his sensational war against future Hall of Famer Nelson.

Similarly, by the time Ohba was 23, he was in the process of putting together a tremendous reign as WBA flyweight champion. He dethroned the 25-1-3 Berkrerk Chartvanchai (KO 13) and his best victories as champ came against future three-time flyweight champion Betulio Gonzalez, former flyweight titlist Susumu Hanagata (who decisioned Ohba three years earlier) and three-time king Chartchai Chionoi.

"He had a fierceness about him even though he was more of a boxer," said Jack Obermayer, who has written about boxing since 1968 and attended Chionoi’s fight against Walter McGowan in Bangkok while serving in Vietnam. "He could strike with fast, fierce combinations when he had to, and in the 1970s the Japanese people took to that because that was an anomaly compared to what you would have gotten in Japan at the time. He could think quickly on his feet and he had a two-fisted windmill style like Fighting Harada, but he wasn’t as great as Harada was."

Ohba also demonstrated a touch of vulnerability, especially in the early rounds. He was floored and badly hurt in the first round against Orlando Amores, but Ohba roared back spectacularly to score a fifth-round knockout. The pattern repeated itself against Chionoi as Ohba was decked with a sweeping overhand right to the jaw just 38 seconds after the opening bell. Ohba withstood Chionoi’s bombs and countered effectively until early in the 12th round when a short inside right stunned the Thai. As Chionoi staggered into the ropes, Ohba unleashed a vicious assault that floored Chionoi for a two-count. After the referee allowed an unsteady Chionoi to continue, Ohba fired a 22-punch salvo that caused Chionoi to turn away and collapse in the corner, utterly exhausted. The Thai rose again, but Ohba polished him off with a final 12-punch assault that rendered Chionoi helpless.

It was a glorious ending for Ohba, but no one could have known that exactly three weeks later Ohba would be killed in an automobile accident, just as Sanchez would be more than nine years later. With five defenses under his belt and his prime years still to come, one can only wonder how he would have fared against Miguel Canto a couple of years later.

"I was a big Canto fan, and to me he was a great, great fighter," Obermayer said. "It might sound sacrilegious, but his style was based on the Willie Pep school and he was very tough to hit. He didn’t have much of a punch and took advantage of any opportunity to make you miss and pay. Canto was an all-time great flyweight while Ohba had not quite reached that plateau. I don’t know if it would have been a great fight because they were distance boxers. Based on Canto’s track record, I would pick him to beat Ohba, but finishing second to Miguel Canto is no disgrace."

Still, Obermayer believes Ohba was on his way to making a significant mark on boxing history, and though his career was cut short he still places a checkmark beside his name on his International Boxing Hall of Fame ballot.

"Yes, he is a Hall of Famer," said Obermayer, the original "Travelin’ Man" who has attended 3,042 boxing shows in 317 cities and 48 states as of January 25, 2007. "We’ll never know if the adulation would have gotten to his head or if he would have lost his focus and lost the title and never regained it. He certainly was on track to be a great fighter."

Because the fates dealt Ohba a terrible blow the likes of which none of us could defend, we will never know just how great.

Mando Ramos – 1965-1975 (37-11-1, 23 KOs): During the late 1960s and early 1970s, southern California was a breeding ground for precocious and talented lighter-weight fighters. Hall of Famer Bobby Chacon and should-be Hall of Famer Danny "Little Red" Lopez were just two outstanding talents that made their mark in the early 1970s. But before them was Mando Ramos, a native of Long Beach who grew to be a long and lean lightweight who possessed skills far beyond his years. Manager/trainer Jackie McCoy put the 16-year-old Ramos in the ring with stablemate (and world featherweight champion) Raul Rojas, and the youngster more than held his own.

"Mando had so much talent," McCoy said in Dave Anderson’s book "In The Corner." "When he was 16, 17 years old, he was so good, I couldn’t keep from chuckling when I’d watch him work out. I’d be so happy with the way he looked, I’d tell myself, this kid is the kind of boxer you dream all your life of getting."

At 5-11 with a 71 ½-inch reach, Ramos towered over his opponents and he knew how to use his snapping jab to set up his powerful combinations. Ramos turned pro three days after his 17th birthday with a five-round decision over Berlin Roberts and raced to a 17-0 (11 KO) record, which included impressive 10-round wins over 62-fight veteran Jorge "Baby" Salazar in his 11th fight and the 17-0-2 Ray Echevarria in fight number 15. Kang Il Suh scored an upset decision to ruin the perfect record, and four fights later Frankie Crawford scored a majority decision. After Ramos brilliantly out-boxed Crawford in his next outing, he came off the floor in the ninth to decision reigning WBC super featherweight champion Hiroshi Kobayashi in a non-title contest to earn a shot at Carlos "Teo" Cruz’s WBA lightweight title.

Just two months short of his 20th birthday, Ramos lost a razor-thin decision to Cruz but lifted the title in the rematch five months later after Cruz suffered a severe gash over his eye. With the victory, Ramos became the youngest man ever to win the lightweight title. After blowing away Yoshiaki Numata in six rounds, Ramos’ future seemed limitless. He was young, successful, telegenic, charismatic and personable. All the ingredients for a long and profitable title reign appeared to be in place.

Unfortunately for Ramos, he lacked the maturity to handle his elevated status, and much of that had to do with his upbringing. His father Ray, a former fighter himself, was an alcoholic and Mando began drinking at age 11 when he sneaked drinks from his grandmother’s restaurant. As a child he engaged in hundreds of street fights, even after he turned to boxing. Ramos also abused drugs as his marijuana use eventually escalated to heroin. Finally, he regularly cut training to further indulge in his extracurricular passions.

The excesses led to problems reducing to the 135-pound limit and the combined strains exacted a terrible toll on his body. Ramos lost the belt in his second defense to Ismael Laguna when a combination of five cuts forced a ninth-round stoppage, but after three wins he earned a crack at the vacant WBC title against the 103-1-2 Pedro Carrasco in Carrasco’s hometown of Madrid. Strung out on heroin in the days before the fight, Ramos still dominated until being disqualified in the 12th for pushing. The resulting controversy spawned a rematch, which Ramos won by split decision and he captured a split verdict in their third and final encounter. Less than three months later, Ramos lost the belt for the final time to Chango Carmona by eighth round KO. Ramos fought on, going 4-4-1 before retiring in 1975 following a two-round TKO loss to Wayne Beale. Ramos was just 17 days short of 27 years old.

Ramos worked as a longshoreman for several years and swore off drugs following his older brother’s death from a heroin overdose. Drug free since 1983, Ramos started BAAD, which stands for Boxing Against Alcohol and Drugs.

"Mando had more ability than any fighter I’ve ever been around, but he never did reach his potential," McCoy told Anderson. "He could’ve been a super fighter. It’s amazing he won the lightweight title twice, because he admits himself now that he used every drug known to man plus alcohol since he was about 12 years old."

At least Ramos’ story ultimately had a happy ending, but we’ll never know how much greatness he lost during those troubled years.

Mike Tyson – 1985-2005 (50-6 with two no-contests, 44 KOs): I have often stated that Julio Cesar Chavez was the one fighter in the last 50 years who has made a credible run toward the top of the all-time pound-for-pound mountain. But no prospect in my more than three decades of following the sport had excited me more than the young Mike Tyson. Yes, Tyson sported an impressively muscular build but what made him special was his mind-blowing hand speed and well-honed defensive skills that helped set up his incredibly spectacular knockouts.

"He was very fast, probably the fastest fighter ever in the heavyweight division," said Kevin Rooney, who trained Tyson from the beginning of his pro career until his showdown with Michael Spinks. "Tyson was with Cus D’Amato and me since 1980, I believe, and because he dedicated himself under Cus’ regime he became a great fighter. (His ability was like) a gift from God and we all were looking at this guy and saying ‘who is this guy who’s knocking everybody out?’ It was like, ‘wow!’ "

His performances in the ring, combined with a brilliantly executed marketing blitz by managers Jim Jacobs and Bill Cayton, created a tidal wave of excitement seldom seen in any field, much less boxing. Tyson maintained a furious schedule of two or three fights every month and videos of his spectacular knockouts were regularly shown on nighttime sports casts around the country. The stated goal was for the teen terror to become history’s youngest heavyweight champion and he won his first piece of the title at age 20 years 4 months by wiping out WBC titlist Trevor Berbick in two rounds in November 1986. By the time he unified the titles by decisioning Tony Tucker, Tyson, now 21 years and 1 month old, was a full 10 months younger than Patterson.

Despite well-documented personal and professional turmoil, Tyson ripped through his opposition, and this period in Tyson’s career was capped off by his one-round destruction of Michael Spinks to win universal recognition as heavyweight champion. Because Tyson was older than Patterson was when he achieved undisputed status, Tyson’s claim of being history’s youngest heavyweight champion remains a point of contention among observers. The impressiveness of his performance against Spinks, however, was beyond dispute.

"That was his best fight," Rooney said. "The arena in Atlantic City was sold out and Mike went out there and knocked (Spinks) out in 90 seconds. The best thing about Mike that night was his mindset. He went out there ripping shots. Mike punches hard and he went out there and took Spinks apart. It was like ‘hello, goodbye, see you.’ "

Soon after, Tyson fired the surviving members of his original team to sign a promotional deal with Don King. The first fight under the new "Team Tyson" took place against Frank Bruno on February 25, 1989, eight months after the Spinks blowout. The difference in form couldn’t have been more stark – and not in a positive way. Tyson ditched the defensive elements of the D’Amato style in favor of gunning for the one-punch knockout.

"Bruno was nothing, a nobody and Tyson knocked him out but he wasn’t on top of anything," Rooney said. "Bruno hurt him in the first round with a left hook, and if he could have really fought he should have knocked Tyson out. I mean Bruno had Tyson HURT. He whacked him with a left hook and Tyson staggered, and if you have a guy hurt you get rid of him. The Tyson I trained would have gotten rid of Bruno. In the fights after Spinks he wasn’t moving his head, he wasn’t being elusive, he was just saying ‘let’s go…let’s go.’ "

Tyson knocked Bruno out in five rounds and kept winning despite his diminishing technical skills. Tyson took a 37-0 (34 KOs) record into his 10th defense against 42-1 underdog James "Buster" Douglas in Tokyo on February 10, 1990. An out-of-shape and disinterested Tyson was at his worst while Douglas, fighting just weeks after his mother’s death, was at the peak of his athletic life. Even after Douglas thoroughly dominated Tyson over most of the first eight rounds, Tyson managed to floor Douglas with a massive right uppercut. But Douglas would not be denied and he blasted the crown off Tyson’s head in the 10th.

Tyson’s early career was marked by a desire to become the greatest heavyweight who ever lived, but by the time "Iron Mike" fought Douglas, Rooney feels that drive had been extinguished.

"He didn’t train for that fight at all…AT ALL!" Rooney said. "Tokyo, Japan is a big time party town but when he fought Tubbs he trained. We went out there the first day and we got up and we ran. He was in shape for that one and he knocked Tubbs out (in the second round). But when Tyson fought Douglas he didn’t train at all because he thought he could beat Douglas. Douglas’ mother had died and he was motivated for her, then he went out there and whupped Tyson’s ass. At that point he was out of control. He was calling all the shots and he shouldn’t have been calling the shots. But King was in his pocket and it was a bad thing. In my opinion, Mike forgot who he was and what he was doing and that’s why Douglas beat him."

After a pair of wins over Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, Tyson was convicted of rape and served three years in prison. Following his release in 1995, Tyson regained much of his fearsome reputation by stopping Bruno in three rounds to win the WBC belt and blitzing Bruce Seldon in 109 seconds for the WBA strap. By the time he signed to defend against Evander Holyfield, many experts expressed concern that the "Real Deal’s" life was in mortal danger. In an upset that rivaled Douglas’, Holyfield knocked Tyson out in 11.

From that point forward Tyson’s emotional shortcomings would come to the fore. First was the ear-biting incident in the Holyfield rematch. Next he attempted several times to break Frans Botha’s arm. Then he hit Orlin Norris after the bell and the resulting fall injured Norris’ knee, resulting in a no-contest that could easily have been a disqualification loss. Then Tyson bull-rushed over referee John Coyle to get in a few extra punches on Lou Savarese, who he knocked out in just 38 seconds. Tyson was well behaved in his three-round KO over Andrew Golota, but that victory turned into a no-contest after his post-fight urinalysis tested positive for marijuana. Then came the melee at the event announcing the fight between Tyson and Lennox Lewis during which Tyson reportedly bit Lewis’ thigh.

His final pro outing against Kevin McBride was a microcosm of how far Tyson had slipped. Tyson generally controlled the action until the final minute of round five when McBride drove Tyson back with a series of uppercuts. Early in the sixth, Tyson became unglued. First he tried to break McBride’s left arm in a clinch, then a head butt which was judged to be deliberate opened a cut over McBride’s left eye, costing Tyson two points. Then he tried to break McBride’s arm a second time and after McBride withstood Tyson’s follow-up flurry, Tyson retired on the stool between rounds six and seven. Tyson then announced his retirement from the sport.

"I’m just sorry I let everybody down," a humble and reflective Tyson said after the fight. "I don’t have this in my heart anymore. I’m just fighting to take care of my bills and I don’t have the stomach for this anymore. I don’t have that ferocity and I’m not that animal anymore. I’m not going to disrespect the sport by losing to these caliber of fighters." Then, perhaps in a nod back to the Douglas fight, he said, "I haven’t loved fighting since 1990."

At the time he won his first slice of the title in 1986, Tyson had the potential to craft the longest and most prolific championship reign the sport has ever known. But because Tyson was unable – or unwilling – to control his impulses, Joe Louis still holds both records of 11 years 8 months and 25 defenses.

"He became an idiot as far as I’m concerned because he wanted to forget everybody who helped him," Rooney said. "Cus had died and Jimmy (Jacobs) had died and (Bill) Cayton was the mastermind who made the business deals. He was focused when he was with me and he just went out there and did what we had to do. Had he stayed dedicated and had he stayed at home, he would have been the world champion forever because there was nothing out there that could have stopped him."

Nothing, that is, except Mike Tyson himself.

Pancho Villa – 1919-1925 (73-5-4 with 23 no decisions, 22 KOs): Picture Manny Pacquiao as a fighter from the 1920s and one would get a good idea of what Villa must have been like in the ring. The 5-1 dynamo from Iloilo in the Philippines was a typhoon that tore through everything in his path and as a result was immensely popular, especially back home.

"Villa was an aggressive, two-fisted guy who could withstand punishment," said Hall of Fame historian Hank Kaplan. "He overwhelmed a lot of the classy and clever featherweights of his time. He had a busy style and because he was a great performer the fans loved him. I was talking with friends recently about how Villa would compare with Manny Pacquiao. You will not see many fighters better than Manny Pacquiao, who is the closest thing to Henry Armstrong that we’ve seen."

As a boy Villa fostered a reputation as a formidable street fighter, and that reputation led promoter Frank Churchill to begin handling him. It was he who reportedly renamed the man born Francisco Guilledo after the noted Mexican bandit. Villa often fought – and beat – bigger men and built a 48-2-3 record with three no decisions before Churchill took Villa to America in search of better opponents. Villa fought two 12-round no-decisions bouts with Abe Goldstein and Frankie Genaro, though he did lose the newspaper decision in both fights. Five fights later – and on the heels of losing a 10-round decision to Genaro – Villa captured the American flyweight title by knocking out Johnny Buff in 11 rounds. In his first defense he avenged his perceived loss to Goldstein by 15 round decision and beat Terry Martin over 15 rounds to retain the belt a second time. But his nemesis Genaro struck again as he lifted the title by decision in a bout that most observers believed Villa deserved to win.

Six fights after losing to Genaro, Villa engaged in his most famous fight against longtime British flyweight champion Jimmy Wilde, who came to America looking to unify the championship but found Villa to be a far more lucrative opponent than Genaro. On June 18, 1923 at the Polo Grounds, Villa battered the aging "Mighty Atom" with punches from all angles before stopping him in seven rounds.

"Jimmy was at the end of his trail," Kaplan said. "Villa may not have been the classic defensive artist but his style of being busy and aggressive overwhelmed Wilde’s clever boxing skills. Plain and simple, he was too busy for Wilde."

Villa maintained a very busy schedule by engaging in non-title 10-rounders between title defenses. Over the next two years Villa notched defenses against Benny Schwartz (W 15), Georgie Marks (W 15), Frankie Ash (W 15) and Clever Sencio (W 15). The Sencio bout took place in Manila and it proved to be the only time Villa would perform as champion before his home crowd.

On July 4, 1925 in Oakland, Calif., Villa came into the ring against Jimmy McLarnin weakened by the recent extraction of a wisdom tooth and as a result he lost the non-title 10 round decision. A subsequent visit to the dentist revealed an infection that caused three more teeth to be pulled, and instead of following the dentist’s advice to rest he engaged in a week long party. The infection worsened and though his trainer Whitey Ekwert rushed him to the hospital it was too late. Villa was just two weeks short of his 24th birthday when he died of Ludwig’s Angina, an infection of the throat cavity.

"His death could have been prevented, no doubt," Kaplan said. "He didn’t take care of himself because he didn’t think it was very important. He probably didn’t know the extent of the infection. He had a very deep pocket of infection in his mouth and jaw that spread very quickly throughout his body and by the time he got to the doctors it was too late to save him."

Though Villa’s life and career were tragically cut short by a highly preventable death, Kaplan believes Villa deserves to be counted among the very best of 112-pounders.

"He has to be one of the truly great flyweights of all time, no question," he said. "Because he was a great two-fisted battler, he would have been a great fighter in any era."

So there it is, a list of 12 fighters whose careers never reached their potential, denying them the full flower of their greatness. There are many others who could have been included on this list because boxing, more than any other sport, seems to attract people who either find chaos or have it find them. There have been a fortunate few that have been able to rise above their circumstances and enjoy unqualified success, but there are far more who can relate to the stories related here. For them, all we can do is hope for the best and try to remember them in as positive a light as possible. But whenever they are remembered, there will always be the unavoidable cloud of what might have been.