Underrated Boxing Greats

[Ambling Alp II]

...billy graham.....fought in lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. probably best as a welter...but he has good wins in each division. carmine basilio said he was the smartest boxer he ever fought. never knocked off his feet. check his record. definitely underrated.

Great call. He gets almost no attention. Great fighter.

[stevedoc]

Jimmy Wilde .... Compared to fighters like grebb and Langford he doesn't get mentioned as much

[misterpunch]

billy graham - good shout

ernie Roderick, pat cowdell - neither ever get mentioned as excellent brits - both superb ringmasters

al tribiuani - great welter from the early 40's - fritzie zivic was a hell of a good fighter at his best

too many posts on here suggesting world champions

(ezzard Charles, mike Tyson)

[Old bones Ian]

Yuri Arbachakov, never gets much of a mention, probably as all his fights were in Japan but he was a fearsome boxer in his time

[elmersalsa]

Joe Brown

A true all time great. A true world champion.

[Old bones Ian]

Tim Austin , hard punching bantamweight 10 straight wins for the title. Again a boxer that destroyed Paul Lloyd over here.

[keithmoonhangover]

Yuri Arbachakov, never gets much of a mention, probably as all his fights were in Japan but he was a fearsome boxer in his time

Great choice. I'd add Sot Chitlada.

[L.A. kidd]

the more I think of fulmer the more I think he may have been underated, robinson only beat him once, and he beat basilio twice, every time a welterweight fought him, fullmer killed them.[joe miceli]

[palooka]

Orlando Canizales
Jeff Chandler
Michael Spinks
Tony Lopez
Frank Tate
Don Curry

[Boxing Writer]

Mike Tyson nowadays.

And at the start of round 4 in the Holmes fight Tyson is getting his head jabbed off, which suggests a younger, fitter Holmes would have stood a good chance.

Tyson is definitely not given enough credit for beating Holmes, no one destroyed Holmes like Tyson did.

Holmes finally retired 14 years after fighting Tyson and had a further 24 fights, going 21-3. His only losses after Tyson were all on points to the then unbeaten Holyfield in a title fight (Holmes aged 42), McCall in a title fight (Holmes aged 45) and a disputed loss to the undefeated Brian Nielsen in a IBO title fight (Holmes aged 47). He also beat the undefeated Ray Mercer quite handily four years after the Tyson loss too. At 38 he wasn't as past it as some like to make out he was versus Tyson.

His loss to McCall was just as disputed as his loss to Nielsen. I scored the fight 114:114, and it should be noted that McCall not only was 15 yeasr younger, but also knocked out 29 y.o. Lennox Lewis in 2 rounds in his previous fight.

[Counter-puncher]

Good post

Larry Holmes = under-rated

[Counter-puncher]

Yuri Arbachakov, never gets much of a mention, probably as all his fights were in Japan but he was a fearsome boxer in his time

Great choice. I'd add Sot Chitlada.

Chitalada is a very good call, by the way. He had an awful lot of natural talent, so balanced and fluid. He had, like, an impish cheek, at his best, only the very talented can be cheeky like that and consistently get away with it.

I would guess from reading between the lines that chitalada was quite badly served by staying at fly as long as he did, and that he would probably have thrived with a move to bantam. I think he would be less under-rated had he done so.

[keithmoonhangover]

Yuri Arbachakov, never gets much of a mention, probably as all his fights were in Japan but he was a fearsome boxer in his time

Great choice. I'd add Sot Chitlada.

Chitalada is a very good call, by the way. He had an awful lot of natural talent, so balanced and fluid. He had, like, an impish cheek, at his best, only the very talented can be cheeky like that and consistently get away with it.

I would guess from reading between the lines that chitalada was quite badly served by staying at fly as long as he did, and that he would probably have thrived with a move to bantam. I think he would be less under-rated had he done so.

Agreed. I thought Raul Perez looked unbeatable form time to time.

[Scypion]

the more I think of fulmer the more I think he may have been underated, robinson only beat him once, and he beat basilio twice, every time a welterweight fought him, fullmer killed them.[joe miceli]

I agree that Fullmer was very tough and underrated, but Robinson was past it when he had his fights with Fullmer. Still, I think that Robinson was robbed in their 3rd fight that was called a draw. Robinson was about 39 in that fight.

[Ambling Alp II]

Orlando Canizales
Jeff Chandler
Michael Spinks
Tony Lopez
Frank Tate
Don Curry

Interesting list here.
I don't consider Tate and Lopez "greats", but they are underrated fighters. Lopez is particular. You don't just hear a word about him.
Curry was great for a time.

[Counter-puncher]

That made me take another look at lopez's record, wins against lockridge, molina, paez, gamache, haugen, stack up as a pretty solid list. I'll have to try and get hold of the lockridge fights, I haven't seen them.

[Syntax Error]

Fighting Harada.

[Ambling Alp II]

Harada is another good pick. Great fighter.

[Ambling Alp II]

That made me take another look at lopez's record, wins against lockridge, molina, paez, gamache, haugen, stack up as a pretty solid list. I'll have to try and get hold of the lockridge fights, I haven't seen them.

The first fight with Lockridge was a great fight and very close. It was televised (I believe NBC) back when the networks were phasing out boxing.

[Counter-puncher]

That made me take another look at lopez's record, wins against lockridge, molina, paez, gamache, haugen, stack up as a pretty solid list. I'll have to try and get hold of the lockridge fights, I haven't seen them.

The first fight with Lockridge was a great fight and very close. It was televised (I believe NBC) back when the networks were phasing out boxing.

i'll check it out, thanks

[Bodyshot3]

Lionel Rose from Australia also worth a shout...beat some very good men, including our own Alan Rudkin, and first aboriginal world champ.

[palooka]

Miguel Lora was great for a time.

Mike McCallum doesn't get enough recognition for me, he was a master and so tough and determined.

ChuChu Castillo must have been an excellent boxer to split bouts with a nearly prime Olivares.

Ernesto Marcel and Jorge Lujan were incredible boxers as well from all accounts as was Antonio Cervantes.

[keithmoonhangover]

Marlon Starling was a great IMO.

[Scypion]

Rodrigo Valdez? Might have dominated the middleweight division during the 1970's if Monzon wasn't around. Tough guy I thought.

[orbtastic]

Isn't Valdes the only person to knock down and stop Brisco?

Lopez was pretty good for a period, the first Lockridge fight was great, Ring FOTY? Lockridge is very underrated, he had good skills, solid chin and was a decent puncher, he just had a number of decisions go against him.

Lopez was a bit overshadowed at the time by both Mitchell (who went on to beat him) and Nelson, then later, Hernandez.