Most Hyped Fighters Of All Time

[Seamus]

I'll start with the three most hyped fighters of the 1980's, back when we had great fights on regular TV every week.

1.Mark Breland. Had a decent career with a few impressive wins, but never came close to Howard Cosell's claim that "He has the tools to be the greatest ever in his sport". Breland worshippers in the media continually pointed out, his power, jab, reach etc, and totally ignored the fact that he had a poor chin. In his 87 title bout against Marlon Starling, referee Tony Perez and the 3 judges did everything in there power to save Breland's WBA crown. Perez deducted 3 pts from Starling for no apparent reason, while the judges had Breland ahead by ridiculous margins. Even then Breland couldn't hang on, and Starling finished him in the 11th. Needless to say, we went nuts with delight at my buddy's house when Breland hit the canvas.

2.Donald Curry. Don't get me wrong, Curry was a very good fighter and considerably better than Breland, BUT boxing writers and commentators took there love affair with him to insane proportions. In less than 3 years Curry went from being several writers NO 1 PFP in the world, and the guy who was going to move up to MW and beat Marvin Hagler, to literally being the guy who couldn't beat Rene Jacquot.

3. Alex Ramos. I don't know if it was because he had some long term TV contract, but commentators would go to ridiculous lengths during his televised bouts to describe how perfectly he does everything in the ring. Even after clubfighter Teddy Sanders KO'd him, they still acted as if it were a fluke, and continued to praise him beyond belief. After James "The Heat" Kinchen brutally knocked him out, they finally got the message.

[generic screen name]

I downloaded footage of Mark Breland as an amateur and he was WOW!

I would add Fernando Vargas, but then he fought valiantly vs everyone and was rushed.

I'd add Howard Davis comfortably on the list.

[cubedrum]

Breland was massively hyped because he was the first 5 time Golden Gloves champion in history. An Olympic gold didn't hurt either.

Shane Mosley (probably the most overhyped ever)
Nate Campbell
Michael Grant

From the past:
Gerry Cooney
Nino LaRocca
Jose Urtain

[kick asner]

Duane Bobick
Jerry Quarry
Leon Spinks
Michael Olijade
Toney Ayala
Hector Comacho
Robin Blake
Ray Mancinni
Marvis Frazier
Michael Dokes
Frank Bruno
Tommy Morrison
Greg Page
Max Baer
Davey Moore

[kick asner]

I'll start with the three most hyped fighters of the 1980's, back when we had great fights on regular TV every week.

1.Mark Breland. Had a decent career with a few impressive wins, but never came close to Howard Cosell's claim that "He has the tools to be the greatest ever in his sport". Breland worshippers in the media continually pointed out, his power, jab, reach etc, and totally ignored the fact that he had a poor chin. In his 87 title bout against Marlon Starling, referee Tony Perez and the 3 judges did everything in there power to save Breland's WBA crown. Perez deducted 3 pts from Starling for no apparent reason, while the judges had Breland ahead by ridiculous margins. Even then Breland couldn't hang on, and Starling finished him in the 11th. Needless to say, we went nuts with delight at my buddy's house when Breland hit the canvas.


2.Donald Curry. Don't get me wrong, Curry was a very good fighter and considerably better than Breland, BUT boxing writers and commentators took there love affair with him to insane proportions. In less than 3 years Curry went from being several writers NO 1 PFP in the world, and the guy who was going to move up to MW and beat Marvin Hagler, to literally being the guy who couldn't beat Rene Jacquot.

3. Alex Ramos. I don't know if it was because he had some long term TV contract, but commentators would go to ridiculous lengths during his televised bouts to describe how perfectly he does everything in the ring. Even after clubfighter Teddy Sanders KO'd him, they still acted as if it were a fluke, and continued to praise him beyond belief. After James "The Heat" Kinchen brutally knocked him out, they finally got the message.

Totally agree with two out of your three. With Curry however he earned his reputaion for the first part of his career rather than just having it bestowed upon him. For three years he ruled his division. Then he began to fade and become just another fighter. You could compare the second half of his career to someone like Frank Bruno. Basically hit and miss. Also not very impressive in big fights in his later years.

[barry]

One of the most hyped fighters who never really accomplished anything was Howard Davis...of recent memory Vitali Klitschko comes to mind!

Curry scored some very good wins, just because he did not turn out to be the next Sugar Ray does not mean that he was not successful...he was very successful.

Breland is another...just because he did not live up to the outlandish hype that was praised of him does not mean that he was not successful, though he did turn out to be more of a bust than he did a success...which Vitali probably falls into that group, but Curry was very successful!

[Thunder and Lightning]

Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston both were ones in there careers called unbeatable until somebody came along and proved nobody is unbeatable.

[Nile4000]

Greg Page and Alex Ramos were hyped, but in Page's case, when his head was on right, he could back it up.

[Syntax Error]

Riddick Bowe - couldn't keep out of KFC.

Michael Grant - possibly the worst chin of the decade.

[Robinson]

For me David Tua and Michael Grant were two of the next big things in the boxing media from abou late 1998-2000. Reading the articles at the time one would swear that both aire apparents were going to dominate the divison in a Louis and Ali like manner. What happened, the less exciting and always there Briton Lennox Lewis dominates and embarrases any that had procalaimed either man 'great'.

The reality, those behind the Tua-Grant PR machine got paid and moved on, and left both fighters and those around them to do the best they could in re-building a 'what could have been'.

As we know Tua is still chasing greatness and is happy to blow away those that he now faces.

Grant, well after that short romance with Teddy Atlas, he is now just a tall former athlete quick to smile and with a busted knee.

Kym

[Expug]

Bobby Czyz comes to mind.
I can still here that freakin "Fame" song that used to follow him into the ring.
There was Lots of hype with that dude.
Mustapha Hamsho cooled all that off however.

[dagosd2000]

An Olympic champion who got off to a slow start and then tragically died in the ring:Ed Sanders. Ingemar Johansson was scared to mix it with him in the Olympics and was disqualified.

[sweetsci]

David Reid can be added to the list. Ring magazine pledged to follow his career in 'David Reid Chronicles' installments if I remember correctly, as they were so certain he was a sure thing.

It was about 30 years ago right now that Howard Davis was featured on the cover of World Boxing with the quote saying something like "Sensational Howard Davis Jr. - Shades of Sugar Ray?" Of course they meant Sugar Ray Robinson.

Although he lived up to his hype and then some, Ali was pictured in Ring magazine as an amateur before he won Olympic gold. I guess The Ring giving a little coverage to amateur stars wasn't that uncommon in those days, though.

Jeremy Williams was presented as a 'next big thing' before he had ten fights under his belt, making mainstream sports-news broadcasts.

[Crssbones]

You have to remember that the networks sign multi fight contracts also and act as pimps to the fighters. They are trying to sell us a bill of goods called network ratings and now pay per view buys. One that still annoys me is Barry Tompkins calling Pinklon Thomas' right hand KO of Mike Weaver one of the greatest one punch KO's you will ever see. Other over hyped fighters.
Mark Breland
Gerry Cooney

[Syntax Error]

I suppose the OP hit the nail on the head with Breland.

Few fighters, if any have been so hyped & achieved so little (in comparison to the hype).

I also agree about the 1st Starling fight. It was justice when he won in the end, because the fight was so obviously fixed in Breland's favour.

I remember there being talk of Sugar Ray Leonard fighting him in 1987, after the Hagler fight, but it not happen for some reason.

I remember Breland saying that he'd be able to keep Leonard on the outside with his jab, like Hearns did previously in 1981.

That might have been an interesting contest, had it happened at that time.

[Tantum]

Fraudley?

[BoxBuzz]

Fraudley?

Though William Fraudley was often seen beating down the various characters on the show "My Three Sons" and "I Love Lucy" I'm not sure he was actually a pro boxer and thus perhaps not eligible for this honor.

[Bobbin & Weavin]

Ruben Hurricane Carter with a 27-12 record was over hyped after his famous arrest, he may not have been guilty of triple murder but his career was not ruined by the racially motivated arrest. He lost three of his last fights, with one draw.

[My2Sense]

Back in the bareknuckle days, John C. Heenan was considered the "American champion" and was supposed to bring the heavyweight title back to the US. He was featured in several big money title fights, but never won a single fight in his entire career!

Young Stribling was probably one of the first "built up" title challengers. He got a lot of attention for a padded record that showed about 20 straight knockout wins, but usually fell short whenever he stepped up his competition.

Chuck Davey was one of the first fighters to be built up for the benefit of TV audiences.

Billy Fox was another heavily hyped fighter, with a record of about 44 knockouts in 45 fights, with many of those knockouts being suspcious. His record earned him two title shots against Gus Lesnevich, and he was exposed both times (the second time by an embarassing first round KO).

Livingstone Bramble became heavily hyped after beating Mancini twice and Tyrone Crawley, and he seemed all set for a big money showdown with Hector Camacho. Edwin Rosario spoiled that.

Nigel Benn was getting a lot of hype before he ran into Watson. I remember he was supposed to be "the British Tyson", in effect.

Terry Norris was supposed to be one of the top P4P fighters in the world before his first fight with Simon Brown. Even though he beat Brown in the rematch, he never really recovered his previous rep.

Samart Payakaroon was getting a lot of hype, until Jeff Fenech nearly tore him to shreds.

Speaking of Fenech, he got a lot of hype from the American media after his first fight with Nelson, but it all came to a screeching halt after their second fight. ( )

How about Wayne McCullough before Zaragoza beat him? If my memory is correct, I think McCullough was the favorite going into that fight.

In more recent times, we've had:
Prince Hamed
Jeff Lacy
Vernon Forrest (pre-Mayorga)
Wlad Klitschko (pre-Sanders)
Oleg Maskaev (for about 3 fights)
That Abdullaev fellow (for about 1 fight )

...to name a few random examples.

[My2Sense]

Fraudley?

Though William Fraudley was often seen beating down the various characters on the show "My Three Sons" and "I Love Lucy" I'm not sure he was actually a pro boxer and thus perhaps not eligible for this honor.

LOL.

[ListonLeft]

someone listed jerry quarry as overhyped. i strongly disagree with you as he was a top contender for years and beat many many good fighters. he may have been listed as a great fighter, but i dont think was overhyped. he fought EVERYBODY. and deserves the utmost respect.

[Elton John]

From the past Alex Ramos. By early 1982 the press acted as though he were already champion. I could tell they were doing a well executed hype job for him, although the only other time I'd seen it was with Leonard. Thank God his career came crashing down as soon as it did (that same summer)

Same kind of thing with Johnny Bumphus who really had nothing going for him and very poorly suited for the professional ranks-sort of puny and frail, not much upper body strength, couldn't crack an egg, slow. Hell I probably could kick his ass myself without half trying.

Gerry Cooney, a true hype job at least had something going for him despite his lack of any real competition. The fight he put up with Holmes had made a believer of me. A believer that he could at least take out most of the other heavies; Weaver, Coetzee.

Greg Page-a definite hype job. The suppossed second coming of Ali never panned out, the result of bestowing too much glory too soon upon the pretender.

But that's how the press was they loved pretenders.

Another pretender was Donald the Cobra Curry. A few wins over a handful of inept competitors and inconsequential ex contenders (Marlon Starling, James Green, Colin Jones, Milt McCrory) made him into a leading glamour boy for the covers. It was clearly evident the press had a major hard on for this guy. The reason? He reminded them of the dear departed Sugar Ray leonard. he was "filling the void" left in his absence.

The first real competition he faced put an end to this farce altogether. I'm not talking inept bunglers such as Marlon Starling or little boys like Milt McCrory but real men capable of meting out brute force in the manner displayed by Lloyd honeyghan and McCallum. Lloyd himself even tho a sizable underdog knew Donald was just a classic case of another shletered media hype job and tore him apart early on.

The biggest hype job all all, the ultimate hype job, the pocket sized Ali and copycat, complete with his own version of the 3 year layoff. Who else of course but Ray Leonard, built into legendary status and who eventually ran into his own Honeyghan which he tried desperately to avert until his game of russian roulette caught up with him. Never had the world seen so much praise heaped upon a man who had done so little.

[Collins2000]

The biggest hype job all all, the ultimate hype job, the pocket sized Ali and copycat, complete with his own version of the 3 year layoff. Who else of course but Ray Leonard, built into legendary status and who eventually ran into his own Honeyghan which he tried desperately to avert until his game of russian roulette caught up with him. Never had the world seen so much praise heaped upon a man who had done so little.

Pure fantasy. Leonard beat some excellent guys on the way up. Your disrespectful and dismissive attitude towards these fighters is proof you know nothing at all about pro boxing.

[Collins2000]

someone listed jerry quarry as overhyped. i strongly disagree with you as he was a top contender for years and beat many many good fighters. he may have been listed as a great fighter, but i dont think was overhyped. he fought EVERYBODY. and deserves the utmost respect.

Unfortunately, respect for fighters is often missing on boxing forums and this one is no exception. It sickens me to see some of the mindless moronic bias on display in here day in and day out.

Internet boxing forums are a double edged sword. Yes, they allow us to interact with other fans in a way that was impossible previously but they also have become a soapbox for nuts who would have been shunned and side-lined in the past.

[ringsider]

I always thought John Wesley Meekins was headed for great things.....but it never came to pass. He wasn't over hyped though.