Most Overrated fighter of all time.............

[Blue]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. - Never taken on a legit world class fighter in his prime, ran like a woman from Cotto, Margo and Williams claiming they never bought anything(other than the fact that they were dangerous, although he never mentioned this part) to the table.

interesting pick

Looked great smashing a 45 year old Auturo Gatti to bits but struggled against Castillio

overrated?

yes, id say so

So what does that make Hatton?

[banjo]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. - Never taken on a legit world class fighter in his prime, ran like a woman from Cotto, Margo and Williams claiming they never bought anything(other than the fact that they were dangerous, although he never mentioned this part) to the table.

interesting pick

Looked great smashing a 45 year old Auturo Gatti to bits but struggled against Castillio

overrated?

yes, id say so

So what does that make Hatton?

A gutsy but extremely limited fighter, by the way I'm not being dismissive of Mayweathers ability just his attitude and his "legacy"

[thaibox uk]

Audly Harrison by a mile. From his first pro fight I knew he.d do nothing and yet even now theres people still think he`se gonna come good.

[WildWaylon]

Audly Harrison by a mile. From his first pro fight I knew he.d do nothing and yet even now theres people still think he`se gonna come good.

I think for a fighter to be overrated a good number of people have to support and believe in that fighter. In the case of Harrison there was a lot expected of him when he turned pro (the BBC springs to mind) yet as you say from early on he showed very little promise. Its already very clear short of a Catholic miracle he wont make British champion never mind win a World title. I wish he would just retire, it was bad enough getting KOd by Sprott but losing to Rogan says how bad he is.

[stujones]

Well it will depend on where people rate him, but for me it is some peoples opinion of Jack Dempsey.

I've seen him in P4P all time top ten lists.

[observer1]

Joe Calzaghe.

Cheated the sport, and cheated himself.

had the talent but hid.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

Henry Cooper.

[oliverfennell]

Henry Cooper.

Failed repeatedly in world and European class, yet is held up like some kind of demi-god. He wasn't even a "nearly man" at world level (if the knockdown of Ali makes him a nearly man, then so is Kevin Lueshing for decking Felix Trinidad).

Again - and it's disappointing I have to spell it out every time - just because I am critical of someone does not mean I'm being "disrespectful". I'm entitled to my opinion, and just because it's different to some people's does not mean it's any less valid.

Also the fact I didn't grow up watching Cooper also doesn't mean I'm not entitled to comment on him. How about those labelling Dempsey overrated? Who here was alive when Dempsey fought??

[allworld80]

A gutsy but extremely limited fighter, by the way I'm not being dismissive of Mayweathers ability just his attitude and his "legacy"

good synopsis.

[oliverfennell]

A gutsy but extremely limited fighter, by the way I'm not being dismissive of Mayweathers ability just his attitude and his "legacy"

good synopsis.

Yes, Hatton, who is his division's linear champion and has been since 2005, having beaten a modern great as a big underdog for the distinction, and having lost only to the sport's greatest exponent, is "extremely limited", yet Cooper is beyond reproach...

I have criticised Hatton too, but pound-for-pound, era-for-era, he has achieved more than Cooper already.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

Henry Cooper.

Failed repeatedly in world and European class, yet is held up like some kind of demi-god. He wasn't even a "nearly man" at world level (if the knockdown of Ali makes him a nearly man, then so is Kevin Lueshing for decking Felix Trinidad).

Again - and it's disappointing I have to spell it out every time - just because I am critical of someone does not mean I'm being "disrespectful". I'm entitled to my opinion, and just because it's different to some people's does not mean it's any less valid.

Also the fact I didn't grow up watching Cooper also doesn't mean I'm not entitled to comment on him. How about those labelling Dempsey overrated? Who here was alive when Dempsey fought??

My old man watched Cooper in most of his fights in the 1960s and always would tell me about Floyd Patterson KOing Cooper descively right after Coopers fight with Ali - Because people were saying then 'if it wasn't for the cuts blahblahblah' and about Coopers brilliant left hook when it was Patterson who laid out 'Enry cold with a left hook of his own.

And I read somewhere on this forum that 'Enry would have beaten Klitsckho No fan of the Klitsckshos but what kind of mind bending drugs would you need to take to come out with a statment like that? Oh my lord...

[twenty six]

Carlos,
My old man always says the writing was on the wall for Cooper way before the Ali Patterson fights.
He refers to the fight in Sweden for the Euro title against Johanneson in 1957 when he got ko'd in the 5th.
Never seen it, but interestingly enough I was at a function with Cooper a few weeks ago and when I asked him about this fight he went quiet and just said Johanneson was a good fighter.
I found Cooper to be very bitter about modern day fighters. He was very dismissive about most fighters from the 80's forward.
Preferred to talk about the Ali injustice, and Brut !
Cooper stands for everything we Brits like.
A nearly man who endears himself to joe public through a perceived injustice.

[Old bones Ian]

At the time that Cooper took on Johansson, he was 14-4 , and had lost his 2 previous fights.
Johansson was 16-0 , and had won the Euro title.
Was it that unexpected that he Ko'd Cooper?

[twenty six]

I really don't know Ian.
Like I say never seen the fight and I was 2 months old when it happened.
Can only go on what my old fella said, so assume there was great optimism he'd come back with the Euro belt.
Didn't look at his record - but given what you say, how did he get the fight ?

[Poncey]

Oli, for what it's worth I completely agree with you.

Being loved by a Nation doesn't make you a great.

[gobbles]

Joe Calzaghe.

Cheated the sport, and cheated himself.

had the talent but hid.

What a surprise, the one track clown enters the debate.

I think Dempsey is an interesting call. Big reputation, one of the 3-4 most recognisable names in the sport, yet his biggest wins were over Willard, Carpentier, Firpo and Sharkey. But you can only beat what is out there in your era.
Herol Graham is an interesting call too. Very talented, but always blew it on the big day. A large part of achievement has to be about if you can get it right on the night.

Jake LaMotta is another whose name has outgrown his achievements, but my vote would have to go for Tyson. Some people regard him as one of the best fighters of all time, yet he was at his best for a very short period. He was also a classic bully, who never got off the floor to win, neither did he ever turn around a fight that he was losing to win.

[stujones]

Watch Tyson vs Botha, Gobbles.

Yes, Tyson never got off the floor to win... but in many ways he only lost once. A bit like McGuigan (see my post in the McGuigan thread) - Tyson was out of love of the sport in 1989/1990. His post jail comeback was fuelled entirely by money.... but even so, he showed great heart to take the beatings that Lewis and Holyfield gave him.

Infact, when people mention Tyson's lack of heart I always tell them to watch the last minute of round 10 and the first few seconds of round 11 of the first Holyfield fight. Tyson took a beating at the end of the 10th - really the fight should have been stopped. Tyson is clearly gone at the start of the 11th, and yet still he tries with a hayemaker to get the win.

[stevieb_8006]

Tyson stopped botha when he was losing, but yeah i take ur point gobbles.

I'd say Gatti was VERY overated. Built up to be a legend cos he had guts and got into wars, but his actual ability was overated. A ton of people think he wouldve beaten hatton especially the yanks.

Vargas was overated as well

[stevieb_8006]

and obv pre calzaghe Lacy was overated.

[stevieb_8006]

and tarver.

[banjo]

Vitali Klitschko is largely overrated by a lot of people based on being ahead on points against an inactive, unmotivated and clearly out of shape Lennox Lewis who still managed to rip his face to pieces.

Hopkins is another who is massively overrated, he dominated a poor middleweight division with his biggest wins coming against DLH and Trinidad who started their careers in the lower weight classes, then following his losses to Taylor he beats Tarver who like somebody else has posted is overrated himself, then he beats Wright who was way above his best fighting weight. Good fighter, very good fighter in fact but legend my arse.

[Old bones Ian]

Hopkins is a tough one to call, he did actually beat all the contenders in his division once he became champion, not his fault that they were not marqee names

[gb]

I'm not saying that they are no good, but messrs Mayorga and Zudah continue to get big fights despite racking up the losses (admittedly against very good oppo.)

[WildWaylon]

All sorts of fighters names are being quoted as overrated so who could you say was highly rated and deserved to be.

[banjo]

All sorts of fighters names are being quoted as overrated so who could you say was highly rated and deserved to be.

Off the top of my head:

Pernell Whitaker
Julio Cesar Chavez
Lennox Lewis