Under-rated...Where?

[Goodnight, Irene]

Familiar format, here. You name a fighter, & let the next member highlight an under-rated facet of their game. Then, name a fighter at the bottom of your post, & see what the next man has to say.

Let me start with a long-standing favourite of mine, Pernell Whitaker 8)

I can already think of two areas for him (& power ain't one of them).

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Toughness, he was knocked down here and there so some find it ok to question his chin. He walked through everything Trinidad could throw at him as an old man. Tremendous defensive fighter, but at the core of all that skill. He was all balls.

Edit: Work rate and body punching are two more. It astounds me how many people think Pea danced around the ring with his hands at his sides. He threw a ton of punches.


Gene Fullmer

[Panzerfaust]

Toughness, he was knocked down here and there so some find it ok to question his chin. He walked through everything Trinidad could throw at him as an old man. Tremendous defensive fighter, but at the core of all that skill. He was all balls.

Edit: Work rate and body punching are two more. It astounds me how many people think Pea danced around the ring with his hands at his sides. He threw a ton of punches.


Gene Fullmer

Skills, people figure him to have been just a crude strong guy, but he could box ..



Niccolino Locche

[King Carlos]

Locche is a tough one in a thread like this. His notable attributes are quite laid out I feel. He certainly was no kind of stand-out offensive fighter. An accurate counter-puncher with a relatively low workrate, sure, but as far as leading his only notable punch was the left hook. Very good at feinting before threading it to the body or head.

Maybe his chin is underrated, as it was rarely tested. The right hand he took from Hernandez and the subsequent follow up blows would've had most down for the count, if not thoroughly dazed after the knockdown. Locche got put on his ass, shook it off, and continued to school him for the remainder of the fight. Also, as few and far between as they were, he took a couple of solid blows from another major banger in Fuji and scarcely batted an eyelash.

Eusebio Pedroza.

[elmersalsa]

Eusebio Pedroza had Underrated punching power. He could kill you with body shots. Excellent head movement and stamina.


next: Ken Buchanan