do you think eastern euro/ex soviet country boxers get overrated?

[jamamb]

seems that way on forums to me. more so than any other group. no doubt they've got some good ones, but there seems to be a rush to crown them ATGs. ive seen talk of ggg being greatest middle ever, talk of usyk being best cruiser ever, talk of loma being an atg p4p great already. on the other hand i think brits often undervalue their own.

do you agree? if yes, why do you think it happens?

[jameswilson]

There are certain individuals who will hold an unconcsious bias towards a certain demographic. But we're talking individuals, I don't think I've read many people at all claim those boxers are ATGs.

[littlepug]

Its funny because among the first Russian boxers I ever saw box in the early 90s weren't exactly the bees knees so I didn't have high expectations of them until more recently, the boxers were Yuri Vaulin and the other guy whose name escapes me was injured in a fight with Carl Griffiths

[Boxerbeetle]

Hmmm, I don’t think Eastern European boxers get overrated any more than anyone else. They just have 3 exceptional fighters right now in GGG, Loma & Usyk, so some people automatically go over the top in praising them.

Cuban fighters tend to get overrated the most imo - how many have we seen over the years who get proclaimed to be the next big thing and then totally underwhelm in the pro’s?

[kbackup408]

Hmmm, I don’t think Eastern European boxers get overrated any more than anyone else. They just have 3 exceptional fighters right now in GGG, Loma & Usyk, so some people automatically go over the top in praising them.

Cuban fighters tend to get overrated the most imo - how many have we seen over the years who get proclaimed to be the next big thing and then totally underwhelm in the pro’s?

^ this, Cubans just don't sell its a shame because they are grand boxers

[Alba]

Sin e when did eastern european boxers become overated?see since brexit , some amount of shite i have read but this is one i would expect to read in the express/Mail

[jonnyyorkshu]

People will always over rate fighters regarding of origin.
They have some world class fighters, some very good fighter, good prospects, good journeymen and also have a load of crap, like every boxing country.
I think you have to ask about individuals rather than areas of the world.
I really like the look of the usbeki kid Abdukakhorov

[giacomino]

seems that way on forums to me. more so than any other group. no doubt they've got some good ones, but there seems to be a rush to crown them ATGs. ive seen talk of ggg being greatest middle ever, talk of usyk being best cruiser ever, talk of loma being an atg p4p great already. on the other hand i think brits often undervalue their own.

do you agree? if yes, why do you think it happens?

The poster (starts with a Ka, ends with a Lan) who thinks GGG could beat Hagler, Monzon and Sugar Ray Robinson on the same night also thinks Joshua would have beaten any heavyweight in history. A few people on CS overrate Eastern Euro fighters, but there are probably some Americans who overrate their fighters - particularly heavyweights - and I know there are posters on places like BS where UK fans fawn over every alphabet beltholder, no matter how dubious.

[Nightmare Roy]

seems that way on forums to me. more so than any other group. no doubt they've got some good ones, but there seems to be a rush to crown them ATGs. ive seen talk of ggg being greatest middle ever, talk of usyk being best cruiser ever, talk of loma being an atg p4p great already. on the other hand i think brits often undervalue their own.

do you agree? if yes, why do you think it happens?

The poster (starts with a Ka, ends with a Lan) who thinks GGG could beat Hagler, Monzon and Sugar Ray Robinson on the same night also thinks Joshua would have beaten any heavyweight in history. A few people on CS overrate Eastern Euro fighters, but there are probably some Americans who overrate their fighters - particularly heavyweights - and I know there are posters on places like BS where UK fans fawn over every alphabet beltholder, no matter how dubious.

GGG is a quality fighter but I wonder how he'd fair with RJJ, Toney, Nunn Benn etc let alone the names you mentioned

[jamamb]

imo rjj and toney outscore him very comfortably. make him look like some standard mandatory challenger or something.

benn was far stronger and relentless than anyone he's faced imo and i think his power is a bit overrated. murray almost went twelve, canelo not hurt, lemieux took loads yet was pulled out standing, stevens took loads and was retired rather than put down and out (look what lemieux did to stevens in 3). ggg also easy to hit in close and he lacks a game being pushed back. think benn, at minimum, would've given him hell.

dont know enough about nunn

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Its funny because among the first Russian boxers I ever saw box in the early 90s weren't exactly the bees knees so I didn't have high expectations of them until more recently, the boxers were Yuri Vaulin and the other guy whose name escapes me was injured in a fight with Carl Griffiths

Artemiev, they were featured on Tuesday night fights.

[Nightmare Roy]

imo rjj and toney outscore him very comfortably. make him look like some standard mandatory challenger or something.

benn was far stronger and relentless than anyone he's faced imo and i think his power is a bit overrated. murray almost went twelve, canelo not hurt, lemieux took loads yet was pulled out standing, stevens took loads and was retired rather than put down and out (look what lemieux did to stevens in 3). ggg also easy to hit in close and he lacks a game being pushed back. think benn, at minimum, would've given him hell.

dont know enough about nunn

I agree, scratch my head a bit when people say he's the best or second best middle ever, I'm a fan don't get me wrong but I doubt he'd crack the top ten to be honest

[littlepug]

Its funny because among the first Russian boxers I ever saw box in the early 90s weren't exactly the bees knees so I didn't have high expectations of them until more recently, the boxers were Yuri Vaulin and the other guy whose name escapes me was injured in a fight with Carl Griffiths

Artemiev, they were featured on Tuesday night fights.

Ah yes that's him, fought his heart out that night

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Toney wouldn't beat ggg at middle. Hagler damn sure would. Have to like Jones too, ggg would have a punchers chance there. Middle is a crazy deep division, golovkin is probably in the 30-35 range.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Its funny because among the first Russian boxers I ever saw box in the early 90s weren't exactly the bees knees so I didn't have high expectations of them until more recently, the boxers were Yuri Vaulin and the other guy whose name escapes me was injured in a fight with Carl Griffiths

Artemiev, they were featured on Tuesday night fights.

Ah yes that's him, fought his heart out that night

Wasn't there three of them? All trained by Gallagher.

[littlepug]

Artemiev, they were featured on Tuesday night fights.

Ah yes that's him, fought his heart out that night

Wasn't there three of them? All trained by Gallagher.

You may be right, my memory is a little hazy will get me thinking cap on

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I had to look it up. Artemiev had a brother. They both lost on the same card and Tuesday night fights stopped the hype.

[Tuan_Jim]

Axel Schulz and Alex Zolkin would be champs today, and absurdly overpraised.

[Autobarn]

Fighters like Arbachakov,Nazarov, Tszyu... fast forward Golovkin, Kovalev, and Lomachenko before he went all Naz/RJJ... showed superior technique often to American fighters but (Loma aside) not superior athleticism. Often they’re turning pro already with physical maturity, punching like mules, destroying people, then fading due to injury and mileage after a gruelling fight or two, especially ones that go the 12 round distance.

I was so disappointed when Pirog had to retire, cutting short a fight with a prime Golovkin. Although Pirog, with a world title and not much pro experience, was about 31 and suffering chronic back injuries...that must be the Easter European version of Calzaghe v Collins, a potentially great fight for a world title that couldn’t happen.

I’d say the current Eastern European fighters are the best since the 1990s and am encouraged by the abilities of Gassiev, Usyk etc.

[PredatorHayds]

It's more of a amateur/overrated thing.

Anyone with a international amateur pedigree is overhyped straight away. Everyone is talked about being fast tracked.

Because lots of the successful amateurs recently come from eastern/Europe they are overhyped.

Especially if they go stateside, because they are hard sells because of the language barrier they overhype pedigree and power.

If a speedboat left Cuba today and landed in Miami tomorrow. Any boxer that got off would automatically be over-hyped.

Even this country has started fast tracking and over hyping anyone who's ever trained for TeamGB in Sheffield.

Social media is to blame aswell. Each of these hard hitting Eastern Europeans is one big knockout away from going viral.