heavily protected fighters who proved their worth

[margaret thatcher]

who are some heavily protected princesses who eventually proved their worth as quality fighters? i dont mean a soft year to start, but a prolonged can crushing/princess protection racket for a good few years

the first 32 fights of wilder's career are about as bum city as it gets for notable hw prospect, but he kept winning and, although the likes of blobby bermane are still among his best wins, he has eventually made the top 3-4 of the division.

who are some others who eventually stepped it up showed to be top fighters?

[gilgamesh]

No finer example of this than Joe Calzaghe.

All the way until the Jeff Lacy fight he was viewed by many fans as a protected fighter who'd fought just Mid-level kinda guys, but by the end of his career he had proven himself well enough that I think it's safe to say even the sternest critic couldn't possibly have him any less than Top 3 all time at 168.

There was a time when Ring Magazine ranked Sven Ottke over Joe Calzaghe.

Now the idea of Sven over Joe Calzaghe is laughable to Boxing Fans.

So Joe Calzaghe is my pick. He went from a European Champion facing soft opposition to fighting his biggest fights at the end of his career and firmly establishing himself in his own weight class. Some would argue he's the #1 Super Middleweight, and it's not a ridiculous argument.

[pinklady]

No finer example of this than Joe Calzaghe.

All the way until the Jeff Lacy fight he was viewed by many fans as a protected fighter who'd fought just Mid-level kinda guys, but by the end of his career he had proven himself well enough that I think it's safe to say even the sternest critic couldn't possibly have him any less than Top 3 all time at 168.

There was a time when Ring Magazine ranked Sven Ottke over Joe Calzaghe.

Now the idea of Sven over Joe Calzaghe is laughable to Boxing Fans.

So Joe Calzaghe is my pick. He went from a European Champion facing soft opposition to fighting his biggest fights at the end of his career and firmly establishing himself in his own weight class. Some would argue he's the #1 Super Middleweight, and it's not a ridiculous argument.

good call,a very complete all round champion

[margaret thatcher]

[bripez]

What about ickle Ricky?

He must have made 20 defences of the WBU with Micky Vann the ref in all of them

[mickey1975]

Calzaghe went in with Delaney very early on hostile turf and smashed him to bits. He was always mentally strong.

[Kit]

Deontay Wilder will take some beating

[coneye]

Deontay Wilder.

Not proved nothing yet stepped up 3 times did'nt win any , and currently ducking Ruiz and calling out a fighter who's got no trainer and not in training

[margaret thatcher]

disagree on wilder there con - not saying he proved himself as some elite p4p hof calibre fighter with a great resume, but he pretty much was a consensus 2 or 3 in the world at one point, which is certainly proving himself to a good degree - far far far better than his 32-0 bum smasher career

in 2 of the 3 fury fights he scored multiple kds as well and was certainly competitive. he's shown he can compete with the best. his match making for his first 30 or so fights was so dreadful i was sure his people knew he was an accident waiting to happen vs anyone half decent

[margaret thatcher]

What about ickle Ricky?

He must have made 20 defences of the WBU with Micky Vann the ref in all of them

ya decent call

[Ruthless-RKO]

Andy Ruiz.

Didn’t have the best resume and no names prior to the Parker fight..

But we know what he capable off. Regardless of weight.

[margaret thatcher]

[Cent0089]

Actually, lot of top fighters were protected for a long time. Unfortunatelly, lot of young prospects follow this blueprint instead of fighting each other. Fights like Vergil Ortiz vs Elimantas Stanionis should be happening far more often

[Frostieballs]

Prince Patel.

[The Docker]

I think big Frank deserves a mention. Terry Lawless steered him beautifully to be the great Britsh hope, and to be fair he performed admirably versus Witherspoon, Bonecrusher, Tyson fight 1 and of course Lewis. So yeah, proved his worth to me and I actually rank him above Joshua in many boxing facets.

[KiwiRider]

A lot of Thai and Philippines fighters have many low-level fights, often fighting the same guys 2-3 times.
We have all seen guys with 25-35 inexplicably low level fights coming out of those countries.
Some go on to have decent careers, but most have high mileage because of it
Even shining stars like Donnie Nietes had a ton of grinding lower level fights before stepping up outside of the Asia-Pacific.

[Steveh583]

I think fury was carefully matched on the way to wlad

[GreenLightning]

False the flight many cameramen inbetween those cans, Sheika was incredibly hungry for it, coming off the Glenn Johnson win, Calzaghe battered bruised and sliced up his face

Robin Reid was no cupcake, he was cheated against Ottke, look at his first round v unbeaten So Caroli

[1143850]

So Caroli ?

[1143850]

Regarding the Reid v Pretorius fight above, prior to this Pretorius had fought the majority of his career at Lightmiddle (though he did win the South African Middle Title against 6 - 3 Simon Maseko two fights prior to meeting Reid)

Reid also made a defence against Hacine Cherifi the European MIDDLEWEIGHT Champion, add to that the shopworn Henry Wharton, then losing his title to forty two year old Thulani Malinga it was a weak and uninspiring reign as champion.

[wrighty]

I wouldn't say he was protected as he fought Castilejo and De La Hoya but Felix Sturm paid not to fight an ascending GGG and defended against Japanese champion Koji Sato and Ronald Hearns. Robert Stiglitz had some suspect defenses too

[ThereByTheGrace]

Warrington was criticised a lot of soft fights before beating Selby and Frampton. Not the best but worth a mention.

[KiwiRider]

Warrington was criticised a lot of soft fights before beating Selby and Frampton. Not the best but worth a mention.

Yep, took him a while to get his head in the game