Who is the Most Overrated Fighter of All-Time?

dr_devious · Post by **dr_devious** » 31 Jan 2007, 05:20

Decagon wrote:Spinks looked unbeatable at 175. So did Mugabi at 160. Spinks never beat a truly great fighter at 175, so it's hard to know exactly how good he was.

Spinks didnt beat a top 10 LHW, but he was unbeaten at the weight and beat some very good opposition e.g. Dwight Braxton, Eddie Mustafa Mohammed. He also had a lot of success at HW, as much as any other LHW until he bumped into Tyson. For me hes one of the greatest LHWs ever.
Mugabi looked unbeatable when he was beating tomato cans. Hes more of a cult fighter with his kayoes and his terrific effort against Hagler, which seemed to ruin him. He did fvck all after the Hagler fight

theone · Post by **theone** » 31 Jan 2007, 11:24

Is Jack Demspey a great fighter? Yes. Is he one of the top 20 heavyweights of all-time? Yes. But he's also very overrated. He's not in the top 5. He's probably not even in the top 10.

Totally agree. I was beginning to think i was the only one who thought so.

pundit · Post by **pundit** » 31 Jan 2007, 11:54

theone wrote:
Is Jack Demspey a great fighter? Yes. Is he one of the top 20 heavyweights of all-time? Yes. But he's also very overrated. He's not in the top 5. He's probably not even in the top 10.
Totally agree. I was beginning to think i was the only one who thought so.

I have him at #12, so you're not alone, buddy

Ambling Alp · Post by **Ambling Alp** » 31 Jan 2007, 12:26

Decagon wrote:Spinks looked unbeatable at 175. So did Mugabi at 160. Spinks never beat a truly great fighter at 175, so it's hard to know exactly how good he was.

Are you kidding about Spinks?
He beat Mustapha Muhammad and Qawi who were both great lightheavyweights. (He beat several other good lightheavyweights as well)His record at lightheavyweight is remarkable.
Spinks is certainly one of the top lightheavyweights of all time, and arguably the very best.

Heartbreak_Kid79 · Post by **Heartbreak_Kid79** » 31 Jan 2007, 13:37

how about Rocky Graziano?

Hall of famer, had films made after him.

He only ever won one world title fight. And lost in numerous attempts to regain it

Bigcat123 · Post by **Bigcat123** » 31 Jan 2007, 15:03

MARCIANO...

What did he really do?... aside from being unbeaten he only fought about 6 or 7 world class fighters, (most of them when he was champ) and most of them were over 35 and past their best and/or natural light-heavies... Rocky deserves respect for his guts and strength but at the end of the day the assumption that he was one of the great heavyweights is wrong imo... his record pales in comparison to the likes of Ali, Louis, Johnson, Holmes, Foreman, Liston and Frazier.... but say that to many and they will act like you're running down the Pope.... he would have been just another contender had he been round in the 60s or 70s...

I COMPLETELY AGREE.. NO ATG IMO

Ambling Alp · Post by **Ambling Alp** » 01 Feb 2007, 12:31

I don't see how you can say that all of Spinks opponents were past it when he fought them.

Qawi was just 30, was the WBC chanpion, and had showed no signs whatsoever of slowing down when Spinks beat him. Qawi would later win the cuiser weight title and also had that great fight with Holyfield 3 years after Spinks beat him.

Mustapha Muhammad was just 29, was the WBA champion when Spinks beat him. He seemed to be in his prime as well.

Marvin Johnson was only 27 when Spinks beat him. He would go on to win the WBA title 5 years after Spinks beat him.

Spinks also beat several other good lightheavyweights. About the only one that you could legitimately argue was past his best was Yaqui Lopez.

I am glad to see that you still have Spinks #3 on your all time lightheavyweight list.

Evander · Post by **Evander** » 02 Feb 2007, 02:43

Decagon wrote:
Evander wrote:But the fighters you mentioned either did or went on to greater things.
So did Michael Spinks. What's your point? Or do you have one?

Spinks

I'm not being funny but ....
Are you kidding around ?

Evander · Post by **Evander** » 02 Feb 2007, 02:49

Ambling Alp wrote:
Evander wrote:
Ambling Alp wrote:Evander-Are you nominating Michael Spinks as the most overrated fighter of All-Time?
You could make a good case that he is the most underrated fighter of all time.
Of course I don't have the experience that you guy's have on this part of the board.

But I have been watching since the early 80's.
I know there are some absolute quality scribes around these parts who could put me in my place.

But it's just my take.

Spinks was a good fighter.

But in my opinion not great.

Great to me is.
Whitaker
Chavez
Leonard
Jones
Hagler
Hopkins

Those kind of boxers.

I mean without a doubt great fighters.

Spinks falls into the maybe's.

Just me I suppose.
Evander- Unfortunately many people think mainly of the Tyson fight when they think of Michael Spinks. However, it was his lightheavyweight career which should be remembered. When he came along the lightheavyweight division was loaded. It may never have been better. By the time he left the lightheavyweight division there was no doubt that he was the best.
He unified the title by beating both Dwight Qawi and Eddie Mustapha Muhammad, who were both great lightheavyweights. He beat former champion Marvin Johnson who was a very good lightheavy. (Johnson went on become champion again after Spinks left the division). Spinks also beat other good fighters like Murray Sutherland and Yaqui Lopez. Both of them would be beltholders today.

There is no question if he was great or not. He was.

Qawi was good at one point I agree.
EMM was ok also.
But to consider Spinks a great or even close to it.
Maybe it's me.
I have read the record and seen some of the fights.

Ezzard · Post by **Ezzard** » 02 Feb 2007, 06:57

There's always been a lot of specualtion about the Eddie M M rematch and how Spinks and his people didn't want it. I think Eddie was supposed to have been ill in the original encounter. Still Eddie was as unmotivated and undisciplined as a 1980s HW.

Spinks tamed Qawi who was a top fighter. And of course Spinks did this despiute being in tears in his dressing room before the fight and mourning the loss of his partner and daughter's mother.

Johnson did come back to win a title so he can't be dismissed too easily.

Holmes was old but still beating HW challengers. Spinks needed mobility at HW though and was never really a top fighter at the weight, especially once he lost his legs. He was always going to get smoked by the first decent HW banger who landed flush.

Ambling Alp · Post by **Ambling Alp** » 02 Feb 2007, 10:15

Decagon wrote:Spinks barely beat Muhammad. It's too bad the rematch was cancelled; I'm not sure that Spinks would've gotten the win. Marvin Johnson was ancient, Holmes was a fossil, and although Qawi would go on to have more success, he'd seen better days.

That's nonsense.
Johnson was 27 years old when Spinks, beat him. That certainly isn't ancient. Johnson still had enough left to win the WBA title 5 years later.

Qawi was in his absolute prime. He would still be a great fighter for more than 3 years after Spinks beat him.

Holmes was clearly past his prime, but he certainly wasn't completely washed up. That is still a good win for Spinks to move up to heavyweight and beat Holmes, even at that stage in Holmes' career.