Most Under Rated Boxers?

[elmersalsa]

If you want to talk about under rated fighters, particularly on the net, look no further than Jose Napoles. His crime is quite simple, he is NOT American. For every mention of him, there are a thousand mentions of Leonard, or Tommy Hearns who are certainly no better than him. The guy avenged all of his defeats save for the Middleweight Monzon, and lastly Stracey, ( which doesn't count anyway because Jose had been in the game 18 years and was well past his best ) and fought all comers.

Oh yeah, also the great Mike McCallum who through no fault of his own is forced by popular mythology to live in the " shadow " of the so called fab 4 who wanted about as much to do with him as they did with cancer.

The first time I agree with you? Wow!

[elmersalsa]

Winky Wright

Great shout on that one. He was a modern day Harold Johnson.

[elmersalsa]

Great call on Rodriguez, Emile and jofre are rated plenty.

Griffith and Jofre in more ways than one are forgotten. Same with Rodriguez. Griffith nor Rodriguez received NO LOVE in the welterweight ranking of this forum. To me, Griffith is a top 10 all time welterweight and a top 25 pound per pound all time fighter. Rodriguez wasn't even mentioned very much in the welterweight ranking of this forum.
Jofre? We don't even talk about him at all. Maybe because he was in the shadow of The Greatest in the 1960s. Maybe he didn't come to fight in American soil very often. But, by looking at his videos and overall career, that guy was extraordinary and extremely talented. One of the most complete fighters I have seen on film.

Yeah, why are you sleep?

[Keko]

Harry Simon , he beat a peak winky Wright and is still unbeaten today .

He has the victory but it was too little and jail made his.
Too bad for the career and talent.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Griffith and Jofre in more ways than one are forgotten. Same with Rodriguez. Griffith nor Rodriguez received NO LOVE in the welterweight ranking of this forum. To me, Griffith is a top 10 all time welterweight and a top 25 pound per pound all time fighter. Rodriguez wasn't even mentioned very much in the welterweight ranking of this forum.
Jofre? We don't even talk about him at all. Maybe because he was in the shadow of The Greatest in the 1960s. Maybe he didn't come to fight in American soil very often. But, by looking at his videos and overall career, that guy was extraordinary and extremely talented. One of the most complete fighters I have seen on film.

Yeah, why are you sleep?

It's you Elmer, no matter how wrong you are you just continue to repeat yourself. It's exhausting.

[handsofstone]

Anyone remember the 3 time Lightweight champ Jimmy Carter?

I got loads of old boxing mags from the 2nd hand shop last year, about 70 issues each on a different boxer, the only name I didn't recognise was Carter,i'd never heard of him which surprised me because I read and watch a fair bit of old fights, I'm about to read his mag next so i'll maybe check him out on youtube

[elmersalsa]

Yeah, why are you sleep?

It's you Elmer, no matter how wrong you are you just continue to repeat yourself. It's exhausting.

And where I was wrong, Saad?

[jaclem3]

billy graham

joey maxim

[EdwinValero]

Sugar Ramos & Salvador Sanchez

[davie]

I've read a few on here that surprised me.
Guys like Eder Jofre and Salvador Sanchez.
They may not be household names with the average punter, but then what lighter weight boxer from decades ago is?

The likes of Jofre and Sanchez get plenty respect and I feel are rated as highly as their fantastic talent deserve, in this place anyway

[Seamus]

What's the criteria for being underrated ? If it's not being in the IBHOF, than maybe the most underrated fighter is Jimmy Leto.

[davie]

What's the criteria for being underrated ? If it's not being in the IBHOF, than maybe the most underrated fighter is Jimmy Leto.

Think you've nailed it right there. (Not the IBHOF bit) but the fighter.

Prime example, I just had to search for him as I'd never so much as heard the name. Never gets mentioned on here that I've seen.
But damn the fella had a fine record. Some good wins and shared the ring with lots of greats.

Was he technically brilliant? I don't know, you'd have to tell me but the record looks might impressive for someone I've never heard of.
Someone must be under-rating him

[scartissue]

Guys, I agree with you 100% about getting criteria straight. I had earlier offered two names to the list of underrated - Ernie Schaaf and Bob Baker. Meanwhile others are naming Emile Griffith, Sal Sanchez, Jose Napoles, Mike McCallum and Eder Jofre. WTF?! If you are looking at people's top 10 lists of all time they're going to see these names. How exactly are they underated? It is the fighter like Jimmy Leto who belongs on this thread. Moreover, I will add Freddie Dawson, George Araujo, Gil Turner and Hector Thompson to the list. These are the fighters that deserve this thread.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Mike O'Dowd and Davey Abad

[ElJefe]

What's the criteria for being underrated ? If it's not being in the IBHOF, than maybe the most underrated fighter is Jimmy Leto.

I'm not really sure about the criteria. I mentioned McCallum at first, but as others have pointed out, whilst being less known or underrated to the wider sporting public, the vast majority of proper boxing fans are well aware of him and his ability. It's probably better and more interesting for us to focus on fighters who don't receive the credit they deserve even in boxing circles. That might be on a world level in the shape of a fighter who is overlooked in all time rankings or overshadowed by his contemporaries, or even a lower level domestic boxer that people may have forgotten about over the years.

Really interesting for people like myself though who started following the sport a lot later than most on here. Fair few fighters have been mentioned that I've never heard of at all.

[Give up]

Winky Wright

Great shout on that one. He was a modern day Harold Johnson.

[davie]

Guys, I agree with you 100% about getting criteria straight. I had earlier offered two names to the list of underrated - Ernie Schaaf and Bob Baker. Meanwhile others are naming Emile Griffith, Sal Sanchez, Jose Napoles, Mike McCallum and Eder Jofre. WTF?! If you are looking at people's top 10 lists of all time they're going to see these names. How exactly are they underated? It is the fighter like Jimmy Leto who belongs on this thread. Moreover, I will add Freddie Dawson, George Araujo, Gil Turner and Hector Thompson to the list. These are the fighters that deserve this thread.

Mike O'Dowd and Davey Abad

These are the types of names I'm thinking. I've only heard of a couple of them, seldom read them on here.


Don't you love when you stumble across these names, you can go away, read some records and find unknown greats you've never encountered

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yup, I had never heard of Davey.he beat Armstrong more than once.

[davie]

Yup, I had never heard of Davey.he beat Armstrong more than once.

I'm only seeing one win over Henry, in 3 bouts.
He did hand Canzoneri his first loss too however

[handsofstone]

Jimmy Carter?

3 time Lightweight champ

[Seamus]

In recent years, probably Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. Before that, Santos Laciar has to be up there.

[davie]

Ernie Schaff lead me to Young Stribling
Why don't we talk more about this fella,
nearly as many wins as Pep, Nearly as many KO's as Archie, dies still active at 28 and faced some solid names (with mixed success). Those number might have looked a lot more impressive i've he'd lived 5-10 years longer
http://boxrec.com/boxer/12052

[SaadOffTheDeck]

My grandmother was at his fight with schmeling.

[DareTBG]

Ernesto Marcel.