Favourite boxer who seems to be underrated.

[Grant]

OK this is for those who marvel at some of the fighters who get in the HOF ie ingemar johannson, compared to your favourite who is continually underrated.

Mine is Lionel Rose and I will tell you why.
1 I was young and impressionable
2 He beat the great Fighting Harada at probably Haradas best weight.
3 He took the title to the mexicans, something that FH tried to avoid.
4 He beat chu chu castillo who later went on to beat reuben olivaries (i think)
5 He lost to one of the greats Reuben Olivaries
6 He never disrespected an opponent (only himself)

[Minotauro]

Holman Williams the guy has win over Archie Moore, Aaron Wade, Charley Burley, Cocoa Kid, Jack Chase, Eddie Booker, Lloyd Marshall and Satterfield. Only a handful of fighters can claim to have beaten as many or more quality opponents, yet he still hardly gets a mention amongst the greats he is yet to be inducted in the hall of fame.

[jimglen]

he WILL be in the course of time, but honestly like your affore mentioned names there really are plenty of greats...

but sadly most lose out to fighters of the last 40 yrs. owing to 'modern media' attention gaining them recognitiion that thier predecessors never had the pleasure of.

[markl]

I actually think Azumah is underrated. He is acknowledged as a great. But I really don't think he is as high up on lists as he belongs.

The fight he gave Sanchez with zero experience was unreal. Hard for me to imagine Salvador beating Azumah in a rematch after he had a few more fights.

[snoopbee]

eddie booker at 26 yrs of age he had just koed archie moore and beat holman williams when he had to retire because of an eye injury also charlie burley pulled out twice on him

[snoopbee]

I DON T THINK A FILM EXCISTS ON HIM ARCHIE MOORE ONCE COMMINTED WHEN HE SEEN A LIST OF THE GREATEST FIGHTERS THAT EVER LIVED COMMENTED THE ONLY REASON THEY HAVE THIS WAY IS BECAUSE THEY NEVER SEEN CHARLEY BURLEY OR EDDIE BOOKER

[snoopbee]

I DID SEE HIS NEPHEW GET STOPPED BY RODRIGO VALDES IN NY

[bollox]

OK this is for those who marvel at some of the fighters who get in the HOF ie ingemar johannson, compared to your favourite who is continually underrated.

Mine is Lionel Rose and I will tell you why.
1 I was young and impressionable
2 He beat the great Fighting Harada at probably Haradas best weight.
3 He took the title to the mexicans, something that FH tried to avoid.
4 He beat chu chu castillo who later went on to beat reuben olivaries (i think)
5 He lost to one of the greats Reuben Olivaries
6 He never disrespected an opponent (only himself)

Old Lionel has had his share of bad luck since retiring (a fair bit of it being self inflicted) but he just keeps on keeping on. And smiling. He's a local sporting icon

As for his career, he fought and beat some tough hombres.......but like a lot of Aboriginal fighters his peak was relatively early and short. By his early 20's he was being beaten by local lightweights

[Boxscribe]

There's footage of Burley, but not of Booker. I was just playing around. My favorite story about him is how after he knocked out Moore, Archie needed a blood transfusion, and because of the war, there wasn't enough plasma to go around - especially for black people, unfortunately - and since Booker had the same blood type as him, he donated the blood Moore needed. They were friends ever since.

There is footage of Booker - he's just not fighting. He can bee seen working the corner of Burley against Billy Smith (he helped Charley train for this fight). Charley and Eddie were friends also and this may be one of the reasons they never fought.

As Snoopbee pointed out, Burley and Booker were matched twice, but Burley pulled out both times due to flu.

Archie was the godfather of Eddie's son (who appears in the Ali movie).

And Kim Booker (son of Eddie's brother Earl) was a fair middleweight in the 60s/70s.

Charley Burley gets a little more recognition now and I don't think he was ever underrated - just under-appreciated.

Booker is still underrated and under-appreciated (as is my other favourite, Holman Williams). Neither are in the IBHOF, which is strange considering some of the recent choices for induction.

[barry]

Johnny---I see that you have started posting. I think this forum is one of the best on the net, so when someone of your knowledge and stature of the boxing community joins in it just makes the forum much more accurate and informative. Welcome aboard!

Barry Deskins