BoxRec

'Fess up, gents. We've done this topic before, but it's been a while, & there've been plenty of new additions to the board since, so let's get to it. Name some names, time. Who're the fighters who receive bundles of praise you feel are utterly, plainly over-rated?

I'll start the controversial ball rolling...

Muhammad Ali
Ray Robinson
Roberto Duran (You heard me! I'm not hiding from it, LOL D )
Jack Johnson
Shane Mosley
Diego Corrales

Muhammed ali
Ricky Hatton
Ray Leonard
Rocky marciano

For me

Jack Johnson
James Corbett
James J Jeffries
Jess Willard
some times I think Jack Dempsey...
Some people go way over board on Marciano.


As far as champions go...a few contenders about the place
that get rated highly a bit too much.

The media make their money off who is active now, so active fighters are always overrated, that's just economics. Easiest way for a reporter to get those exclusive interviews etc is to heap praise on the guys they want to interview.

I think on these boards there is a general balance. Some pro- some anti- almost all the big names.

Jack Johnson has got to be number 1. Others I'd include. Rocky Marciano. Roberto Duran, evidenced by the number of guys who think he's hands down the greatest LW of alltime.

Basically every heavyweight champion with the exception of Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, Burns,Tunney, Louis, Ali, Foreman, Holmes and Tyson.

delete

Salvador Sanchez
Floyd Mayweather Jr
George Foreman
Sonny Liston
Marvin Hagler

i stick to my opinion of duran being the best LW ever.
how can you say ray robinson is overated. maybe you dont like how this game should be performed at its very best.

ali is probably overated - he stunk the place out quite a few times. i might agree with sanchez too - but when he was good he was goooooooood

Sonny Liston
Joe Calzaghe
Tyson
Felix Trinidad

Ezzard Charles
Rocky Marciano
George Foreman
Jack Dempsey
Antonio Margarito ('Thank GOD for Mosley')
Felix Trinidad
David Haye
Gene Fullmer
Carmen Basilio

I'm sure this will bring some fun.

Grimm wrote:Ezzard Charles
Rocky Marciano
George Foreman
Jack Dempsey
Antonio Margarito ('Thank GOD for Mosley')
Felix Trinidad
David Haye
Gene Fullmer
Carmen Basilio

I'm sure this will bring some fun.

Ezzard Charles? Are you f'ing with us? I have a 24 fight set of Charles and I have to say he is still underrated. He was a superb athlete who even though some on this board appreciate his great set of skills, still goes unnoticed to the mainstream to this day. I also have a 5 inch binder full of articles pertaining to his fights, I have to say this is the most ridiculous of all the fighters named. # 1 at light heavyweight? Yes? He would have won a middleweight title versus Tony Zale easily (he was ranked # 1), and he definitely would have won a light heavyweight title and had a long reign. His incredible success at heavyweight shows what a great pound for pound fighter he really was.

While I believe Ezzard Charles was an outstanding fighter, I can't put him on the very first tier because of his somewhat questionable chin.

Seamus wrote:While I believe Ezzard Charles was an outstanding fighter, I can't put him on the very first tier because of his somewhat questionable chin.

Maybe as a heavyweight, but as a light heavyweight he was superb. Who put him away as a light heavyweight other than Lloyd Marshall, a victory that was overturned with one punch in the rematch?

I have to side with EV on that one. Charles is unquestionably first-tier, all-time calibre, for mine. That said, so are most of the guys who'll be named in this thread.

I go back & forth on Trinidad. He was limited, & hyped insanely by his minions (remember the phrase, "Titosite?"), but, like Marciano before him, he accomplished an awful lot for a fighter who wasn't as versatile or talented as his contemporaries, doing it largely through sheer will, & you have to respect that.

On the other hand, his ability to adapt flat-out sucked, he was a flagrant cheat, & he was a bit of a punk at times, & that, I don't have to respect. There's also that nasty little rumour about handwraps which never quite went away...

I would say he is overrated to be rated as the number 1 lightheavyweight of alltime and he is overrated to be considered in many peoples top 10 all time.

I also was highly pissed at bert sugar rating him the number 6 all time greatest heavyweight.

Grimm wrote:I would say he is overrated to be rated as the number 1 lightheavyweight of alltime and he is overrated to be considered in many peoples top 10 all time.

I also was highly pissed at bert sugar rating him the number 6 all time greatest heavyweight.

How is he overrated as a light heavyweight? His accomplishments speak for themselves. I have to agree that Bert Sugar overrated him as a heavyweight, on the other hand. He does not belong in the top 10.

Too often when someone says a fighter is "overrated" they are really just venting against a fighter they don't like.

Tyson
Roy Jones
Don Curry

These three epitomize overrated for me.

My2Sense wrote:Tyson
Roy Jones
Don Curry

These three epitomize overrated for me.

I'd totally agree with that. Excellent fighters, but overrated...not the top tier in the sport

Joe Calzaghe.
Marciano

Joe Calzaghe
Bernard Hopkins
Roy Jones Jr
Floyd Mayweather Jr
Mike Tyson
Barry McGuigan
Rocky Marciano
Chris Eubank

Robinson wrote:For me

Jack Johnson
James Corbett
James J Jeffries
Jess Willard
some times I think Jack Dempsey...
Some people go way over board on Marciano.


As far as champions go...a few contenders about the place
that get rated highly a bit too much.

Whoa, you really don't like men who's name start with the letter "J" do you? Was your bully in elementary school named Jimmy?

Always thought miguel cotto was slightly over-rated as well as kelly pavlik

No way are Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones Junior, Tyson or Ali over-rated on this forum these guys were the top men in boxing for a good period of time. These guys have proven themselves without a shadow of a doubt you would have to be blind not to see it.

You could put a negative spin on any boxers record but in there prime they were exeptional talents who get questioned on these forums more often than not.

Larry Holmes
Prince Hamed
Evander Holyfield
SRL
Terry Norris (mainly by Elton John)
Pernell Whittaker (sorry G,I)

Jaywheel wrote:Larry Holmes
Prince Hamed
Evander Holyfield
SRL
Terry Norris (mainly by Elton John)
Pernell Whittaker (sorry G,I)

Difficult to overstate perfection, mate. Just ask my pal, Maxie D