Zsolt Erdei - What will his legacy be?

[pecks]

How do you Euro's rate him, and how would you look back on his career if it stays like it is now?

Is it a bit harsh to call him an Ottke lite?

Are there any reasons why he doesn't have any good names on his resume? I've seen a few of his fights, and he's quite skillful, but I've never followed news of him and I have no idea if he tried to pursue greatness or what.

Any info on his career choices, etc would be appreciated.

[vick_ramalot]

The reason why he didnt go for the best is his promoter and whose tv contract.
they market their stable as a whole and to have a WBO champion over years means much more money than two or three big fights. In common its the same thing than Tiger Michalczewski vs RJJr. Erdei is a well trained fighter and has great defensive, very hard to hit him.. no doubt. But its hard to rate him since nearly every noticeable fight he took part in was quite close.. for example both fights vs Garay.
We will see what the future will bring to him. His Promoter himself applied for Braehmer vs Kuziemski to be a WBO Lhw interim title fight lately. So Erdei seems to be some kind of paralysed currently.

[UndisputedUK]

Originally Posted by vick_ramalot

The reason why he didnt go for the best is his promoter and whose tv contract.
they market their stable as a whole and to have a WBO champion over years means much more money than two or three big fights. In common its the same thing than Tiger Michalczewski vs RJJr. Erdei is a well trained fighter and has great defensive, very hard to hit him.. no doubt. But its hard to rate him since nearly every noticeable fight he took part in was quite close.. for example both fights vs Garay.
We will see what the future will bring to him. His Promoter himself applied for Braehmer vs Kuziemski to be a WBO Lhw interim title fight lately. So Erdei seems to be some kind of paralysed currently.

The WBO titles at 168lbs and 175lbs are there for the taking, no top names will want to go there because you need a knockout to win and whilst not ATG's Erdei and Balzsay are both pretty handy. You cannot write them off simply because they just fight in Germany.

[Cruiser1]

I'm guessing that Erdei will retire the moment he feels that he's slipping. I don't think he'll risk fighting long enough to the point where a lesser fighter can take advantage of his eroding skills. The writing has been on the wall for some time that he's not interested in fighting meaningful fights. He's what you would call a professional sportsman and keeping his undefeated record is probably the only tangible professional goal he has if he has any at all.

The guy is making good money fighting against easy opponents and let's face it, there's no outcry from the boxing community because nobody really cares anymore. This allows him to fly under the radar and continue his easy title reign. It's a pretty comfortable existence for a champion made even more comfortable by the fact that he isn't calling anybody out. If he were publicly saying that he wants to fight the best he'd be held to to it but he doesn't so he can do his thing without being bothered.

With all that being said, I'd say that Erdei's legacy won't be much of anything. You can point out the fact that he was the linear champ at 175 but what does that really mean? I think his legacy will be that of being one of the better Hungarian fighters of all-time as opposed to anything else. Other than that he was just a guy who won a title and assuming he does, retired undefeated after a nondescript title reign.

[RJJ's Jab]

It is a shame he will be seen as another Ottke as like Sven he isn't that bad just overly protected.

[madballster]

Recently I've seen Erdei on European TV and he was complaining that his promotional outfit (Universum Box Promotion, a Germany company) is basically blocking him from trying to unify his belt and going for big money fights.

He said how he's not getting younger and he has to risk his title in bigger fights now in order to make the pay days to secure his retirements but his promoter (according to Erdei) doesn't agree and wants him to fight "safer" opposition only.

Sad.

[rumour24tiger]

A lot of fighters are complaining about Universum.

Sturm

Dzinziruk "I will never fight for germans again"

Looking back, JC Gomez

And Erdei says his promoters aren't allowing him to do anything with his title.

Makes you hope the next wave of top Russians and Germans don't go to Universum.

[FROST]

When Erdei retires he will be forgotten after a couple days. Wait, except for his small hungarian fanbase, it seems like he's already forgotten by the boxing public...

The man has no legacy, and no heart. And you know what? I guess he couldn't care less. Because he's some kind of a local hero back home in Hungary and has made a lot of cash without taking notable risks. Now every man that steps into a ring should get respected, but Erdei has no drive, no ambition - which is a shame because he actually is a talented fighter. I rank him even behind Ottke. At least Ottke faced some good opponents, regardless if he got gift decisions against them or not.

And don't be so naive as to believe that this is all Universums fault. I know Universum are clowns, but if Erdei REALLY wanted to get a big fight, in the US or in Germany, well he would get it. Universum owe him that, and they know it. But it's simply more comfortable to keep on fighting guys like Abron or Blades. And the WBO are in on that.

[madballster]

Frost, but that's exactly what Erdei was complaining about. He says he hasn't made enough money yet, he wants to fight the big opposition but his promoter doesn't allow him and the contract doesn't expire for a couple of years.

He now fought once in 2008 and once in 2009. Hardly the way to make tons of money.

[The Kurgan]

Who? I remember a boxer winning the linear light-heavyweight championship with a Hungarian name like that a LONG time ago, but I assumed that boxer locked himself inside a castle somewhere in Bavaria and cradling the belt, cackling "my precious, my precious".

[southpawslick]

Originally Posted by The Kurgan

Who? I remember a boxer winning the linear light-heavyweight championship with a Hungarian name like that a LONG time ago, but I assumed that boxer locked himself inside a castle somewhere in Bavaria and cradling the belt, cackling "my precious, my precious".

[TFFP]

Ottke? He wishes he was as accomplished as Ottke.

[GazOC]

Erdeis legacy will be that he made arguing the case for lineal titles slightly more difficult than it should be.

[stephen]

his just like calzaghe he cares more about his 0 then fighting the best

[frankenfrank]

let's arrange the euro titlists (including past) from the most protected to the least
1. zsolt erdei
2. mikkel kessler
3. henry maske
4. fabrice tiozzo
5. joe calzaghe
6. sven ottke


unprotected : ricky hatton , dariusz michalczewski , nigel benn , chris eubank , steve collins