First off let me say that I'm PR myself, therefore lets not turn this into a race issue. Now in his day, I watched every single one of his fights and was a huge fan. Now looking at him box, i'd have to say if not for his power he would be crap. He always looked unbalanced and had weird footwork. His defense was mediocre at best. He wasnt slick or impressively quick. To me it seemed as if his whole game plan was to set you up for one of his monster left hooks. Any one else agree? Side note: Oscar won that fight!
Just like Floyd Mayweather is overrated if not for his speed and defence and just like Tyson is overrated if not for HIS power etc etc.
Tyson had some of the quickest hands for a HW. Not to mention, great head movement! I've yet to see another HW with the speed and head movement of prime Tyson.
No, he was not overrated. We found out who Tito was in the Dlh fight. Come forward, left hooking pressure fighter who couldn't box. He went from being overrated while undefeated to become a fine fighter. Ordinary guys didn't beat Tito. He just lacked great power in his right hand, and had decent defense. He had everything else.
I thought he boxed very well in his younger days and only really fell in love with his power around the time he went up to 154. He used to start slowly before working his way in behind the jab and body-shots. You don't beat all the guys he beat without being a terrific fighter. His balance was poor and that's what led to most of his knockdowns but his defence was a little deceptive - he was more difficult to hit cleanly than someone with his balance and foot-work should be. If you took away his power he obviously wouldn't have been as effective but how good would RJJ have been without his reflexes?
No, he is actually better than people give him credit for, his undoing was him falling in love with his power, abandoning one of the best jabs at the time, to stand in front of his opponent take unnecessary punishment, so he could land his big shot's in return. Tito would mop the floor with the fighters that are at 154-160 division these days.
I'd think Martinez would give him a hell of a fight, although Tito's main problem was with pure boxers.
Most great fighters have that one thing that if you take it away they would be a lot worse. Can you imagine Frazier without the left hook? Pernell whitikar without the jab? Trinidad was a truly great fighter. Lots of guys have power but you also need the skill to get it to the target. If having power was enough guys like Sam Peter and David Tua would be hall of famers. Trinidad's only losses came to HOF fighters who fought the perfect fight on the night they fought him. No shame in that.
Very true, the mid 90's Trinidad was a fantastic boxer puncher, by 99 and the early 2000's is when he started to abandon his boxing and just go all out recklessly. And to answer the thread question I'll just say every boxer for the most part is overrated by their fans and underrated by their naysayers......I think Trinidad in some ways has become underrated because of how bad he looked against Winky Wright but that was Tito's fault for taking Winky lightly even though Winky would always beat him.
Yes but he seemed to lack the basic boxing fundamentals. Like I stated, he had bad footwork/balance, and just seemed to wait for a chance to unload the left hook. With him there was no plan B. If he couldnt land the bomb, that was it.
Only SLIGHTLY. He was def a top 10 p4per in his prime, but he was poorly managed and never fulfilled his full potential.