Underrated Tomato Cans

Tex Cobb ko'ed Ernie Shavers ....and lost a split decision to Ken Norton. I think both fights are on You tube.

 

Cobb was not a tomato can, not by a long shot. He was a tough, durable journeyman who actually ended his career with a long winning streak.

To me a tomato can is someone who is paid to lose, throws fights, shows up unprepared. A journeyman is not a tomato can.

 

ScrrapIron is the GOAT IN A CAN!!!


I would like to have seen him mix with Charley "not charlie" Polite!

 

The only Tomato Can I can think of is the one I opened yesterday and made a nice bolognaise sauce with, I don't like derogatory terms for those gutsy enough to fight men vastly better than they are.

 

Only tomato can in all of boxing is Klompton.

 

I don't classify anyone who was rated the number one contender as a "tomato can".

 

Coopman had a good record until Ali . . . he was a Belgian Heavyweight.

Brian London was a ****** Hanger, so I vote borderline ATG. I may be biased.

 

It's akin to the term Bum, another unwarranted description of those with the courage to get inside the ropes. Journeyman,gatekeeper even ham and egger which I have sometimes used are preferable imo.

 

I think Brian London gets slightly underrated. Not an extravagantly gifted boxer, but a decent, hard-working fringe contender. His mediocre career statistics are mostly because he was so fearless about taking on all the best opponents he could lay his hands on - three world champions and a generation of top contenders from Nino Valdes to Jerry Quarry. Usually put up a good fight even he was overmatched, and picked up some fair wins along the way against the likes of Willie Pastrano, Amos Johnson, Roger Rischer, Joe Erskine, Zora Folley, Pete Rademacher - enough to keep him bobbing in and out of the top 10 for seven years.

 

The only guy to ever get off the deck to return the favor to Joe Louis in winning a later round?

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck!" is one of the great observational clichés in human error. "You can't judge a book by looking at the cover!" is the long proved alternative truth to that fallacy.

Galento was pried off the deck for the only official time in over 100 bouts by a perfect left hook, then Two-Ton retaliated by uniquely beating the Bomber to the punch with his own hook. Joe pulled back his left arm, and that's when Tony struck without warning, coming forward with his own left hook not being telegraphed at all. Maybe the most skilled exchange of knockdowns in HW Title competition, two outstanding hookers out-hooking each other. (Unfortunately for Galento, Louis had far more weapons in his armory than an outstanding hook.)

We're not discussing a precursor of Butterbean when evaluating Galento. Beyond sharing a fine chin and power, Tony also had the stamina ay his best to halt Nova in 14, however foul filled that was, won a number of bouts over the ten round distance while Bean would have been shut out in his only effort over that limit if not for a blown call by the referee (ruling a slip as a KD where a 53 year old Larry Holmes didn't even come close to touching down, just stumbling backwards into a corner from a misstep). Galento had a fine double jab and very quick reflexes.

Both he and Max Baer have badly underrated skills on display when Maxie's duck and counter out of a neutral corner fails to produce a knockdown on a badly stunned and buckled Two-Ton. (This is one of those instances where we can directly see the superiority of one punch power by the Larruper over the Bomber. Joe never hurt Tony with a single shot the way Max did with that counter right. But Madcap's shoulders were too broad for him to put shots together the way Louis did.)

 

Norton-Cobb is a fine display of skill off the ropes by a rusty Ken, and actually reveals something of how Norton might have attempted boxing post Kinshasa Foreman. How successful he might have been trying that with George is another question.

Kenny wasn't very good on the move, either advancing or retreating. He backed up on Foreman in Caracas by planned design, and it backfired badly. Tex shared George's physical strength, but not remotely Foreman's punching power. Norton didn't go to the ropes unless he was hurt or being swarmed by a physically strong opponent like Jerry Quarry, but Cobb's strength gave him no alternative but to box by countering off the ropes.

If Ken had gone into Caracas intending to try countering off the ropes against George, he might have gotten blown out quickly, or he might have pulled a surprise by surviving the early rounds and doing much better. However, the Rope-a-Dope was an improvised switch in Kinshasa forced on Ali by the efficiency of Foreman's ring cutting, not likely a planned strategy by Norton after the way George had dispatched Roman in Tokyo.

 

Peter mcneley underrated lmao!!! The biggest bum and ugly with face of re**** ever

 

I love Tex Cobb. God bless that man. To call him a can would be an insult to him of course.
He was a 'tamayda'.

Ok seriously, I DO love Tex Cobb but honestly for me he had journeyman skills. He had an ok punch as well but basically he was just tough as hell and had good conditioning.

To say he was ever the second best heavy in the world would be being extremely kind.

 

Coopman was champion of europe so hardly a bum. Tex cobb a bum? You are the only one who think it.