Who do you think is the most underappreciated fighter of all time

I think fighters like Joe Choynski are among the ones that suffer the most. Exceptional talents but fighting in a time where the sport had no safety net and matchmaking was murder, where they didn't even have the issue of proper weight classes even remotely sorted out yet. He routinely gave up a lot of size and you can see that he somehow managed to knock out a 230 pound fighter while only weighing in at the super middleweight limit, and he also knocked out a very young Jack Johnson. Not bad for a guy who would be fighting the likes of Arthur Abraham and the Direll brother in modern times.

The problem is he fought well over a hundred years ago, and quite frankly... how many boxing fans are there left that care about the era? It's hard enough to find someone who knows what they're talking about when it comes to fights from the 80's.

Despite being outweighed by 50 pounds he managed a draw against heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries... He's one of those fighters who comes from an era along with Fitzsimmons and Langford, who's feats seem completely impossible and are never again to be duplicated. Wild stuff.

 

Ricardo Lopez Nava. 51-0-1. 73% ko Ratio. El Finito, El Explosivo. World Minimum Weight and Light Flyweight
Champion.

 

There is a funny photo out there of Choynski and Johnson in prison together for an illegal fight in Galveston.
Joe doesn't look very happy, but Jack seems to be having a good time, being as he was in his hometown I suppose.

http://static.boxrec.com/thumb/0/08/Johnson_Choynski_Jail.jpg/400px-Johnson_Choynski_Jail.jpg

 

Sumbu Kalambay is another guy who gets underappreciated. People mostly know him for his KO1 blowout loss to Michael Nunn but he was really a fantastic boxing technician. Gave an undefeated master boxer Mike McCallum his first loss by outboxing him thoroughly. Also beat an undefeated Herol Graham. His record alone should be enough for him to be considered for the IBHOF IMO.

 

Culture couldn't be any more different today than it was when this photo was taken if you tried, which I find hilarious. That photo is strikingly funny... Joe looks to have murder in his eyes, then you've got the gentlemen posing in front of them with a large rifle as if he brought down some kind of rare, majestic animal of record size...

 

Marlon starling.An excellent boxer with good power great defense excellent chin and boxing brain. now largely forgotten by all but the hard core fans.
Sumbu Kalamby.Another excellent boxer with great all round skills and power .Very underrated fighter gives any middle weight in History a hard night.

 

Ken B
Napoles

Most in the "know" do but I don't think the majority give them their due

 

Another example of the humble bowler hat outshining the western hats holywood decided marked that era.

 

Thanks Russell, it's a great thread. Good to see you posting more often of late. I see there is now a good post on Marlon Starling who is a great mention. If not for Curry's shortish streak of greatness he would have been the dominant 147 for quite a long time.

I will think of some more.

 

Ah, a believer in Curry's greatness! I know people have different opinions on that one. I wasn't around for the initial hype but the commentators in the first round of the Lloyd Honeygan fight (Which I watched recently) are basically giggling like literal school girls at the seemingly inevitable slaughter that's supposed to soon occur, even making some kind of odd comment about the garish nature of Lloyd's trunks and how they were silly.

 

I definitely believe for a time Curry reached a level of greatness performance wise. The way he beat Starling a second time as well as Jones and that ko of McCrory. I think La Rocca was a good fighter too.

 

Supposedly La Rocca used to be viewed as hot ****, through the projections of at least one magazine floating around at the time, anyway (So I've heard on here.) I guess they were trying to have some kind of Muhammed Ali playboy thing going on with him but he couldn't quite live up to the hype.

Still, it's pretty hard to end up with the kind of record he had no matter where you're fighting in the world, no matter how "soft" the opposition. It's still fighting. He must of had some kind of ability...

 

Nino was a flashy type and did gain quite a bit of attention. I think he was a good fighter but run into a multi faceted guy at the top of his game who could beat all styles.

Colin Jones would be a good mention in this thread, he was a very good fighter. Extremely good power and very tough. It's a pity their fight was stopped on a cut but Curry did look good. Jones had fallen out of love with the game and retired immediately.

 

Do you feel a fighter like Jones would go on a tear through boxing if he were active now?

 

Hard to say Russell. I don't believe he would go on a tear as such but i do believe he would be competitive and right in the mix for sure.