Who are the fighters who you either hadn't heard of or didn't value before that you've grown to appreciate since joining the classic forum? Freddie Steele is one of mine. He wouldn't have previously even been on my radar as one of the great middleweights. In fact, I was pretty dismissive of the 30s generation of middleweights which I saw as a lull between the 20s and 40s.
I wouldn't know about my favourite Joe Tatsuyoshi if it wasn't for this forum. This forum also helped me appreciate Tony Canzoneri greatly. Then there's Midget Wolgast, Harada, Ike Williams, Jung Koo Chang, Maso Ohba, Joe Brown. So many! It's thanks to this forum I know so much, and continue to learn.
Yes, there are plenty of lighter weight fighters who I didn't know much (anything?) about before joining - Ohba had completely flown under my radar. I'll be honest - some of them like Chang I'm still learning to appreciate!
Cruiserweights. Arguello sticks out as the biggest lower weight fighter. But the best would be Fitzsimmons. I've learnt more about his résumé and put him up from not top 100 (lol) to top 15
Numerous. Duran stands out. When i joined i was woefully unappreciative of his lightweight reign and just what he was up against as a natural lightweight journeying up thru the divisions. All i could see was wins and losses. Ezzard Charles too. Again i used to see all those L's on their record and not understand how they could be so great. I was a product of the early 80's era when a loss was oh so dreadful and many boxers were brought thru with this in mind. I figured out pretty quickly that when you are fighting top fighters plenty often and fighting so many times a year the odd L taken in context is far from the be all and end all.
Tyson and Lewis. I never was convinced that Tyson was an ATG until I came here and gave all of his fights another watch. I went from having him below the top ten to: 1. Ali 2. Louis 3. Holmes 4. Holyfield 5. Lewis 6. Foreman 7. Marciano 8. Tyson 9. Frazier 10. Wlad As far as Lewis, I had a bad feeling about him back in the day, especially pre-Steward when I saw him (and I still think rightfully so) as a one-handed fighter who dubiously beat Bowe in the Olympics and got knocked out by what turned out to be an ultimately loser pair of fighters. I also really held it against him that he couldn't stop or even consummately beat Holyfield, who at the times of those fights was most certainly past his prime. When I went back and watched his Steward-era fights I completely changed my mind. Obviously a total, top 5 favorite. Terrific fighter.
It took me a bit to appreciate Greb as a top contender for the best ever. The fact he was an offensive fighter with few KOs, and the ambiguity of the NWS wins colored my first thoughts. Plus I needed to know more about the era to appreciate his insane resume.