Fighters with the biggest post-career reputation boosts?

Marvin Hagler.
He never came back. He kept his dignity while his famous friends were fighting and losing.

 

Charley Burley

 

Salvador Sanchez. Sort of doesn’t count though.

Vicente Saldivar too I think has received a boost. Ezzard Charles is a good one. When I’d see old magazines as a kid he’d never get that too 10 or 20 talk.

 

Tzyu, Brian Mitchell, Mancini.

 

Lacy vastly overrated. Hopkins and Jones way past it. Just a continuation of expert matchmaking with bigger names. He was still protected in my discerning eyes.

 

Marvin Hagler

 

I’ve found Tszyu has became extremely underrated over time. Same for Tito Trinidad.

 

Little Red was my favorite boxer when I was a kid. Pretty much every one of his fights was on tv. And why not? His fights were exciting, he was really good, he was very likable, and he had multi-ethnic appeal. Pedroza didn't speak much English and fought all over the world, often in time zones that weren't compatible with US tv. I saw only a handful of his fights then. So he was barely known in the US. The boxing magazines didn't hold him in particularly high regard either, possibly due to him being WBA champion at a lighter weight, which was often a bit iffy. Little Red was regarded as THE champion, Pedroza was the other guy.

Then Sanchez beat Little Red and was obviously a great fighter. Plus he had Don King and Jose Sulaiman hyping him like crazy. Pedroza was held in even lower regard as the "other" champion.

I think you're right...the internet and Youtube has really helped Pedroza's legacy. Now that you can see so many of his fights, it's obvious that he was a great fighter. Now he'd be considered the favorite against Little Red and more or less even with Sanchez, which is a huge change.

 

Sam Langford probably.

I don't think opinions on Schmeling are that much different to be honest.

 

Various, he was both called a weak champion as well as being regarded as very good fighter, at some points the best in the world. Nothing really changed here, I know you dislike Schmeling but most people either don't care about him or don't view him highly. He's rarely mentioned on top HW lists and most see him as worse than Walcott for example, which doesn't make any sense to me to be honest.

 

Overrated just by making the HOF.

 

Jesus Christ. My posts from here are like me as an embryo.

 

I think he's greater and better than Walcott. Who's in the running for one of the most overrated fighters ever.