Power punchers whose skills get highly underrated

To me he got better after Phillips, learnt to evade the right hand and not be so square on.

 

Tzsyu’s susceptibility to the right hand and Phillips taking full advantage of same was reminiscent of the dynamic between Louis and Schmeling in their first fight.

As I recall, Vince also soaked up his fair share of punishment to see himself through to victory. Gutsy performance .

 

Growing up, I always thought that Nigel Benn looked better shadow boxing than he often looked in the ring.

Good balance, fairly slick, good slips and weaves - but when it's fight night and the adrenaline flows, doesn't look the same.

 

I'm back on the Sonny Liston train--(and ready for the inevitable slings and arrows to be hurled my way LMAO!!) But I have to again cite Ray Arcel's comment about Sonny:

“Sonny Liston was a great boxer. Lot of people never recognized that, because of his power, but Sonny really could box."

That's high level praise coming from a guy who trained 20 world champions spanning 6 decades!!

Watch films of Sonny when he was at his best--(not the two Ali fights obviously)--he has balance, subtle head movement, slips and blocks punches effectively, strong in the clinch, and doesn't flail away recklessly-he waits for an opening then lands his heavy artillery. And he also had as powerful a left jab as you'll ever see-he could bust concrete with that jab!

OK--ready for the onslaught--I have my suit of armor on LOL!!

 

Slings and arrows? This forum is a circle jerk for Sonny Liston, sir you’re not in the minority here. Resident posters here use flowery prose and write amateur poetry about him all the time lol.

 

Phillips was an incredible fighter on a good night… how many of those did he have though?

 

Blind Freddy can see Liston is a great boxer. He's on the top shelf of heavyweights for skill and there's not exactly that many up there.

 

Sung Kil Moon shifted his feet a lot and had some very sneaky angles…

 

Roberto Duran would be the poster boy for the title of the thread.

Simon Brown was known as a huge puncher. A knockout fighter. When he lost his title to Buddy McGirt he got a new trainer Adrian Davis.
They went back to the drawing board and Brown became much better defensively. His head movement was improved. He became a better counterpuncher. The Terry Norris fight showcased Brown's improvement.

 

Not that underrated as he's still recognized as a highly skilled technician with power but I noticed some people in the past called Arguello easy to hit. He actually had very subtle defense for a tall and lanky guy.

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Julian Jackson and Gerald McClellan.

 

Zamora is the epitome of this for me. A true example of 'kill or be killed with skill'. Lots of punchers also have weird timing due to being willing to punch with the other guy, which makes them awkward and completely throws off the more 'skilled' guy, who usually like to take things in turns, so to speak.

Roy's trap setting ability is legitimately underrated. Everyone thinks its just reflexes but reflexes alone wouldn't work 'till 35 over multiple weights.

 

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