Were does Virgil Hill rank amongst the Light Heavy Weights

I'm not insulting hill. I'm saying too much emphasis is made on his paper defences. He should have fought the best sooner.

 

Hill made numerous defenses over "Who's That?" but I think V.H. still deserves a place in Canastota.... He was a damn good fighter... BUT! That '91 decision loss to Hearns haunts his ass hardcore.... Hill needed that win in 1991....

MR.BILLhat

 

that is the story of his whole generation of the 1990s. Jones and others.

 

I think the Hearns fight ruined his legacy a little. Not because he lost to Hearns, but because Hearns was considered washed up a little at the time and worn out, and Tommy won by UD by outboxing the younger boxer at his own weight. I don't think Hearns was washed up at the time, he just had to adjust to getting older and to use his experience, and the Virgil fight he put it all together after struggling with his age a little.
And Virgil acted a little cocky calling Tommy out for 2 years and seemed to think he could stop Tommy easily and get the credit. The whole episode and how he sort of acted hurt him. But still that is only one fight and he had 57 or so fights, so he still proved in other fights he was a great fighter by his defenses and beating some good guys. I don't see how a guy who has 25 title defenses for a world title is not a great fighter.

 

:thumbsup

 

Top 20 is fair. I think he's a little underrated.

 

He might just scrape into the top 20 imo. The division has had some great fighters over the years and even though Hill has those title defenses theyre against lower quality opposition.

 

Virgil beat some decent guys and fought good guys. Devalle, Stewart,Czyz,Tyrone Frzier, David Vedder, Tiozzo,Maske. They were the guys he fought. What hurts Hill is that he lost clearly to Hearns and Jones, but he was a top rated light heavyweight and obviously underrated. Too bad. He deserves more.

 

The thing I don't like about Hill is, he was a converted southpaw.... I hate conversions..... All converts do is rely too much on the left while the right goes gay--for the most part.... I've never seen a real awesome two-fisted converted southpaw before....

Myself, I am a southpaw... As a teen and youth, I refused to change.... Converting to orthodox didn't feel right to me...

I'm glad mo-fo's like "Camacho & Whitaker" refused to change, as well...

MR.BILL:hat

 

Nope. He didn't have the power to keep him at bay the way someone like Spinks did.

 

I can see Hill schooling Qawi in the first 4 rds, but then Qawi warms up and begins pushing Hill to the ropes and scores well there... Qawi earns a hard fought decision.... Hill has skills and speed to drive Qawi nuts---for a while, but he lacks strength and power to hold him off... Qawi wins...

MR.BILLbbb:hat

 

Hill did not have punching power, but he had nice speed and physical strength. His counter left was nice also. I don't think he was a weak fighter, and his counter left against Qawi would have been a big problem for Qawi, especially his first light heavyweight reign where he was quick. He slowed down just a pinch after the Hearns loss.

 

Duran is overrated as a lightweight .
P4P however , Duran usually fought much bigger and also fresher men on even terms .
Not just Leonard and Hagler but also Barkley , Sims , Castro .
Hill was the bigger and especially the younger and fresher man against a fragile (especially for 175lbs) Hearns but failed at beating him .
Hill was also bigger than Roid Jones but was KOd by Jones .
Start comparing Hill with Ruiz and see the similarity.
Ruiz has some worthy wins too .

 

if losing to Hearns and Jones means a guy is not great then strike out many guys who are in the ATG list. Duran,Benitez,Cuevas etc. The problem with the Hill and Ruiz comparison is that Hill was the number one light heavy in the division when he was champ and Ruiz was not. Charles Williams was not fighting anyone better than Hill was, just that Czyz was Williams main competition, and Williams was good. Who was Moorer fighting Frankie Swindell? Most of those guys fought the same kind of guys Hill fought, and Hill had 24 defenses. I do think Hill is very underrated and it has to do with personality and style, just as much as Duran is overrated for his personality and style. So you think Duran beating Sim and Castro are the same as Hill having 21 title defenses, which does not count him moving up in weight and winning the 190-200 pound title?

 

Maybe Top 20 but probaly more Top 25. Very underrated though.