How good was/is he really? I read he's never been outlanded by compubox numbers in the fights he lost. He's a very negative fighter, and his fight with Ruiz was a wrestle match which ended with a "controversial" stoppage for Ruiz. (Maybe because punches were required to be thrown in a boxing match) On a sidenote: how much power did Ruiz have in his right hand? He put Holyfield on such weak legs never seen before and never seen again, and not in a brilliant combination. Just a single overhand.
Solid but ordinary fighter, someone who would struggle in any other modern era to make the 'footnote' impact he did. As for Ruiz's right hand, he had a dig, but Bowe showed before that, that Holyfield's chin, although excellent, was not bullet proof.
A common fighter. His fight with Bruce "I take a dive" Seldon is one of the worst i ever seen. :roll:
Basically the Jimmy Young of our era, quality technician lacking power without a massive following. Not great but very hard to box with both of them even for many of the best in history.
I'd argue that he's somewhat underrated, considering that he was robbed more times than an all-night gas station. IMO, he clearly deserved wins over Byrd and Toney, the former of which would've given him a belt, and his loss to Holyfield was also close and debatable IMO. His losses to McCall and Mormeck were also highly controversial as well, although admittedly I didn't see either of those. If you consider some of his "losses" as wins, he'd actually have a very good resume.
I thought he beat Byrd but got KO'd by Tua, limited but good contender for the era he fought in which was weak
His losses to Toney, Byrd, Mormeck, and Holyfield were all 6.5 or above on the robbery scale. That said, he didn't do himself any favors by throwing so few punches.
Bummy, after reading your post, I checked out the very end of Tua-Oquendo...he was stopped on his feet....did he do pretty good up until then?
At least Fres stayed on his feet at the end...as wobbly as he was. He didn't get destroyed like Ruiz and Moorer.