Are there any fighters that you previously underrated who, with their retirement or the passage of time, you have realized that you were mistaken about their greatness? For me it is/was Evander Holyfield. As a young boxing fan the 90's, I never thought he was all that interesting; especially in the wake of Tyson's youthful metoric career. With time, however, I have come to appreciate Holyfield as being a greater fighter than Tyson and certainly all of the bums who currently are stinking up the heavies. I don't know why I wasn't a huge fan when he was still in his prime, other than I didn't know enough about boxing to appreciate him. Anyone else feel a similar way about another fighter?
I would have to go with Barrera. I knew that he was good, but after watching his fights with Junior Jones... coming into his first fight with Morales, I really thought that Morales would beat him, and that would be about the end of seeing Barrera in there with the big guns. Obviously I was dead wrong at it being the end of Barrera, although I did have Morales winning that first and second fight. Barrera ended up having a great career after that fight.
Larry Holmes lived in Ali's shadow. It's only been in retrospect that I really started to appreciate how great he was. Boo
I recall everyone in my neighborhood growing up giving him no shot whatsoever against Cooney. Why I have no idea, because Holmes' talent seems without question in retrospect.
JMM. i though he was nothing but a b level fighter content on fighting b-c level fighters but the pac rematch proved otherwise. hes good
haven't you watched his fights against juarez and barrera aside from the first pac fight? i'm surprised how many pinoys underrate marquez prior to the rematch.
Miguel Cotto! I picked him to lose vs Malignaggi and Quintana. I erroneously believed he was as mechanical and weak chinned enough to get beat by truly slick fighters who could jab. I cant remember a fighter who beat my opinion in such fashion. I took Paulies lumps and winced with CQ. Thats the type of R-E-S-P-E-C-T that comes with fighting and beating tough opponents. Add Judah and SSM? And whats he get for his troubles? DUCKED by the supposed P4P Champ:-( :-( :-( Out of respect for what he's done in between the bells? I wil VOCIFEROUSLY speak out for his EARNED RIGHT to face Floyd Mayweather Jr.:yep Go ahead Miguel Cotto keep your mindset, routine, and DESIRE. This guy cant duck you forever without losing serious respect in the game:good
I underrated Lennox Lewis in the 90's. I didn't really appreciate him until after he retired. I had to really look at his career as a whole before I realized how good he really was. Max Kellerman of all people had a really good article on ESPN a few years ago explaining why he thought that '90-'98 was the 2nd best heavyweight era ever. That argument clinched Lewis for me. I say that, because Lewis was pretty clearly one of the two or three top heavies of that era, and definitely the ruler of the heavies going into the 21st century.
oh yeah, i saw those fights and im not impressed. juarez is another b-level one dimentional fighter and barrera was already washed up then. remember how he struggled against some of his b-c level fighers, specially against southpaws? and he actually lost to one of them bums (chris john)