Tony Tucker - Hugely under-rated, would've ruled the 80's if not for Tyson. In fact i'd rate a prime Tucker as a top 12 HW of the past 30 years. Pinklon Thomas - Definitely one of the most under-rated HW of the 80's. James Tillis - He had his moments and was hard to KO. James "Bonecrusher" Smith - I always thought he was pretty decent in his prime years. Michael Spinks - Doesn't get the props he deserves a lot of the time. He's an ATG LHW & HW imo.
Gotta admit, I had to look this guy up. don't remember him. pretty good resume and a couple impressive (on paper) looking close losses (too sharp and Kittikasam).
Check out his fight with Too Sharp Johnson its a pretty good fight With Jimenez making Johnson work very hard for the win.
I agree with many of your points. Ruiz basically suffers from the "Sammy Angott syndrome" IMO - the dislike for his style overshadows his actual quality as a fighter. Smaller HWs like Jones and Toney were took quick and slick for him (and apparently too roided as well :yep ), but otherwise he was either a titleholder or contender for many years and seemed to give everyone close, tough fights, win or lose. Damiani was actually considered as a viable opponent for Tyson at one time, following his impressive performance against Biggs (who was still considered good at the time). He was on his way to beating Ray Mercer too, when a single freak shot on the nose basically ended his career, and the memory of him along with it. I definitely agree Ibragimov is underrated. I remember after his (admitting dull and disappointing) loss to Wlad, a slightly inebriated Bert Sugar was interviewed after the fight, and he claimed that Primo Carnera would've KO'd Wlad based on his performance in this fight. Personally, I don't think Carnera would've even beaten Ibragimov, let alone Wlad. I disagree with you on Maskaev, though - IMO, he was basically just a journeyman who inexplicably had Rahman's number. Also, although I agree with your points about Sanders, I still wouldn't call him "underrated" since his rating is compatible with his career achievements. "Underachieving" is probably more appropriate.
I used to think the same. Now I’m starting to think that it was probably the most underrated era for the Bantamweight division. Great fighters like Lou Salica, Carlos Chavez, Tony Olivera, and David Kui Kong Young are almost lost to history. He beat them all and a slew of others during his multiple reigns. I actually think he faced a much more stacked crop than Olivares did. I also don’t think there’s all that much between the guys I mentioned and the likes of Herrera and Castillo. Aside from quality footage, anyway.
