At one time he was a household name which isn’t common anymore. A lot of people outside boxing were seeing his highlights everywhere the way they are now with Ben Whittaker they knew him as “The Matrix” and he came up which shocked me.Loma could’ve been a very big thing at one point with marketing especially in the shadow of Floyd Maywearher Jnr.
I can see how you became a fanatical fan of Tyson. Now there was a man who showed respect to his opponents if there ever was one.
Of retired fighters I've never changed my mind much on any to the negative. More in the other direction. I really despised Tyson during his peak because he was a deplorable human being, but like most I have a different view of him now. The one I got more negative feelings for over his career is Fury. Not that I ever liked him as a person, he was always a bit of a *******/snowflake in an unholy combination, but he did bring some life into a division that had been so utterly dominated by Wlad. And I was sad to see him retire, glad to see him come back and applauded what he did against Wilder. But then came first all of his antics when negotiating for the fight Joshua in 2021 and I was becoming thoroughly sick of his cheap WWE talk combined with whining and how his fans ate it up, and then the shameful ducking of Usyk. And his career is such a disappointment concerning the low number of high quality fighters he has faced. But I still respect his smarts and toughness in the ring. Anything outside of the ring, though... Loma seemed like a cool guy, but really shat the bed with his behaviour after losing to Lopez and his fans are as insufferable as Fury's. But the guy is always looking for good fights and that is in the end what I really value in a fighter. If he faces Shakur and/or Tank he's really made the most of his career, win or lose, and that is in the end all you can ask for.
oddly enough Ray Leonard is to me one of the top fighters of all time for not so many fights. Amazing opponents. Duran, Hearns, Benitez, Hagler. You cannot top those guys. Then he fought Hagler with all the agreements and games and waiting for Marvin to get old, leaves or retires again and comes back one and a half years later to win supposedly 5 titles in 5 weights 3 days after Hearns does it. 2 titles in one night against Lalonde at 168 and I lost respect.. Hearns at 164 for the 168 title the following June.. But then as years have gone by I got the respect back.. I always thought he was one of the best ever, I lost respect with his weight agreements and thinking he was bigger than boxing. No one is, and this is why I don't like weight agreements for titles or catchweights. No one is bigger than the sport..
I'll just go with welterweight: Margarito and Baldomir. To some extent, Cotto, but not as a welterweight. He had to move up to really aggravate me. Baldomir, it seems very likely, despite a wicked chin and a great story, probably the worst kind of ophile there is. I mean-I can't think of a worse one anyway, besides anglophiles. But that's a given. Even Baldomir isn't that.
I don't think you could load a page fast enough to thumb up that comment when you did. I mean, my pages don't load that fast. WTH?
I hit 'submit' and there was an alert that you liked that comment when it was done submitting. This is absolutely breaking the space time continuum. Or something!
I agree that Ali went WAY over the line with Frazier and have gone on record expressing how cruel his remarks were towards him. However, in retrospect (and the above post nails it) you have to consider the anger Ali was carrying inside getting screwed out of 3 and 1/2 prime career years and also the turmoil of the times. I still don't necessarily excuse him but that anger HAD to run pretty deep---Ali was railroaded by the government and the state boxing commissions, pure and simple. They took away his livelihood without proper due process--(a separate topic in itself.) Unfortunately, all that venom got directed at Joe-who didn't deserve that kind of treatment. (ESPECIALLY after supporting Ali during his exile!!)
I both lost and gained respect for Toney due to his inability to put the fork down. Lost because of the obvious — he had the dedication to train to fight brilliantly but not control his diet, kind of ridiculous. But gained because how many middleweights could get fat then have a good run at heavyweight?
Pac-Man was more hype than reality and I'm still butthurt over it. If you don't agree it's because you suffer from tiny pee-pee.
Ali should have seen Frazier as a guy who had also been screwed over one way or another by the system / white supremacy. Forced to flee where he grew up, move away from his family, because some racist white farmer started **** with him and he had the gall to stick up for himself? Yeah, that’s the representative of the system right there, Ali.
I used to be a big fan of SRL, but as time went by not so much. It was more to do with being a major fan of his rivals Hagler and Hearns than anything Leonard did or didn’t do. Mind you his “draw” against Hearns got me ranting…though it wasn’t his fault for the judges’ dodgy decision
Didn't follow boxing in the early 80's, but I think Leonard's press conference stunt would turn me off him to a degree
One of the most frustrating losses I've ever watched. I can't necessarily blame him if his shoulder was actually that messed up, but it's clear he could have pushed earlier.
