This isn't the sort of answer you're looking for from the detail in your OP, because he clearly had attributes to be a top level fighter, but when I read the thread title, the first fighter that sprang to mind was Mickey Walker. Specifically, the success he enjoyed up in weight. If you're going to be successful moving way up in weight, you want either, or both, of two things: 1. To have a big frame relative to your weight. This will allow you to fill out and not be small at the higher weights. Think Hearns moving up to LHW. 2. To have a "hit and not get" style. Think Whitaker up at WW. You don't want to be getting into battles of attrition with naturally bigger, heavier fighters. Walker was a come forward pressure fighter and at 5ft 7ins was already a tank at WW. Absurd then that he drew with the #1 HW contender who won the title the next year, beat #4 ranked 195lbs HW contender King Levinsky, ATG LHW Maxie Rosenbloom, 27lbs heavier Paulino Uzcudun, 42lbs heavier Bearcat Wright and almost 30lbs heavier Johnny Risko twice. This success certainly confuses me, it defies all I think I've learnt about boxing.
Carl Froch. I remember he was always so easy to hit. He always displayed a great chin, power and solid boxing skills coming up the British ranking but the first fighter approaching World class was Brian Magee who couldn´t seemed to miss him with punches before being koed in the 11th. I just could not believe that he could compete at World class but he proved me wrong with some pretty exciting wins.
Ricardo Mayorga’s success always confused me. Not because of his appearance but because of the way he fights.
John Ruiz is the first name that comes to mind. He was slow, awkward, didn’t have real power, and looked technically limited, yet he somehow became a heavyweight champion and stayed relevant for years. Honestly still confusing how he pulled it off against some solid opposition.
How high would we rate Froch's opponents (Ward excluded)? I know Froch was better than he looked but I wonder if he was around at a good time for him.
Decent for sure, but had he been around to fight Calzaghe, Hopkins, some of the other better SM or LHW then maybe he has more losses. I'm not knocking him, he was a warrior I just find his success surprising to an extent.
I don't think anyone could've predicted that out of the early 2010s 168 class, Badou Jack would move up to earn a draw with Adonis Stevenson and be a reigning cruiser champ in 2025.
Could arguably say Joe Joyce considering his flaws - he had quite the downfall recently but his wins against Parker and Dubois were brilliant when you see how high both Dubois and Parker's stock are now. They weren't lucky wins either Joyce controlled the fights and beat game versions of both of them. Wilder did quite well considering his poor technical abilities although his opposition was soft.
