Before i start im well aware that he fought in a comparatively weak era when contrasted to many other 175 lb periods. His opposition needed to be better and it would have helped him immensely had he faced more of his fellow belt holders. Losing to an aging Hearns didn’t do him justice either. But there’s a flip side to this coin. He was ranked in the Ring’s top THREE at one seventy five for eleven consecutive years and was number ONE for five of those years. He was later ranked in the top ten at cruiser for an additional six years for a total of seventeen. He posted twenty four world title fight wins even if they weren’t for lineage and beat eleven past or present world champs. He was the Ring’s 2000 comeback fighter of the year. And for whatever it’s worth he brought home a silver medal in the 84 Olympics . He now resides in the HOF
The weird thing about Hill that I remember thinking is that it's not so much that he should be called a great fighter, but he's so damn competent that when an actual great fighter shows up and really handles him, it is actually meaningful. His accomplishments are pretty impressive when you lay them out though and it's no wonder he got HOF'd, all things considered, whether I'd have him in under autocratic rule or not.
Well, the original post pretty much answers the question for me. Hill was underrated, both while he was active and now. He may not have beaten the best of the best like Archie Moore, RJJ and others but he beats everyone else.
As was said about Billy Graham, he was as good as a fighter can be without being great. There's an idea for a thread.
The Hearns loss knocked him back a bit but he was an excellent fighter. I think he's kind of underrated nowadays to be honest.
Got a robbery versus a truly great fighter in Maske. Thankfully, that misdeed was reversed in their return.
He did rule in a pretty lackluster Light Heavyweight division and he wasn't the best of era losing to Hearns, Michalczewski, RJJ. A very good fighter and probably a lower tier great. But I think he's rated quite fairly TBH.
I was honestly shocked when Virgil Hill demolished Leslie Stewart for the title. Stewart really impressed me when he dismantled Marvin Johnson. I was expecting big things from him. I was honestly shocked when Virgil Hill demolished James "The Heat" Kinchen in a title defense. I was honestly shocked when Virgil Hill lost to Thomas Hearns. I thought it would finally give Virgil the recognition he deserved. I was honestly shocked when Virgil Hill was stopped by a body shot from Roy Jones. It's still one of the most impressive wins of Roy's entire career (to me). And I was honestly shocked when Virgil Hill knocked out Fabrice Tiozzo in one round in their rematch and won the cruiserweight title. So, clearly, I never had a strong gauge on where Virgil Hill stood while he was fighting. If I thought he'd dominate, he'd bore the pants off of people and win a dull decision. If I expected him to be cautious, he'd look amazing. If I expected him to show up against a big name, he'd falter. If I expected him to lose, he'd score a crushing win. He was all over the place in terms of performances, but he usually won. And you can't take that away from him. I always liked him. That said, his light heavyweight wins over Stewart, Emebe, Lasisi, and Kinchen were fights I watched over and over for years. I found them fascinating, for some reason. He was really at his best against them. Too bad they were overshadowed by some of his more boring performances. When he was on ... he was about as exciting as they get.
Not quite. Hill spent most of his career as a 1 belt title holder, unifying and becoming the lineal champ only in his last sucessful title defence. He would lose that status to Michalczewski in his next fight. Wlad unified the titles after 3 defences and became the lineal champion after 6 Hill also wasn't clear cut number 1 of the division for 9 years straight like Wlad was. He is criminally underrated tho.
Hes got a case of Larry Holmes syndrome just in reverse. While Hill dominated the best LHW era in decades it was also the worst one going in the other direction.
