Dariusz Michalkzewski..

I had a friend who fought him.

He said that he was incredibly strong.

 

A very very good fighter IMO

 

Chris John level fighter, seriously underrated because of the era they're in/management issues

 

he got a gift in the first Rocky fight. he has good wins over Hill and Griffin but I also thought they were not at their best

 

Underrated H2H, but potentially overrated in terms of greatness. He was definitely an excellent fighter, who was very consistent and his overall record is a product of his circumstances. I feel as though you have to marked lower for a long title with a lesser belt though; I feel the same way about GGG.

Head-to-head he's a bit of a problem though, I think he could beat Bivol or Beterbiev.

 

I like the guy.

Had to send away for his fights > reading the results in flash. He was hardly a cutie pie & a different type champion and just ground guys down. Hard to come out of his fights not having damage to the career.

Great jab. Perfect extension and timing when he threw it. Just maybe the best at getting like 90 to 100% extension on it and having it land full force. Never did throw a flicking type jab or a blind you jab. A power jab and he'd get his feet set and position himself absolutely perfect to throw it. And then he had a top shelf left hook off it and a nasty left uppercut.

But he was known as an amatuer and had that top shelf pedigree. Terrific chin. Could fight w/ swelling and cuts and just how many can do that and not lose their effectiveness?

Dedicated body puncher as well and I have a real soft spot for the lh body punchers. Very under utilized punch in that division.

 

He is one of the more frustrating guys because he was good but he missed out on the big legacy fights with Jones, Tarver and even Toney.

A few years later there was another European based guy named Zsolt Ederi who was also incredibly talented but like DM he never fought the best of his era.

 

Zsolt Erdei,very slick fighter although I only knew him from finding an edit about him on yt.

 

He was an outstanding amateur that had very fast hands. I would have loved to have seen him against Dawson back when Dawson was beating everyone.

 

IMO, he was a good fighter, but his achievements were inflated b/c he was also very protected & carefully managed. he basically quit in the 1st Rocky fight when Rocky still had something left in the tank, then grinded him down in a long overdue rematch when Rocky was far over the hill. His record is heavily padded w/ forgettable WBO "mandatories" & I always felt his team kept him away from big punchers after the 1st Rocky fight, w/ the exception of Richard Hall, who (probably not coincidentally) gave him 2 of his toughest defenses. I also thought he arguably lost his 1st fight w/ Christophe Girard, although admittedly he returned an improved fighter for their rematch.

In the end, he was basically just good enough to be the 2nd best LHW in 1 of the overall weakest & most forgettable LHW eras in recent memory.

 

He also beat 2 guys that beat Toney.

 

Jones-DM remains one of the biggest fights that never happened.

 

I could see Dariusz being a problem for Bivol b/c of his jab & Bivol's lack of explosive power (though I would still favor Bivol to win).

But Beter would be a terrible matchup for Dariusz IMO. Dariusz didn't fight well off the back foot, & once Beter got past his jab he would have every advantage in a slugfest.