He was embarrassed by Lewis, but he did knock out many former champions and has probably the best chin of his time, only off his feet once, and that was to Monty Barrett and he was beyond washed up at that point. Peak Tua was un knock out able. Do you see him as over, or under rated?
If a few things had gone his way he could of gone down as a legend, look at the list of future or past champions he knocked out.
Neither underrated nor overrated. Technically he was not at the level of Lewis or Holyfield. However very good fighter, great puncher.
Undervalued. He beat four champs: Maskaev, Ruiz, Moorer, and Rahmen, although as I recall, at least one of the Rahmen fights could have went either way. The Ruiz and Moorer knockouts were crazy, and if I remember correctly, Moorer was with the right hand. He was just too small to fight Lewis. I wish we had him back today (if he found a fountain of youth, of course).
For a guy that was 5 10 tops he was tremendously courageous to pretty much give reach away in every fight. I think hes underrated. That left hook is ATG.
Underrated He never won a belt, but that's more because of getting less chances in titlefights (only 1 shot against Lewis) probably due to having the 'wrong' nationality and being so incredibly dangerous as an opponent. He knocked out 4 future or previous beltholders/champions, knocked out multiple contenders and had close fights with other big names. For me the Ibeabuchi fight was a draw at 6 rounds each. Never stopped, despite his incredible resume and fighting some of the biggest punchers out there. Without a doubt he's in the top5 of most accomplished HW's who never won a single belt, with a case to be made for him to be the #1 in that list. Povetkin might enter that top5 list shortly, if he doesn't win a legit belt in the dawn of his career, but at this point Tua is above him too.
He's definitely not underrated, because he seems to be held in unusually high regard. I'd definitely say that he is overrated, in that respect. He was a good level contender in a tough age who could have obtained a belt some years before or some years after.
One of the best fighters never to win a heavyweight title that's for sure.. the Ike fight was insane.. his Ruiz KO was brutal, Brutalised Moorer, gave Oquendo his first loss, took out Maskaev, Rahman etc.. but he was losing to both Rahman & Maskaev before stopping them.. Byrd played with him, & Lewis jabbed his head off .. Fkin unit, crazy hooking power, power that can bail u out a bit like Wilder in some regards.. fought in a great era but my perception of how people view him is that he's viewed about right for what he did in the era he fought in. Not an elite HW but an exciting one who had a fantastic career but could be outboxed at the top level.
About where we rank him. A guy who had a great punch. A guy who if he landed he could knock out anyone, but who was a little limited like many big punchers are who rely on that punch.
