Was he any good? I know he was WBC middleweight champ I only ever saw him lose to Hopkins then didn't here about him again. At the time was anybody giving him a chance against Hopkins? Was he better than Joppy? Just curious coz at that time the middleweight division was ruled by Americans...
he was never regarded as better than hopkins. him and joppy switched place a few times as to who the number 2 was. i remember hopkins saying something along the lines of "if i don't knock this bum out i don't deserve to be called champion" in the build up to their fight. the wbc lineage was a bit shoddy at that time. jackson kept getting knocked out and getting title shots until the quincy fight and that's who holmes beat, i think. ibf was with toney (who got a gift against tiberi who retired) until the mccallum fight when both moved up, then jones had it and was knocking out guys noone else could, and then hopkins had it (both him and mercado were top 10 when they fought). the division did need cleaning up but there wasn't anyone staking a serious claim to be above hopkins.
I used to think he was better than Joppy...maybe he wasn't though..Both were pretty average, possibly splitting hairs there.
Was he a good puncher? Fast? Would he stand a chance against Martinez or Golovkin in his prime? How would he go against Geale, Quillin or Chavez Jnr?
Taller than the average MW and was a southpaw, those two attributes probably made him tricky but I have only seen his fight with BHop. He also beat Woodhall before Calzaghe did.
He was a reasonably talented guy who spoiled pretty well. There's no way he's better than Joppy imho. I always thought higher of Joppy than most though. People forget he had excellent footwork before Trinidad took his legs.
:deal i sort of like joppy. the duran fight undone him as a real champion. made him seem like he wanted the belt not to be a champion or a chalenge. bad bad move by his managament. and holmes was a world champion but didnt have that sort of champion performance. fought well and a good technician but more due to his height and solid southpaw skills.
For some reason he always had a hard time with Cherifi. He lost the first and won the rematch by premature stoppage. Good boxer, rangy and decent power. But he's somewhat below or at par with Joppy.
both him and joppy, in their pirmes, wouldve probably beat a prime sergio. thats how bad mw is right now.