Fighters with underated Tangibles and Intangibles

I'll go with Adamek - adapting to opponents' strengths (eg., size, reach,) and weaknesses (eg., speed). Will to survive and win. Toughness, heart and cool confidence.

 

Joe Louis' footwork is woefully under-rated. As for Chavez, defensively he was very under-rated. Duran too to a lesser extent [lesser because I think people recognise his defence more]. Leonard's punching power is probably under-rated and his finishing. Marciano's defence is under-rated aswell a bit.

 

Braddock is an under-rated puncher in my opinion, especially his right-hand but he just kept breaking it. Not saying he's a massive puncher, but I think he would hit harder than his record suggests.

 

Oscar De La Hoya's Jab

Ken Nortons and Floyd Pattersons body punching

Alexis Arguello timing

 

Calzaghe: elite adaptive skills, Maidana: solid footwork, Ward: excellent skills at distance, Vitali: reflexes and elusiveness (rope-a-dope without a rope), Cintron: top level boxing ability, Canelo: counterpunching (the dude is a counterpuncher), Nishioka: top notch ring IQ, Pavlik: underrated ring smarts, Hatton: elite pressure skills (people don't give much credit for effective pressure which is a skill as much any any other, pressure fighters never get the proper credit).

 

Ricky Hattons foot speed.

Joe Calzaghe's inside game, footwork, ring generalship and ability to mix offense with defense.

Carlos Monzons smarts and adaptability.

 

Arguello's boxing skill. One of my pet peeves is that every single thread I've seen on Arguello contained multiple posts where goofballs prattled on about Alexis "struggling with boxers." Reality is that Alexis struggled with one slick boxer one time, and handed the guy his ass in the rematch.

 

Darchinyan's boxing skills.

Everyone thinks he is nothing but a crude, one handed slugger. The fact is that he has extremely good boxing skills, and this was shown throughout his amateur career.

He just doesn't use them much, because he is addicted to going for the big knockout.

 

People don't mention Wlad's experience enough, given that he is still considered 'prime'. A fighter with 58 pro fights without physical decline has a hell of an advantage over their opponents. Difference in experience is a huge facor in a Wlad-Haye fight that no one seems to bring up

 

:happy Darchinyan-Mijares was a 21st century masterclass.

:-( He does not excel in any of these areas (weak inside game, decent footwork which often gets overrated, decent ring generalship which often gets overrated, and a weak defence).




Anyway, my own suggestions would be:

- James Toney's handspeed (see Barkley fight)

- Manny Pacquiao's high-level skill in selecting and accurately landing the perfect, decisive punch vs a given opponent (see Morales II, Cotto, Hatton, Margarito etc)

 

Carl froch boxing skills, pacs defense, lennox´ chin

 

Tavoris Cloud's jab, footwork, ring generalship and ability to set the pace.