Fighters You Feel Are Unfairly Downgraded Because They Are Asshats

Yeah, this is also true to a degree. And I suspect I'm what the Daily Mail would describe as a socialist/Stalinist namby-pamby do-gooder who loves immigrants. Well, it may or may not have actually been my uncle who described me as that, but I digress.

 

Decent thread by the way, Sal. Be interesting to see what people have to say. Plus 'asshat' is a cool word.

 

Nasem Hamed isn't a top 10 all time featherweight, but he's definetly better than what he gets credit for. He's unfortunately one of the sacrificial lambs among the internet boxing community, the way people diss him, you would think he's on the same level as wilfredo rivera or micky ward.

 

Eusebio Pedroza sometimes came across as being aloof and arrrogant during some of his interviews, and was a dirty filthy mofo in the ring on top of that. As a result, he was far less heralded than his talent as a fighter warranted; and it took a long time before he finally received his just due as a champion.

 

Not too many actually.

Most of the perceived downgrading usually comes from groups who for whatever reason have an inflated image of fighters who somehow failed to live up to the standard.

For example, if you (erroneously) perceive Hamed to be up there with the greats of the featherweight division, you'll of course be upset when he isn't held in the same esteem as them.

But I don't see anyone calling Hamed a Gatti or Ward level fighter. That would be to down grade him. And that doesn't happen other than by the odd irrational hater and who doesn't have those...

 

I think it's more than balanced out by the mind-boggling number of worshippers who buy into the persona and the whole 'great man' mythology 100% and in all seriousness.

I remember believing it all too, when I was 14 or 15, but it baffles me when I see so many 'experts' and educated adults who are 40, 50 years old and still propagating the myths.
And people who know nothing about boxing and very little about Ali.

Muhammad Ali, definitely one of the most misunderstood famous figures of modern times.
He gets credited with a ton of stuff that he simply wasn't about, and people tend to miss exactly where his greatness lies.
imo.

 

This is a good list (though I would personally take out Hopkins and Paulie, who have lots of fans and are generally very respected, also Broner is receiving a lot of hype now after dismantling DeMarco). I feel Roy Jones and Mike Tyson get kinda under-appreciated now too, in a large part due to their past prime performances.

 

That's the thing Hamed cleaned house at featherweight, yet he loses 1 fight getting outboxed but not badly hurt, which was nowhere near the most humiliating defeat that many have suffered and people scream 'EXPOSED, see I told you he was a hype job, Barrera beat his ass'

A clear agenda for most Hamed detraters and allot of objective posters feed on the feeling from these detrators

Yes that is underrating him because 'The greats of the featherweight division' generally aren't that great, most of them have as many faults as Hamed

 

I wouldn't say he was a hype job but he did look a bit foolish in there against Barrera. It's not like he has wins or competitive defeats against Barrera-caliber opponents to compensate.

And I have no agenda. I was a fan of his and found him very entertaining and actually likeable.

 

Completely agree with these.

People forget that JCC Jr didn't even have an amateur career.

Also, Prince Naseem Hamed is downgraded a lot.

 

He did at times look foolish but Barrera was fighting a counter punching defensive minimum risk fight. It was not a style that Hamed was going to look good against, he'd look at better at fighters who brought the fight to him like Pacquaio and Morales

He never beat anyone quite Barrera level but he beat every belt holder at 126 and some of his opponents weren't far behind that level. Like Bungu, Vasquez, Kelly, Medina, Johnson these were 4 of the top fighters from 122-126 at the time. Even Soto, McColough and Ingle were top contenders or champions.

 

For example?