Fighters you've changed your opinion of ?

Carlos Monzon and Rocky Marciano. Started to watch their fights with the advent of YouTube, and I was amazed at how slow and awkward they were.

As I watched more film of Marciano I came to slowly appreciate the iron will, the relentlessness with which he wore opponents out and forced them into shootouts where his freakish power and awesome stamina put each of his opponents on a survival clock to make it 15 rounds.

Monzon was even more difficult to appreciate for me until I researched the quality of his opposition more thoroughly and came to understand he was a master at establishing distance with his ATG jab that he threw at different speeds and feinted with so his opponents had great difficulty in timing to it trying to get past his excellent reach. Carlos played to his strengths in every way, and no one ever dictated to him the terms of the engagement. In the trenches his great strength ensured he could hold tie people up and reestablish distance. And the power in his right hand had to be respected and was a withering weapon when he hit an opponent to the body with it. For a top 30 ATG, he had extremely slow hands but made the best of his other attributes.

 

Mike tyson.. In the past i was one of his haters.. I don´t know if i did it because he was one of the hardest if not the hardest fantasy rivals of ali.. But now.. I watch closely fights of him when he was young or training sessions and the guy was a phenomenon... Fast , strong, powerfull, with class, great move of head.. Accurate puncher, good chin, dedicated guy when he was with cus,i was surprised with his coordination and style jumping to the rope, a guy close to 100kg.... Incredible.. I think that he would have a good chance to beat lewis prime vs prime

 

pretty good writing/communication skills for a boxer?

 

Dempsey. Judged him too harshly based on firpo and carpentier footage. Concluded he was defenceless as an unskilled brawler.

Based on writeups and other fights I now conclude he just took them lightly and decided to walk them down.

 

You and me both Luf. I used to despise Dempsey. Tyson is another! How naive I was to miss what a technically sound boxing machine he was.

Wlad has also grown on me in recent years. His opposition has been weak, but that's more to do with the era he's fighting in, so he's not to blame, but we can still be critical. He's clearly established himself as the best heavyweight since Lewis and has battled against similar adversity as the former. Coming back from 3 stoppage loses to reign supreme over the division for so long is quite a feet and despite not fighting the best heavyweight of his generation, we can hardly blame him as it was his big brother.

 

Sp Mauler blew the lid on that comedy show.

 

Tony knew how to box very well and he been able to strongly discipline himself his career could have had far more highlights. As it was I thought he beat Bowe and several other of his losses could have gone either way.

 

Too many to do justice to in one post, but here are two examples worth mentioning.

John L Sullivan

I looked at his resume of forgotten names, and bought into the idea of him being a transitional fighter from a bygone era. When I looked into his career in detail, I was shocked by what a phenomenon he was in his day.

Harry Wills

I used to think of him as a bit of a historical footnote, but the more I looked into his career, the more he emerged as a colossus of the era.

And that is why boxing history is such fun. You can start researching a fighters career, and end up with a completely different and unexpected opinion.

 

Sonny Liston (childhood hero) He was bigger than life with the legend and the stories of his win over Big Cat, a closer look shows me Big Cat was not all I was told and Liston had some big mental flaws that I saw in Tyson and others later on. Goliath may have never seen his flaws if it were not for David

George Foreman ( loved the undefeated padded record as a teen but saw what the old-timers were telling me about those big muscles and how to beat them. But later on I appreciated his comeback and improvement of flaws and the way he paced himself I also respect his business head and the way he marketed himself. Smart man

Hopkins ( I was not impressed with him as Middleweight champ but he fought in a weak era and then the Taylor losses but moved up well and has down well as a light heavyweight and has not been embarrassed even in his losses (although I thought he was transparent looking for rest against Calzage with the fake foul attempt) for the most part his conditioning flawless and he shows us how boxing is chess and how the younger less experienced minds fall into his trap. Also a throwback to Archie Moore in age but not yet showing Archie's dominance or near his ATG light-heavyweight level

Marciano I used to think he was crude and would be beaten by the better boxers but a closer look and talking to a lot of the old timers saw the unique freak of a man who had God Given strength and power and Charlie Goldman given subtle skills add those to a self given will to win and desire and love for condition packed into a guy who was 5'11 and 188lbs with short arms and the strongest legs in the world and you have greatness. Also the wisdom of Marciano for getting out while he still had 3-5 fights left because the wear and tear of his style,training,outside influence (management trouble) lack of big fights $$$ Marciano is my LB4LB Heavyweight