Greatest hype jobs in boxing history

Billy Fox

https://vault.si.com/vault/1960/07/11/billy-fox-just-riding-into-evening

 

Unfortunately, Mark Breland.

 

This might be the best example yet. It wasn't his fault some people claimed he was the second coming of Sugar Ray Robinson but as an Olympic gold medalist expectations were already unfeasibly high and anything less than career greatness was likely to see him deemed a failure, particularly after the other Sugar Ray had laid down the blueprint for what post-Olympic career success looked like for a gold medal-winning welterweight only a few short years earlier.

In fact, Breland's career as a two-time welterweight champ was successful but he had chinks in his armour that were exposed at the highest level, namely a lack of physical strength that meant he could be bullied and a chin that wasn't exactly cast iron. After the upset defeat to Marlon Starling, he regrouped, fought much better in the drawn rematch and then picked up his second welterweight strap a year later before those aforementioned weaknesses resurfaced.

A hype job only in relative terms and a fine fighter who couldn't reach the heights set out by other people's lofty expectations.

 

Yeah I think both klitsckos were dismissed as overrated hype jobs due to their early losses and are now considered easily the best of their era