Heavyweight Champs, past or present, who iyo are underrated, not given the credit they deserved? Lineal or not.
Trevor Berbick was a crafty fighter with decent punch, he went 15 with Larry Holmes, a difficult task. Unfortunately, (boxing wise) he gets remembered for his 3 knockdowns within a punch against Mike Tyson, but, he even did the Canadian title's version of George Foreman, winning that title way past his prime by beating Shane Sutcliffe in 2000. As a human, however, he was a true POS. Thats the other side of him people, rightfully in this case, remember. But as a boxer, he was as hard as they come. Ezzard Charles tends to be under rated as Heavyweight champion. As Light Heavyweight, we call him among the greatest, possibly the greatest, to ever come despite not winning the title but when he won the Heavyweight title he defended it 8 times before losing to Jersey Joe Walcott. Thats a great champion in my book. He came after Joe Louis who was an American idol-and not as in winning any singing contests!-and he suffered from that as far as the way he is historically seen as a Heavyweight champion. The same happens to Gene Tunney. He came after Jack Dempsey and despite beating him twice people dont hold him with the high esteem they hold for Dempsey even to this day. Marvin Hart I have to see a highlight of him so I can't pass judgement yet but people seem to forget he was Heavyweight champion, and he beat Jack Root one of the all time great Light Heavyweight champions and who is in the Hall of Fame. Tommy Burns made six title defenses (or 5 or 7 I cant remember that well) he was very solid. He is remembered today for avoiding Jack Johnson. But he was a great champion in his own right. As a side note, Larry Holmes could have fallen victim of three of the traits I mentioned here: 1. He could have been forgotten by the public because he came after worldwide idol Muhammad Ali. 2. He could have been forgotten because he avoided Greg Page (I dont think he was afraid but bargaining for better money to fight him) and 3. He could have been remembered for his multiple knockdowns versus Mike Tyson. But he overcame all of that and furnished a legendary career the hard way.
Ernie Terrell WBA Heavyweight Champion March 5 1965 until Feb 6 1967 and WBA Champion Jimmy Ellis April 27 1968 until Feb 16 1970.
Yes, he was a akward guy to fight at his best. Tyson taking him out like that still impressive for me.
Richard, you always hit it on the spot, my friend,.,..if you had been a boxer, I'd avoided you at all costs!
Oh yeah it was.....I remember I was 14 when that fight took place and I thought Tyson is not a boxer, he is a monster.......like I thought "every time he is on HBO they are offering a horror movie (to the oither guy, at least)!"
That's how he was seen then, knocking the crap out experienced guys a lot older than him. Never been anything like him since.
IMO Tony Tucker is underrated. However, he boxed the entire match with almost peak Tyson, and Lennox Lewis, without being knocked out. And those were his first and second defeats in his career. He experienced his third defeat 15 years after the beginning of his career.
He didn't have a long career and was shutout when he fought Vlad but sultan ibragimov was a very good fighter that had he fought in a different era he would have had way more success.
A note, Tony TNT Tucker defeated James Buster Douglas to win the IBF Title and later fought a peak Mike Tyson on August 1 1987, losing on points in 15 rounds.