John Conteh, an overrated or underrated champion?

Correct, the back story to this fight was that the Conteh faction ( mainly his brothers ) were not satisfied that he was being paid what he was worth, from the cartel of, Astaire,Duff, Barrett, and to a lesser extent Lawless, so he cut his ties with them and struck out on his own, I mean he was properly being under paid truth be known, anyway he went off to the USA to as you have stated to fight Taylor, BUT who didn't go with him was George Francis, who had been taping his rather fragile and slender hands all of his career, the rest is history.

For what its worth, saw Conteh in sparring for the Aumahada fight here in London, at the Cafe~ Royale and up close, he was a vicious puncher, and his sparring partners earned their money for sure. keep well.