Who were the journeymen who got disproportionate attention for some quirky aspect of the way they approached boxing? The fan favorites who "punched above their weight" in drawing crowd appreciation from the way they fought? The two that immediately come to mind are 90s television guys who just barely crossed into the internet video era before their retirements -- Butterbean / Esch and Emmanuel Augustus. Opposite ends of the skill spectrum, obviously, but they both found their niches in the sport and were remembered positively by the people who were entertained by them. EDIT: The title should have been "fan favorite styles," but my $*×(## autocorrect "fixed" it without my noticing until it was too late to edit.
Jimmy Thunder was a fan friendly fighter had he gotten by Ruiz. He would have gotten title shot against Lennox Lewis. Ivan robinson is a another example.
Jersey Joe Walcott..... Jokes- fkn boxrec people. Honestly probably Emmanuel Augustus. Just a cool dude with an awesome style to watch when he won it wasn’t because he was the biggest or the strongest- most powerful or even the fastest it was because he was better- and even if he was better he sometimes took the L lol.
I like a lot of journeyman fighters, I find them more interesting than a lot of the champs and top contenders, especially when they fight well and pull off an upset. I used to love USA's Tuesday Night Fights, especially when they had heavyweights. Alex Garcia, Jimmy Thunder, Ross Purrity, Paea Wolfrgramm, Corey "T rex " Sanders, Maurice Harris, Jeremy Williams, Samson Pouha, Jesse Ferguson, are just several that come to mind.
If we're gonna mention Augustus then Mickey Ward too! He had a distinctive lack of backward movement and body punching focus. Gabe Rosado would be someone today who fits. In his recent outings he's showed good preparation and versatility, and that he's not coming to lose. Agree with everything except the HWs (although there are a couple fun picks in that group), from the really big and really small guys I only want to see fights above a certain threshold. It's grim seeing someone take HW-level damage when they're hapless, and if they aren't taking the damage it's usually two sweaty guys slow dancing which is not what I want either.
Buster Mathis JR comes to mind. He was a sub six foot tall heavyweight in an era where guys were at least 6'2 that relied on fighting on the inside while slipping and ducking. It was simular to a peekaboo fighter but different as most peekaboo guys fight from mid-range and their guard is different. Too bad he didn't have any power at all or he probably would have had a pretty good career. Very good at making guys miss but unfortunately for him he just couldn't make them pay.
