Michael Hunter is overrated and does not belong in the Top 10

Anyone especially at HW can look bad at any given moment

Even the almighty himself.

 

I agree. Even Usyk can have an off day.

 

Size isn't everything and a prime example of this was Usyk beating a much bigger, physical monster in AJ recently. Size matters at heavyweight, but if you look at guys like Ali and Iron Mike..they are a similar size to Hunter and Usyk. Heavyweights have gotten bigger but it's only an advantage if you know how to use it. If you don't, it can actually cause more problems than it solves (See AJ's stiffness causing him nightmares against Usyk and Ruiz).

Hunter can compete if he knows what he is doing.

 

It's probably because he prepared for De Mori, an opponent so overmatched that NYSAC wouldn't sanction it. Likely a shock to the system having a late-replacement like Forrest, who refuses to lie down.

In the last two years he has fought Laughery (Boxrec 209), Mike Wilson (Boxrec 120) and then lined up De Mori (BoxRec 206). Laughery was bad enough for a supposed top 10 fighter, but he had just been released by Matchroom, so it is what it is. But the other opponent selections speak to someone who has checked out of their own career. He swerved Hrgovic to sign-up with Triller, and promised a big fight, but the match making has been abysmal. Maybe finances are still the issue, but who knows at this point.

I have to question how badly he wants to fulfil his potential. He certainly doesn't warrant his ranking based on the last two years.

 

Thread is moot. Hunter has already said he's going to bridger.

I don't think the fire is there. The Hrgovic cancellation...the periods of inactivity...this shitty fight...

I think that for whatever reason, he is mentally done with boxing. At least for the moment.

 

Hunter looked awful. His stock has dropped.

 

Hunter already beat Forest once early in his career. Forest got better over the years, while Hunter may have gotten over confident.

Look at this interview from Hunter from a few days ago.
https://fightnews.com/hunter-aiming-for-statement-performance-tonight/125005

He said he was excellent condition. He also said he wanted to stop Forest. He had Forest hurt in the first round, but then he started getting caught himself.

I think he may have been hit with a few punches that affected him. Lopez went into the Kambosos fight with a crap gameplan. It seems like Hunter went into his fight with a lousy gameplan as well.

 

He clearly wasn't in excellent condition coming into the ring visibly flabby like that and tiring after a couple of rounds before nearly barfing. His gameplan was crap as well, but how much of that was down to the conditioning? Hard to implement any sort of plan when you're blowing out your arse.

 

Boxers always say they are in excellent condition even when they are not, what else are they going to say "yeah I barely trained for this bum."

It was pretty obvious after rd 2 he was struggling. When was the last time you saw a fighter throw up in a fight? He showed heart in that in rd 7 he seemed to try and turn the fight around with a big rd but after that he was totally gassed and in the final rds he seemed to be fighting on instincts alone and his punches looked like they had nothing on them. He clearly wasn't in good condition.

 

I've now seen the fight. He definitely looked "off". He came in looking softer and more frail (not that he's ever been an Adonis but he looked worse), he was affected by everything, it wasn't just Jerry Forrest, he was affected by everything that touched him. He looked done midway through the fight. Honestly he's lucky he escaped with a draw. I say that as someone who has said Hunter is the top 3-4 HW. Anyone else in the top 10 would've starched him.

 

But we love Zhang CT.

 

I don't disagree on the principle that HWs don't need to be big in order to be successful. There've been plenty of examples that prove otherwise. However, IMO, Hunter just isn't suited to be a successful small HW. The guys you named, Usyk, Mike Tyson... they are special. Holyfield was special. Ali was of course VERY special, and he wasn't a small HW for the era he was fighting in. Also some other small HWs that were not special were successful, like Chris Byrd for example, but Hunter just isn't. You can see it in the ring. He would've beaten Povetkin - who is not a big HW himself - if he wasn't fighting over his prime weight.