Miguel Angel Gonzalez Is Underrated

Did he beat a single top 5 ranked fighter?

 

He was very good and he seemed to be one of those boxers where he seemed to get old over night. The Lamar Murphy bout was a horrible decision as Murphy easily won that fight.
But for a short time Miguel was the best lightweight In the world and he best many contenders.

 

Very underrated, and I thought he should have been given the decision against Chavez as well.

 

I doubt The Ring did. His best wins were Johnson and Mendy. That's really weak for someone who spent so much time on top of the rankings. Murphy didn't even have many wins over fighters with winning records.

 

Murphy was a phenom and was incredibly talented and if you ask pro trainers especially in Florida how talented Murphy was they will tell you he was one of the most talented fighters they have ever seen and the only reason why Murphy didn't achieve what he should have was because of Murphy himself and his incredible lack of discipline.
The Gonzalez fight took the wind out of Murphy's sails because it was a horrible decision and cost Murphy the world title.

 

Not exactly a feather in MAG’s cap either way.

 

Johnson had knocked out unbeaten Sharmba Mitchell earlier that year so that is not a weak win especially considering at the time nobody really wanted to fight Mitchell at that point.
Hector Lopez was an excellent win that you left out as Lopez was a very talented fighter and hurt Gonzalez pretty badly but Gonzalez overcame it and held on to win the fight.
Miguel had a bunch of fights against World class opposition in a short period of time which seemed to wear him out. I think there was drug abuse involved with Gonzalez as well and I believe he is homeless now.

 

I remember everybody talking about Murphy beating up certain top level pros in the gym while an amateur disappearing from the gym for months to run around only to reappear and not miss a beat.
I liked Gonzalez but Murphy beat the hell out of him that night and that was a horrible decision. Murphy just never seemed to be the same after that.

 

Yeah but he told Erik Morales he is getting it back together...we'll see.

 

Honestly, I think Juan Lazcano put together a better career but didn’t get the big fights.

 

Miguel Angel Gonzalez really looked the business coming up.

Became a fan favourite in Japan with 5 ko wins there. Had some very exciting wins over big punching but unknown Wilfredo Rocha in their 1st fight for the vacant crown.

Hard fought fight with teak tough Hector Lopez before 2 terrific fights over future champions Jean Baptiste Mendy(won lightweight title twice including a win over the unbeaten Orzuben Nazarov and nearly won the light-welter crown too) and Levander Johnson.

Had some fairly routine title wins before Lamar Murphy should have decisioned him. Struggles making the weight and out of ring activities seemed to have caught up with him. Showed his iron chin versus De La Hoya but little else and then he was himself robbed versus Chavez which effectively finished him.

Not the greatest quality but below is a short (3 and a half minutes) hl:

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They are two completely different level of fighters.
Murphy was the more naturally talented of the two and it is not even close.
Juan was pretty good but relied on his size and strength where Murphy just had so much talent that he was a natural where he just had things that you cannot teach.
Juan had much better discipline and they matched him very well because they were trying to build him up but he really wasn't impressive even when fighting big names that were very past thier primes.
Watch Murphy vs Gonzalez where Murphy literally is sitting right in front of Gonzalez and is slipping punches and then eating Gonzalez up with counters.
Every single person in that arena had thought Murphy had won but the powers that be wanted the Gonzalez vs De La Hoya bout because it was much more money then a Murphy vs De La Hoya bout which 3 fights latter was made.
I believe Murphy fought De La Hoya in the amateur ranks.

 

I was comparing Lazcano to MAG.