Most underappreciated HW champ?

Rocky Marciano......some guys overhere do not rank him as a top 10 Atg...

 

oh im sure but he has had some robberies as well.
if don king wasnt involved im sure he wouldnt of got a title...but he did get a title and fought very good ops. losing ofcourse to the best of them but still agreeing to the challenge

 

king is smart enough to know that his 'experiment' failed miserably quite fast, and would have had him removed much sooner (if you believe the conspiracy theories) your opinion on ruiz is worthless. you think a amateur with 10 fights under his belt could beat ruiz if he wasn't allowed to 'blatantly cheat'.

 

No offence Tobkhan, but like oil and water, the word 'Warrior' and the name John Ruiz don't really mix.

 

Oh ok, I mistakenly assumed that was your opinion of him.

 

Lennox Lewis, especially on this forum.
In time people will come to realise how great he was, well maybe apart from zakman:good

 

Add me to the list with Zakman as Lewis is already woefully overrated on this forum.

 

No doubt. In the future, Lennox will be more highly regarded. I won't be suprised if people eventually rank him as a top 5 heavyweight.

 

I've always reserved this category for guys like Gene Tunne, Max Schmeling and Ezzard Charles, but last night, on ESPN Classic, they were featuring the "Brown Bombers" later fights near the end of his career, and they showed the two fights with Jersey Joe Walcott, and it was kind of strange, as both fights were shown without any commentary or blow by blow. This was fine with me because it just allowed you to simply watch the fight with no distractions. I was just fascinated by Walcott!! No disrespect intended for Louis, but I just marvelled at Jersey Joe's one of a kind style of shifting fro side to side, the quick shifting of angles, the walking away from punches and his head movement. The strange, selftaught bizarre defensive genius of Walcott was fanscinating for me to watch. Walcott has to be the most underappreciated HW champ of all.

 

King could keep control of the the title, and generate revenue by matching Ruiz with opponents, such as Holyfield or Golota, who brought the crowds in. However, unlike more talented or popular fighters, Ruiz and his people were well aware that they'd be nowhere without King - so they did exactly as they were told. Other fighters were threats to bolt once their contracts were up.

As if I need anymore proof - since King dumped Ruiz he hasn't "won" a single fight. Case closed.

 

I have to agree with you on that. Walcott was a brilliant defensive boxer with all those tricky moves of his. I've always been so intrigued by defensive wizardry as practiced by guys like Walcott, Joey Giardello, Maxie Rosenbloom and others, who developed these skill over the course of a long career, more or less through "on the job training" instead of just being gifted "phenoms" from the get-go of their careers. It would be interesting to have all these type guys as the topic of a new thread about boxing "wizardry", including some modern day non champs like Emanuel Augustus and even Mike "The Bounty Hunter", the heavyweight contender of a few years back who died recenly.

 

Sullivan lost it first time round to Tug Wilson in July 1882, then again on 4th June 1887, when the title was awarded to Kilrain at the Monumental Theatre, Baltimore, as Sullivan refused Kilrain's challenge and failed to put a $1,000 deposit for a $2,500 fight that Kilrain challenged Sullivan to on May 17th 1887.

Kilarain lost it in May 1890 allegedly due to being at deaths door (despite fighting on to 1899 and living until 78 years old).

Slavin won the vacant title in September 1890 with his two round win over Joe McAuliffe.

 

Definately not Lennox Lewis. He gets WAYYY too much credit for beating shot-to-hell Tyson and post-prime Holyfield, got starched by McCall and Rahman, and RETIRED after the Vitali match...a close fight that many though he could've/would've lost. He fares well in my H2H lists, but honestly, his resume is pretty flat.

How old was Lewis when he retired? Yeah, he went out "on top", but the only time he was really tested in his career, he retired after the fight.

This is the guy that's supposed to be top 2 ATG?

As far as most underappreciated champ, I think Ruiz is a good choice, honestly. Most of the oldschool guys who are "underappreciated" around here tend to get praise when they do get brought up, whereas Ruiz gets bashed on a near-daily basis. I don't care for his style, but the guy has balls...he fought everyone he could, and he's no chump.

 

Lewis, Walcott and Schmeling come to mind.

 

I agree that Lennox Lewis gets way too much credit. Whoever has him at No.2 needs to be re-educated or otherwise shot.

However, I disagree that Ruiz deserves any praise, he is the most boring fighter I can think of with the most unattractive style of 'fighting' I have ever had the misfortune of witnessing.