Most underrated fighter(s) in each weight class?

heavyweight--Harry Wills
light-heavyweight--Gus Lesnevich
middleweight--Teddy Yarosz
welterweight--Del Flanagan
lightweight--Joe Brown
featherweight--Vincente Saldivar
bantamweight--Al Brown
flyweight--Pascual Perez

*Perez--considering how outstanding his record is.

**Lesnevich--has fallen through the cracks because he defended against Billy Fox who was in fact his top-rated contender, but because of the LaMotta fix these defenses are dismissed. Not a great fighter, but this situation does strike me as a bit unfair to Gus.

 

Do you feel he was an exceptional talent, or more just exceptionally large for the weight?

 

His power was exceptional and that correlated to his size. Rigo showed the holes in his game.

 

He's remembered, but mostly for this. LOL

He's remembered, but mostly for this. LOLLL.

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Staying to one at each weight class.

Fly - Venice Borkhorsor. Mainly because we have no footage of him at the weight but he must've been an absolute monster. Battering and stopping Betulio Gonzalez and completely shutting out the really good Erbito Salavarria were serious feathers in his cap. And he was robbed against the great Rafael Herrera at bantam.

Bantam - Jose Medel for me, one of the best fighters never to win the title with a really deceptive record. Monster puncher and great trap-setter with excellent schooling and relaxed fighting instinct, hindered by poor work rate and a journeyman approach half the time.

Feather - Antonio Gomez. Highly skilled technician from the early seventies who had wins over the young Cervantes and young De Jesus. Unlucky to be around at the same time as Ernesto Marcel, who outclassed him twice.

Lightweight - Paolo Rosi. Very tough, cagey, powerful mauler who was getting the better of Old Bones when stopped short on cuts, to which he was unfortunately very prone.

Light welter - Kenny Lane. Very clever and sharply talented southpaw technician best known for his series with the great Ortiz, who he beat first time out. Making weight crippled him at 135 against Old Bones Brown, who he lost narrowly to by controversial decision for the title and the rubber match against Ortiz, also for the title where he was beaten widely. And stopped against Ortiz for the 140 title on cuts before the fight really got going.

 

That guy's legs were gone when the bell rang.

 

Put 100lbs on.

 

You're a terrible person for trying to make that people first exposure to him!

 

Master tier level post, Tin. Great stuff!

 

Wills .Okay probably a bit fortunate to get Langford and co when they were aging.
Lesnevich. No, not for me ,lucky to be champ,too many names missing on his C V.
Yarosz. I don't know enough about.
Brown.Definitely overlooked today.
Saldivar. A good champ, I think he gets the attention he deserves by and large.
Brown. Fine champ but there aren't too many big names on his record.
Perez,. Top 4 at the weight imo.

 

Bump.

 

Fair enough on Lesnevich. It is just as easy to see him as overrated as underrated. I'm certain he will finish very high in Rummy's light-heavy list (conceivably second to Moore) but he got the title because Conn gave it up. The question with "underrated" is what criteria is used. Lloyd Marshall has been mentioned, but I think he is in the Hall of Fame. Gus isn't. And a case can be made that this also is fair. The Fox fix with LaMotta has really undercut Gus.

Yarosz--how many have wins over ten champions? I think underrated.

Wills--"Langford & co"--at least he got into the ring with them.

Al Brown--okay, what about Jose Becerra?

Perez--I do think he doesn't get the credit he deserves for a really outstanding career.

 

Some of these may have been said, but I'm just gonna roll with it.

HW - Corrie Sanders
CW - Juan Carlos Gomez
LHW - John Henry Lewis
SMW - James Toney
MW - Holman Williams
JMW - Ayub Kalule
WW - Emile Griffith/Luis Rodriguez
JWW - Antonio Cervantes
LW - Sammy Angott/Carlos Ortiz
SFW - Flash Elorde
FW - Ernesto Marcel
SBW - Guillermo Rigondeaux
BW - Veeraphol Sahaprom
SFly - Jiro Watanabe
Fly - Venice Borkhorsor
LFly - Hilario Zapata
Min - Rosendo Alvarez