Most underrated fighters of all time?

Speaking of Carrasquilla, he too gets too often undermentioned, mainly because he was reknowned more for the Hong fight than anything else (for good reason, mind you). He looked like a real talent, and oh so young.

 

Cheers. Salavarria was a very good fighter himself. I'd love to get my hands on that footage if it exists on film.

 

Man, if you do, get a hold of me. I know it was on a Forum card, which is how I watched it. Incidentally, I looked it up on my old '74 RRB. They have his record as 37-5-1 (23) going into the Guerrero fight in '66. So, he had been around awhile. I believe he broke into Ring's top ten with his 6th round KO of Jose Luis Cetina, who held the number 6 spot in their top ten Flys. He didn't drop out until early '73. Beating beside Sallavarria and Marquez, the likes of Costenito Morales, Famosito Gomez and late in his career, Raul Tirado. Damn, if that Sallavarria fight pops up, put a seatbelt on before watching it.

Scartissue

 

Lou Brouillaird. Gets absolutely no mention here, and he did run hot and cold, but he's got victories over the likes of Jimmy McLarnin, Young Corbett III, and Mickey Walker, which means that when he was on, he was probably a hell of a fighter.

 

I actually think Larry is the most OVER RATED - probably the most underrated is harder to pinpoint - at of the heavys maybe Jersey Joe Walcott - Tunney and Charles used to be but they're at least getting the respect they deserve a bit more these days - some others like Lennox Lewis don't get the respect when they're young and in the prime of their careers but then everybody changes their tune when they've gone and retired - but sorry never thought Larry was particularly amazing - listened to an old Tyson interview with Jimmy Greaves the other day on one of these threads where Tyson said he thought even by the age of 16 he would've been capable of beating Holmes and I wouldn't doubt it either - anyway have good day everyone - i should really get back to work

 

Vincente Saldivar

 

Saldivar is generally rated in the Top 10 all time at featherweight, and legitimate hell for anyone to fight in all time match ups. I'd say he's rated appropriately.

 

IBRO rated him out of the top 10. I believe he deserves potential top 5 all time status, but typically he is left out of those conversations.

 

Choi might be the best Korean fighter who never became a champion. But I do think he should have beaten Navarette. In one of those rounds, Navarette was down and about to go, and the bell rang 12-15 seconds before it should have rang--to save Navarette. It was an obvious hometown cheat. In any case, that fight was the one that a lot of Korean boxing fan would like to have back.

The Hearns comparison is also spot-on. Choi was a tall, erect guy who was very mobile and had a rapier jab and a monster right cross. (But Choi had less of a punch variety than Hearns, as he basically was jab, cross, jab, cross, and nothing else.) Unfortunately, like Hearns, he had no chin and no stamina so he was vulnerable to anyone who could endure Choi's artillery and return fire. Also, as you say, because he was tall, fast, and had a wonderful jab, it would be very difficult to out-box Choi.

Like Chan-hee Park, I think Choi's tools were much more suited to the amateur ranks--though he would've been shut out of the 80 Olympics just as Park would've been had he stayed amateur.

 

I'd say Felix is more over-rated than under-rated

 

I used to think the same, but people tend to think 'Yes, Tito is overrated.' and tend to dismiss him because of it, leading him to be underrated. A classic example of this is Mike McCallum being 'underrated' and now he is generally overrated because of it.

I think Trinidad is underrated as it stands just now, in his prime he really was a wrecking ball between Welter and Middle.

 

LOL, good ole Brother Hong

And your description of him is, again, right-on.

You sure you are not Korean?

 

I don't know about that. I lurk various boxing forums, and most are of the opinion that Trinidad is a top 10 and even a top 5 welterweight of all-time. Quite many put him at the level of Leonard, Hearns, and superior to Benitez. That's pretty insane.

He knocked a lot of people out, but who did he really beat that was absolutely first tier? Pernell was shot when Tito beat him, and I had Oscar winning by around 4 points. And he showed way too much vulnerability against fighters he shouldn't have tested his limits.

 

Whoever says that is way off the mark. I'm speaking about sane people tend to underrate Tito.

 

No, not Korean.I'm a scot

Most of what i know on asian boxing is just my opinions from the film i've collected and stuff i've read, but i've also known and traded with a few South korean and japanese boxing fans over the years who filled in background info that would otherwise have been harder to come across.Some of it i took with a grain of salt, but usually good stuff and it definitely gave me a different perspective on some fighters.