For me it's the Polish WBC cruiserweight champion Wlodacrzyk, his performance earlier in the year against the big punching Bull like russian tyson - Chahkiev was one of the performances of the year. He's been a top 10 cruiser for about a decade Is a 2 time world champion Beat Chahkiev in Russia beat Danny Green in Austrailia beat Steve Cunningham in his prime Yet he never hardly ever gets a mention on here and is unknown to some so called proper boxing fans lol
Roman Gonzalez gets a mention whenever when people are talking about boxers who don't get a mention ... and then at no other times.
For me Chakhiev was on top of that fight for 6 rounds and Wlodacrzyk looked in trouble. Credit to the Pole, he weathered the storm and did very well to stop a tiring Chakhiev but it wasn't what I would describe as a performance of the year.
I don't recognise any of those guys as 'World Champions', I recognise them as alphabet belt holders. The most underrated World Champion is Flyweight Champ Akiria Yaegashi- with no close second. Most overrated World Champ is Adonis Stevenson- a brutal KO waiting to happen. As far as belt holders go, it's more difficult. If it was overrated, it would be Broner and there wouldn't even be a close second. But in the lower weight classes nearly all are underrated. From your list it's between Allakhverdiev and Uchiyama. Overall my choice would be Yamanaka, but with no option for other, I'll vote for Uchiyama. (and to be honest I didn't even know Allakhverdiev had a belt)
Narvaez is a good shout... Uchiyama but there are enough that know him and rate him loftily so he applies less than most on the list despite being the best. Always been a huge Diablo fan so yeah I agree with that being a top claim. Sturm, you'd think was a bum by the way people talk of him, is actually second best MW of the era... Khabib too is a good one. Obviously I'll throw in my boy Kazuto Ioka.
x2 - Gonzalez is one of the little guys so he doesn't get much attention, but he's not only fantastic to watch, his record speaks for itself. I only recently started paying more attention to the lower weight classes myself , but Chocolatito is a standout however you look at it.
Actually not a bad list, looking again. I'm European, so I'm more familiar with some of the names (specially those who don't often fight in the US). El Ruso has perhaps started to make a little bit of a name. but since Dib was hardly a household name, he really needs to get a little more exposure (one thing I don't get is how badly the Pac - Rios undercard gets slated, I thought Gradovich - Dib II was a nice little fight) Allakhverdiev is actually a pretty special fighter on a good day, but he blows hot and cold and ain't really being sold well by TR IMO.
I know it's shocking - it's because it's a majority American forum and they are very ignorant/biased/racist people. Felix Sturm is a great fighter, and has proved himself as a elite fighter for the last decade! I agree, it was a really good performance by Gradovich