Overrated/ underrated fighters here on ESB

Name a list with fighters who you think are here on ESB overrated and underrated and explain why, here are some personal examples from me:


Overrated:

Sonny Liston, surely an ATG, but when I read that many here have him in theit Top 3 ATG HW´s... he looked great when he was a contender, but to look great against old, washed up ex-contenders like Valdes, or fighters with padded records like C. Williams it´s a difference than against the elite fighters...

Muhammad Ali, definitely one of the greatest ever, that´s out of question, but here on ESB the legendary sentence " The pre-exile Ali was much faster, much better in every area, etc.", head-to-head very overrated IMO, for every KD or defeat there exists another excuse...

Larry Holmes, also an ATG, no doubt, but his title reign was very poor, he had so many problems with fighters like a green Witherspoon, old Norton, Williams, etc...



Underrated:


Rocky Marciano, "he beat only washed up LHW´s", total bull****, everyone who has footage of a prime Moore or Charles knows that the versions who fought Marciano were almost peak, many say he weighed only 183 lbs and wouldn´t have a chance against a decent SHW, etc...


James J. Jeffries, he dominated his era and defeated very good opposition like Sharkey, Fitzsimmons, Corbett, etc., if he wouldn´t have been so stupid and arrogant and would have fought Johnson, he would get the respect now he deserves...

Joe Frazier, he defeated everyone in spectacular fashion, incl. prime Ali, the Foreman- defeats were his problem, now I read often things like "Frazier was shaky, look what Foreman did to him, every big puncher in history would do that" and **** like that...

 

You don´t need to excuse you, McGrain, everyone has an own opinion, which I respect, IMO it seems so that Marciano is getting underrated, some years ago it was exactly the other way, some friends said for example that he was the best because "he never lost and was 49-0-0", than I was also a bit angry and responded that fighters like Nielsen were also 49-0-0, that´s not important, etc., but like I wrote, for me, Rocky is now really getting underrated, when I read always comments like that Tye Fields would easily destroy Rocky in one single round, or that Valuev would KO him because he´s so big, etc...

 

:yep

 

Another candidate would be Pernell Whitaker, every close fight was a "robbery" and every defeat there exists excusses, whether about his "bad" performances I read never something...

 

Even the best fighter in history can be overrated. In fantasy matchups, where also Whitaker is, I read from so many nut hugging-fans always the same: "Whitaker would be too tricky and too slick, wide UD for him", even against fighters who were much better at 147 lbs. (legacy-wise), that´s what I mean...

 

Sorry, but that´s a horrible list. Tyson, Foreman, Calzaghe underrated? And Carnera overrated? Who overrate him? Most fans think he was a bum who was controlled by the mob...

 

With the "excusses" I simply meant that some fanboys change it the way they like/ need it, every defeat was a robbery and every close fight he won was a master performance...

IMO Whitaker was a real master boxer, legacy-wise very good and head-to-head also very good, but for me very overrated on ESB...