A bit overrated to be honest. Some were expecting him to beat Starling, but even after the defeat, it was thought he could be a future superstar. And although he undoubtedly had his moments, he never quite lived up to the hype. By the time he moved up to 154, he had jumped the shark.
this is more what I think. losing to McGirt who I thought was overrated also didn't do much for Brown, although I remember he said he had the flu or something, but that is just another excuse. A good left hook and decent speed but not great.
It depends who's rating him. There are certainly those who overrate his achievements. but for the most part I think he's appropriately rated. The fashion in which he was undressed by McGirt hurts his legacy more than anything else.
I agree. He was a very good, solid titleholder who fell shy of genuine greatness - and I believe that's how most people regard him.
He really was a well rounded fighter in his early days...it's interesting to see how some fighters regress technically but some fighters build their skill level up as they mature.
He let his skills slowly erode after becoming champ, same as Trinidad. Went from being a capable all-rounder in a somewhat Mike McCallum-esque mold, to a straight line, get schooled by footwork powerpuncher by the times the 90s rolled around. Those soft IBF challengers tend to instill a false sense of security and ability. Overall the early Brown might well be a bit underestimated, but he didn't really do that much, and the more high profile later one circa Blocker\McGirt\Norris was a good fighter but not much more than that. Still better than someone like eyebrow plucker Cotto and wouldn't have been easy for the smaller offensive minded fighters that have taken over at Welter and junior middle right now like Marquez and Pac.Probably just walks through them eventually,but anyone who could move and box well from the outside-especially if they were his equal in size-would give him serious issues by that stage in his career. Mcgirt did turn it in a damn good performance in shutting him out though..Really had him fearing the right hand.Not many Welter's outside of the greats would do it any more convincingly than that.
