What fighters do you feel are unfairly criticized here?

I disagree with you about Mancini. I've seen just about all of his fights. He was certainly above clubfighter, but he was not a hall of fame caliber fighter. There were many lightweights between 82-84 that could have beaten him and Bramble eventually got the shot. Examine his record as WBA champ. He fought bums basically. Except for Bramble.

 

Maybe Bobby Czyz, Eusebio Pedroza, especially when it comes to Sanchez.

 

To a extent, yes, but he was a talented fighter.

 

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Same here, he was at the end of his rope, however, but Eusebio was something else.

 

Pedroza was a very good fighter and champion. Sanchez-Pedroza would have bee a superfight in 1981-1982. I don't think Sanchez would have been bothered by Pedroza's elbows and low blows the way LaPorte and Lockridge were.

Let's not kid ourselves. Pedroza got away with murder in the LaPorte fight. I can't think of any reason he was not DQ'd other than the WBA bought off the ref.

 

That's probably true, but let's not hold him as the epitome of dirty fighting, there were definitley others.

 

Perhaps not unfairly criticized, but I feel the middleweight era from the 30's to the beginning of WWII as a whole gets sold short, if not flat out ignored (outside of Steele, who's rightly gotten his due).

 

I would put Jess Willard right at the top of the list.

His main crime seems to be making Jack Dempsey look good.

 

A bit of a boring answer, but it's hands down the two fighters considered most mainstream and "liberal media darlings": Ali and Leonard. There really is no comparison.

Tbf, unlike for instance Willard and Mancini they also get a lot of appreciation.

 

Maybe I'm wrong but Tommy Morrison and Shannon Briggs get criticized a lot while guys like Frank Bruno and Joe Bugner get a pass on a lot of things.