I'm biased so I'm just gonna say it: Juan diaz. People kept talking about who's the next Tyson? while this kid here was living up to the billing!!! Peak a boo derivative, punches in bunches, volume puncher, swarmer, offensive machine! And then if course Nate Campbell arguably a top tier atg lightweight, what a savvy late starter. Beat the snot out of Juan my guy Diaz. If not in the top fifteen, then at least in the top 5 or 3 of his era! I mean he was a gym rat. The galaxy warrior!!! I know this doesn't go back very far, but yeah, the lw scene today keeps me interested! Who do you guys got? These 2 examples were of finely conditioned athletes...
Jian Guzman and Edwin Valero may fit the bill also. Joan was hyped up as Manny's BEST EVER opponent if be it while Edwin was a knockout artist, going tooth and nail until his quick demise... Come to think about it Juan Guzman was a underachiever too but I'm talking about talent, so the eye ball test. And Edwin was just a savage who couldn't contain himself, passed too early with years of potential yet.
too many to know, loads of GREAT Fighters & Contenders, who had the goods in bunches... just like lists it's really hard to say... example Ernie Roderick, Robert Villemain, Jim Brady. 3 GREAT British & Euro Fighters, barely ever mentioned, forgotten or unknown, seriously, there are LOADS of them through the years. Joe Bowker (whom I have always thought, his story would be a great film), Alex Lafferty and on it goes.
The correct answer here — the most underrated of all time — would be someone even most people on this forum have never heard of. Of the guys you mentioned, I’m only really familiar at all with Villemain so this is the type of fighter who should turn up on a thread like this.
I rank Horacio Accavallo #10 all time at Fly. Arguable top 10 all time in one of the original 8 weight divisions and I wonder what percentage of posters on here, the classic section of a dedicated boxing forum, have never heard of him. Admittedly, technically he's possibly the most underappreciated, rather than underrated, fighter.
Jose Luis Castillo, Jose Luis Ramirez, Marvin Johnson, Lloyd Honeyghan, Glenn Johnson, Santos Laciar, Alfredo Escalera, Carlos De Leon and on the women;s side Marcela Eliana Acuna all come to mind.
It seems that a fair argument could be made to say that Les Darcy is somewhat underrated. Even though he passed without fulfilling his true, full potential he still had a highly impressive career, nonetheless.
Good shout Pug. Obviously we can't credit him for what he may have gone on to do, but stoppage victories over McGoorty x 2, Crouse and Chip hint at an exceptional talent. A more than decent, if not quite ATG MW resume, that suddenly stacks up very well vs other ATG MWs if you limit analysis to what they'd achieved by age 21, the age Les was when he sadly died.
Thanks Greg and great run down as always. In terms of rating, he likely suffers for the fact that a lot of people might not know too much about Les - not including your own good self of course ,I knew you would have a very good handle on him.
Thank you. He didn't quite make my 20 at MW as I felt he didn't quite have the depth of resume, but he may well have been better, relative to the evolution of their respective eras, than many of those that did. Incidentally McGrain has him #26 all time at MW (his research and knowledge vastly exceeds mine), which isn't too shabby for a career cruelly curtailed at age 21. Like Samchez and Oba, we can only wonder what levels of greatness Les would have gone on to achieve.
Good shout too. Went 1-3 vs Griffiths, but conceivably been 4-0 (or 0-4, tbf), which would have seen him typically rated far higher.
lmr is a solid call for the high level guy who is most underated. some athletically gifted boxing savant who also started with drugs young is prob the true answer.
Too many to count. Joe Brown Myung Woo Yuh Brian Mitchell Ernesto Marcel Lionel Rose Sumbu Kalambay Jiro Watanabe Hiroyuki Ebihara Horacio Accavallo Eduardo Lausse Ben Villaflor Alberto Davila
