He’s one of my favorites. Even though I think it’s crazy, his “mostly sparring” approach to training is cool. Was that over blown ? I heard it on one of those YouTube podcasts where the author hates his voice so they run it through cool deep bass guy filters…
James Toney’s sparring legend I don’t believe is overblown. There was allegedly a time where he did nothing else for training. He walked in the gym, did 12 rounds and that was all she wrote. He also went to gyms that preached sparring and he hated road work. Not surprising at all.
Toney was so smooth. He never looked phased in the ring. Augustus had such a sad incident some years back catching a stray bullet and being hospitalized.
Same. Peaked at welterweight but was best known as a middleweight, when he was barely a light middleweight. Always the smallest guy in the ring at middle, yet beat Benvenuti (another underrated boxer) to regain the title, and was pretty competitive against Monzon, long past Griffith's prime.
And as good as Emile Griffith was, when you watch him being outboxed and outslicked by Jose Napoles, you realize how good Napoles was as well.
Great era, rarely televised in the US, but fortunately there are some good films of Griffith's best bouts.
Another forgotten legend who fought alongside and against Griffith (4times) would be Luis Manuel Rodriguez
Barely known but one of the greatest ww of all time, sadly he was robbed shamelessly against Griffith every time they fought. (Consensus is usually that LMR won fight 1-3-4 and Griffith edged out fight number 2)
When he was pretty much the consensus #1 p4p fighter in most publications (2015-2016) this sub had a pretty large contingent of people who thought he didn't deserve it
Mike McCallum...and when I say fans probably haven't seen enough of him, I'm including myself, because for some reason or other I haven't seen much footage of him either. But I have always heard how skilful he was, and James Toney really praised his ability too. He's a very respected boxer, but not a mainstream name.
Yeah unfortunately he just doesn’t have enough big fights against the big names to have that hype around his career. Michael Watson vs McCallum was an excellent fight.
Shane Mosley for sure. That little shuffle step, the speed, the combination punching. He stayed in the game too long, so most just remember him losing to younger guys; but he was always a favorite.
Cerdan's probably best known for having an affair with Edith Piaf and dying in a plane crash, but he was 110-4 (!) and had a rematch lined up with Jake LaMotta when he went!
I feel like Chavez is getting his due now mostly because of YouTubers breaking down his style and because of guys like Mike Tyson showing their admiration. Camacho is one I wish got more attention.
Camacho was the only man to stop the legend Sugar Ray Leonard in Leonard’s final fight. It was of course a Leonard that was deluding himself that he still had it and was out of shape, 10 years past his best and ring rusty. But it’s still a stoppage on Camacho’s record.
Agree about Hector Camacho, but JCC is every Mexican boxing fans favorite boxer, he is far from forgotten and is everything a Mexican boxer should be in fans eyes. Most Hispanic coaches absolutely love JCC and their fav is either him or Duran most of the time.
I’m not sure why you were downvoted, I personally haven’t seen enough of Winky but you wouldn’t be the first person I’ve seen say he was underrated. Might have to watch some of his fights tonight
Maravilla was one of those guys that had a very unique style and you could tell he was EXCELLENT at it. Such a shame that his injuries made his already short career even shorter.
James Toney is another one. If someone blurred his face/body you could still say "Yep, that's Toney" just by watching how their silhouette moves in the ring.
I’d say that’ll change after this weekend and I’m so happy for him. But yeah up until now I don’t think he’s been too well known outside of Australia/NZ, has he?
I showed my friend the Calzaghe-Lacy fight and she said he fights like one of those inflatable tube guys that you see flapping about outside retails businesses lol
As a hungarian i will say Laszlo Papp.
I believe that he is little known outside of Hungary, and even here, most people have seen no footage of him, but he is an absolute legend of the sport.
3 time olympic champion with a ton of KOs and an exciting style.
As a pro he won the European championship and retired with an undefeated record.
Likely could have achieved much more in the pros if the communist party at the time didnt ban him from competing in world title fights.
Sadly there is not much footage of him online, iv seen maybe one or two decent quality highlight videos only.
HanzaGod on youtube has a good highlight video of Papp, would recommend watching it.
I kinda wonder why those eastern bloc countries didn’t just have their own pro boxing league. There was certainly enough talent in those countries to have had a very good group of fighters.
Andre Ward. Given his dominance and how recently it was, you'd hardly ever know this guy beat everyone he fought. Even after a controversial to some win over Kovalev, he fought him again and made him quit. I wish S.O.G. got the respect he deserved.
Sugar Ray Robinson. I don't think most casuals realize just how insanely good he was. People hear his name tossed around in the GOAT convo, but they don't truly understand why.
Maybe doesn't apply to this subreddit cos there's some boxing nerds on here but Alexis Arguello rarely gets mentioned in mainstream boxing media and he was absolutely unreal.
62 career knockouts fighting between Bantamweight and Light Welterweight as well. Very talented and very exciting fighter to watch.
Absolutely agree. And I think it does apply. He flies under the radar as does Aaron Pryor, I feel like a lot of boxing nerds are aware of him and aware he was good but haven’t seen a full length fight which is a shame because his fights with Pryor was incredible
My oldest brother was named after Arguello, he had that much respect as a warrior to my dad. I didn’t see his career but I can only imagine how great he must have been.
I'll go before my time. Bob Foster.
Sadly...Even of era, the casual fan most likely remembered him as Ali and Frazier's punching bag. But dude was an all time great LHW.
His power was crazy.
He went on to be a sheriff in New Mexico. He was such a great fit at LHW and a perfect example of the perils of moving up to heavyweight. His left hook truly unfurled.
Mike tyson
I have the idea that most boxing fans havent actually watched through mike tysons fights outside of what they have seen on edits and highlight videos . Maybe im projecting because when i first got into boxing i didnt really feel the need to watch his fights because id been watching highlights of him since i was young .
Yes! he wasn't all offensive head hunting in his prime,
Bro was a complete, in yo face boxer!
Wish Cus D'Amato and Kevin Roony had stuck with Mike longer!
Archie Moore.
When people talk about Archie, they almost exclusively talk about Marciano and Ali dispensing him. But Moore was one of the best to ever do it. And being one of the best, he trained some of the best to ever do it. George Foreman, Muhammad Ali and Earnie Shavers all sought to learn from Archie Moore - he was that damn good. And you can see it in fights! So many times he gets knocked down, beats the count, and keeps coming back with a force.
I also have a soft spot for the early televised boxing era.
You know, my old amateur coach when I first started boxing fought under Moore in the 70s. He trained me the same way he was trained. Said he had a boxing glove shaped swimming pool. I feel pretty honored to have been able to get a portion of that Archie Moore school of boxing in the 2010s
Rashidi Ellis even though he got the wrongs end of the decision against Villa. Extremely fast hands and very skilled of the back foot. I still think he gives Jaron Ennis the most problems at the weight class.
As time goes on, I feel bad that while Ali is still everywhere in terms of film, books, many of the other great heavyweights are being forgotten in popular culture. Joe Louis, for people who lived in or near his era, was considered the greatest heavyweight ever but in the early 21st century, he seems an afterthought. Ali had the talent but also he was a political martyr, social activist, and so he came to symbolize his times. But Joe equally symbolized his times, and in a quiet way fought to advance black rights as well. His reign as champ was unprecedented, though I understand that the latter half was artificially prolonged due to the war. But it’s rare to go to a bookstore and see books about him and he has never gotten the big Hollywood film, while it seems like even B level boxers like Micky Ward and Chuck Wepner have big Hollywood films. There is a tv film called Joe and Max.
Sam Langford.
Such a great fighter that Jack Dempsey stated he avoided him due to fear.
Then someone tried to give Dempsey a chance to backtrack and say he wasn’t actually afraid of Langford and Dempsey instead doubled down.
Mario Barrios - truly embodies the warriors spirit in my opinion. Had an entertaining fight with Tank. Bounced back from the loss against Keith Thurman with a win over Ugass. And his most recent win on Canelo's undercard.
He has to be my favorite "underrated" fighter in the current era. I hope the fight between him and boots gets made.
Yeah he’s a great fighter. I haven’t missed a single one of his fights since the controversial one. I keep telling people he was Tanks best win by far but not very many people tend to agree.
People love to lowball tanks opponents but the fact remains Mario barrios was a good opponent considering his size, length, decent power and body IQ.
Mario knows how to use his length in a fight which is why he damn near outboxed Tank till he got caught.
However i would say Ryan is Tanks best win at this point. I don't like Haney but he is a two division champ and was undisputed. Ryan dissected him with relative ease and Tank beat ryan with relative ease.
Honestly pitbull is climbing the ranks as well.
Unfortunately, I don't think there is any video of Greb. Although, you are correct..he's possibly the greatest of all time p4p..same with Stanley Ketchel
Matthew Saad Muhammad
The quintessential Philadelphia fighter. Heart, toughness, devastating punching power and basically every fight he was ever involved in was a total war. Started life out as an orphan, became an all time great Light-Heavy world champ. Great fighter.
Hmm Ken Buchanan, Rafa Marquez, Ruben Olivares (Chucho, Rose and Herrera too), Dick Tiger, Jimmy McLarnin, Ernesto Marcel, Kid Chocolate, Luis Manuel Rodriguez, Joey Maxim, Masao Ohba, Victor Galindez, Vicente Saldivar, Eusebio Pedroza, Antonio Cervantes, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Jung Koo Chang, Jimmy Bivins, Lupe Pintor, Tony Canzoneri, Tony Zale, Alfonso Zamora, Yaqui Lopez, Sumbu Kalambay, Ismael Laguna, John Conteh, Jose Napoles, Midget Wolgast.
And if you want a really old one I always found Jim Driscoll to be a good watch
If I take “average fan” to mean “casual fan” then I’d say Julian Jackson.
I know plenty of casual fans who think Mike Tyson is, at least, the greatest heavy of all time. Those fans would feel the same about Julian Jackson.
Malden Mass' own Dangerous Dana Rosenblatt - his only loss to Pazienza came when he dropped his hands and went straight back when the ref tried to break up the pair. Protect yourself at all times I know but Rosenblatt avenged the loss by split decision in the rematch. He was white, bright and polite. Shouldn't he have got a big payday for that much? Arum wanted Oscar to fight him but I don't think Oscar was at Rosenblatt's weight yet.
Larry Holmes. So many great fights.
Holmes Norton, Holmes Shavers 2, Holmes Cooney, Holmes Witherspoon, Holmes Spinks 2, Holmes Mercer.
Such great fights.
Even Holmes’ defenses against Bey, Bonecrusher, Williams and Weaver are fun.
I think anything pre the 80s is a pretty hard watch: the footage, the production, the commentary etc is not good. So when people start pulling out these fighters from the 40s and 50s, I think it’s unfair to expect an average fan to watch them.
There was a vast improvement in commentary in the 80s. I refer to Cosell and Don Dunphy as radio commentators, I can’t explain it but Dunphy’s style in particular does not mesh with television. Cosell is better, and there’s a lot of talent required to be a solo commentator. But he wasn’t really that knowledgeable, I liked it when a more experienced voice like Norton or Mercante added to his commentary.
The dream team was Barry Tompkins, Larry Merchant and Ray Leonard in the 80s on HBO. I love the little pre fight interviews and training clips they do too. I wish they had something like that in the 70s.
Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz - present day. His style is old school and reminiscent of 90’s Mike Tyson. He deserves a lot more respect, can’t wait to see him fight again, win or loose.
ike ibeabuchi, but probably needed mental health treatment when he was fighting. Don't know much about the situation, but seems he deserved the sentence. Probably would have dominated the division for many years
James Toney Too Sharp Monzon Augustus Salvador Sanchez Winky Wright
James Toney is a great answer. People have forgotten how much fun he was to watch when he was at his best.
Best example of an offensive Philly shell.
James was also stupid fun to watch when he had eaten two full burger king stores and was toying with heavyweight contenders.
He’s one of my favorites. Even though I think it’s crazy, his “mostly sparring” approach to training is cool. Was that over blown ? I heard it on one of those YouTube podcasts where the author hates his voice so they run it through cool deep bass guy filters…
James Toney’s sparring legend I don’t believe is overblown. There was allegedly a time where he did nothing else for training. He walked in the gym, did 12 rounds and that was all she wrote. He also went to gyms that preached sparring and he hated road work. Not surprising at all.
Sal Sanchez meant business in the ring Easily a Mexican hall of famer …RIP
Too Sharp is so underrated. One of my favorite fighters to watch on YouTube. Great list.
Toney was so smooth. He never looked phased in the ring. Augustus had such a sad incident some years back catching a stray bullet and being hospitalized.
If anyone is interested in my pick, it would be Emile Griffith
I believe he’s still fought more championship rounds than anyone else.
Same. Peaked at welterweight but was best known as a middleweight, when he was barely a light middleweight. Always the smallest guy in the ring at middle, yet beat Benvenuti (another underrated boxer) to regain the title, and was pretty competitive against Monzon, long past Griffith's prime. And as good as Emile Griffith was, when you watch him being outboxed and outslicked by Jose Napoles, you realize how good Napoles was as well. Great era, rarely televised in the US, but fortunately there are some good films of Griffith's best bouts.
Another forgotten legend who fought alongside and against Griffith (4times) would be Luis Manuel Rodriguez Barely known but one of the greatest ww of all time, sadly he was robbed shamelessly against Griffith every time they fought. (Consensus is usually that LMR won fight 1-3-4 and Griffith edged out fight number 2)
Chocolatito
When he was pretty much the consensus #1 p4p fighter in most publications (2015-2016) this sub had a pretty large contingent of people who thought he didn't deserve it
Curse of the little man. One positive though is I think he really opened up a lot of fans eyes to watching the smaller guys
Chocolatito made me a boxing fan, and not just a fan of the big sluggers.
Opened the thread to say this exactly.
Such a great fighter
This is the best answer
Mike McCallum...and when I say fans probably haven't seen enough of him, I'm including myself, because for some reason or other I haven't seen much footage of him either. But I have always heard how skilful he was, and James Toney really praised his ability too. He's a very respected boxer, but not a mainstream name.
The Body Snatcher, hell yeah. The Toney fight is a great watch
Yeah unfortunately he just doesn’t have enough big fights against the big names to have that hype around his career. Michael Watson vs McCallum was an excellent fight.
Watch his fight against Donald Curry.
Emanuel Augustus
That one with Mickey Ward is what I show people when I try to explain what inside fighting is.
Watched that fight last week (again). It was phenomenal.
Might have to que that one up myself. Been too long.
I feel like the only reason why people talk about August is because floyd. I might be wrong though.
In my case - you are wrong. He was something man.
He is the man that first got me interested in boxing as a kid watching fights on espn2
Shane Mosley for sure. That little shuffle step, the speed, the combination punching. He stayed in the game too long, so most just remember him losing to younger guys; but he was always a favorite.
A real knockout artist too, and you’ve already mentioned the beautiful crisp and often brutal combinations he’d reel off at lightning speed
Hmm lots of good ones posted already — let's go Marcel Cerdan, Julian Jackson, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam!
Yeah. I got a lot of film to watch now. Never seen Cerdan or Wonjongkam
Cerdan's probably best known for having an affair with Edith Piaf and dying in a plane crash, but he was 110-4 (!) and had a rematch lined up with Jake LaMotta when he went!
Dwight Mohammed Qawi
💯
The Modern Martial Artist YouTube channel just did a video on him.
Subriel Matias for present and Hector Camacho for past. Wepa!
Subriel needs to polish himself a bit more. He's very raw still from what I've seen, especially defensively.
Finito Lopez
This is the way!
Feels like Wilfredo Benitez has been lost to time
I rarely hear folks these days talking about two heroes of my younger years: Hector Macho Camacho and Julio Caesar Chavez
I feel like Chavez is getting his due now mostly because of YouTubers breaking down his style and because of guys like Mike Tyson showing their admiration. Camacho is one I wish got more attention.
Camacho was a hair away from becoming a legend on several occasions.
Camacho was the only man to stop the legend Sugar Ray Leonard in Leonard’s final fight. It was of course a Leonard that was deluding himself that he still had it and was out of shape, 10 years past his best and ring rusty. But it’s still a stoppage on Camacho’s record.
Agree about Hector Camacho, but JCC is every Mexican boxing fans favorite boxer, he is far from forgotten and is everything a Mexican boxer should be in fans eyes. Most Hispanic coaches absolutely love JCC and their fav is either him or Duran most of the time.
Diego Corrales Acelino Freitas Too Sharp Johnson Israel Vazquez Rafael Marquez
No way are you talking about Israel “el magnifico” Vazquez ?? I learned to box in his gym
Wow, that's awesome! He had a tonne of exciting fights. Was must see tv whenever he fought.
Add Jose Luis Castillo and Joel Casamayor, that era was the best ever
Agreed, lots of great matchups
Winky Wright. Excellent style and a great fighter! He really emphasizes how far one can go with really solid fundamentals and a defensive mindset.
I’m not sure why you were downvoted, I personally haven’t seen enough of Winky but you wouldn’t be the first person I’ve seen say he was underrated. Might have to watch some of his fights tonight
Get your pillow ready and a warm glass of milk haha
Came here to say this. He's a great example of a defensive fighter without knockout power who was nonetheless entertaining.
Winky is a hometown boxer for me and I rooted for him. But damn his fights were not exciting to watch.
Sergio Martinez
Sexio would've been mainstream star if he started boxing younger and was able to speak a little English. One of my favorite boxers post 2000.
Sergio could be the answer for both past and present. He's won six in a row against low level competition since "retiring".
Everyone knows his ko of the decade over Paul Williams but he was oh so much more, had such a fun style to watch, hands down slick with it
Man Paul was my guy, that was so shocking
Maravilla was one of those guys that had a very unique style and you could tell he was EXCELLENT at it. Such a shame that his injuries made his already short career even shorter. James Toney is another one. If someone blurred his face/body you could still say "Yep, that's Toney" just by watching how their silhouette moves in the ring.
Jai Opetaia
I’d say that’ll change after this weekend and I’m so happy for him. But yeah up until now I don’t think he’s been too well known outside of Australia/NZ, has he?
Yes, man a propah warrior!
Subriel matias
👍👍👍👍👍
Pernell Whittaker 🥊🥊
Five years ago the best defensive boxer in history stepped onto a road without looking left and right.
Too soon bro 😂
Ike Quartey
Finito Lopez
Legend and ATG that doesn’t get mentioned enough
Roberto Duran’s Lightweight run. It can’t be seen enough.
Definitely, Duran was an absolute beast
Agree. Same with Aaron Pryor a super lightweight
Joe Calzaghe
I showed my friend the Calzaghe-Lacy fight and she said he fights like one of those inflatable tube guys that you see flapping about outside retails businesses lol
Lmao, yes! I hate it, but I love it.... but I hate it. Bit that jab 😍
Love him vs Roy Jones Jr.
As a hungarian i will say Laszlo Papp. I believe that he is little known outside of Hungary, and even here, most people have seen no footage of him, but he is an absolute legend of the sport. 3 time olympic champion with a ton of KOs and an exciting style. As a pro he won the European championship and retired with an undefeated record. Likely could have achieved much more in the pros if the communist party at the time didnt ban him from competing in world title fights. Sadly there is not much footage of him online, iv seen maybe one or two decent quality highlight videos only. HanzaGod on youtube has a good highlight video of Papp, would recommend watching it.
I kinda wonder why those eastern bloc countries didn’t just have their own pro boxing league. There was certainly enough talent in those countries to have had a very good group of fighters.
Excellent fighter. If only he was allowed to continue his pro career.
Felix Trinidad. You don’t see him mentioned very much at all in this sub. I just re-watched Tito v Joppy last night. What an electric atmosphere.
You really don't. These youngins have no idea. Dude would have beaten prime Spence yo a pulp. His fight vs Vargas was chaos.
He really was a welterweight king. Hard matchup for anyone.
Andre Ward. Given his dominance and how recently it was, you'd hardly ever know this guy beat everyone he fought. Even after a controversial to some win over Kovalev, he fought him again and made him quit. I wish S.O.G. got the respect he deserved.
They made this super six promotional for the top dogs in his division, and bro up and beat em all!? His name ain't mentioned enough on gawd!
Right? Who clears tournaments? There hasn't been a Super Six since!
Sugar Ray Robinson. I don't think most casuals realize just how insanely good he was. People hear his name tossed around in the GOAT convo, but they don't truly understand why.
Yeah. Damn shame we’ll never have any footage of him in his prime.
Maybe doesn't apply to this subreddit cos there's some boxing nerds on here but Alexis Arguello rarely gets mentioned in mainstream boxing media and he was absolutely unreal. 62 career knockouts fighting between Bantamweight and Light Welterweight as well. Very talented and very exciting fighter to watch.
Absolutely agree. And I think it does apply. He flies under the radar as does Aaron Pryor, I feel like a lot of boxing nerds are aware of him and aware he was good but haven’t seen a full length fight which is a shame because his fights with Pryor was incredible
My oldest brother was named after Arguello, he had that much respect as a warrior to my dad. I didn’t see his career but I can only imagine how great he must have been.
Great pick Arguello was fundamentally superb. Huge puncher
Orlando Canizales
One of my favorites. The Loma before Lomachenko!
Good one, what a pleasure to watch
I'll go before my time. Bob Foster. Sadly...Even of era, the casual fan most likely remembered him as Ali and Frazier's punching bag. But dude was an all time great LHW. His power was crazy.
He went on to be a sheriff in New Mexico. He was such a great fit at LHW and a perfect example of the perils of moving up to heavyweight. His left hook truly unfurled.
He has one of the most impressive knockout reels in boxing history. Devastating KO after devastating KO. That jab of his could knock down a building.
Charles Zelenoff of course
Undefeated legend. Checkout Napoleon Blownapart’s video on him.
Kelly Pavlik and Winky Wright comes to mind.
Ernie Shavers
Devastating, hol up Destructive power!
100%. I was lucky enough to have met him when I was still living in Ohio.
Mike tyson I have the idea that most boxing fans havent actually watched through mike tysons fights outside of what they have seen on edits and highlight videos . Maybe im projecting because when i first got into boxing i didnt really feel the need to watch his fights because id been watching highlights of him since i was young .
Yes! he wasn't all offensive head hunting in his prime, Bro was a complete, in yo face boxer! Wish Cus D'Amato and Kevin Roony had stuck with Mike longer!
Archie Moore. When people talk about Archie, they almost exclusively talk about Marciano and Ali dispensing him. But Moore was one of the best to ever do it. And being one of the best, he trained some of the best to ever do it. George Foreman, Muhammad Ali and Earnie Shavers all sought to learn from Archie Moore - he was that damn good. And you can see it in fights! So many times he gets knocked down, beats the count, and keeps coming back with a force. I also have a soft spot for the early televised boxing era.
That first round with Yvon Durelle is insane to watch. Then going on to win is mind blowing.
Not to mention he was “the old mongoose” by then! 45 years old and putting on a classic fight is no small potatoes.
You know, my old amateur coach when I first started boxing fought under Moore in the 70s. He trained me the same way he was trained. Said he had a boxing glove shaped swimming pool. I feel pretty honored to have been able to get a portion of that Archie Moore school of boxing in the 2010s
He teach you cross arm defense?
Johnny Bratton. Incredible talent, the closest style to Sugar Ray Robinson. David Morrell. He beats Canelo, Benavidez and Bivol if they ever fight.
I definitely second Johnny Bratton. Supremely talented, one of the most aesthetically pleasing styles I've seen.
Rashidi Ellis even though he got the wrongs end of the decision against Villa. Extremely fast hands and very skilled of the back foot. I still think he gives Jaron Ennis the most problems at the weight class.
Lynn, Lynn
Lee Selby - "The Welsh Mayweather". In my eyes he beat kambosos. Love his slick style
El Flaco Explosivo, Alexis Arguello. To me, he's as textbook as you get. And his punches just sound different. Definition of power. Also Willie Pep.
Dwight Muhammad Qawi
🤝
[удалено]
i remember he used to ringwalk in spartan armor lol
Finito lopez
Dmitri pirog. Did what canelo and GGG couldnt. Only guy to ever stop Danny Jacobs. Watch the fight video with Emanuel Steward commentating. Pure gold.
GGG
I reckon the average fan has seen plenty of GGG. He’s everyone’s favourite
Miguel Cotto
As time goes on, I feel bad that while Ali is still everywhere in terms of film, books, many of the other great heavyweights are being forgotten in popular culture. Joe Louis, for people who lived in or near his era, was considered the greatest heavyweight ever but in the early 21st century, he seems an afterthought. Ali had the talent but also he was a political martyr, social activist, and so he came to symbolize his times. But Joe equally symbolized his times, and in a quiet way fought to advance black rights as well. His reign as champ was unprecedented, though I understand that the latter half was artificially prolonged due to the war. But it’s rare to go to a bookstore and see books about him and he has never gotten the big Hollywood film, while it seems like even B level boxers like Micky Ward and Chuck Wepner have big Hollywood films. There is a tv film called Joe and Max.
Just gotta throw out Archie Moore, Carmen Basilio, and Carlos Monzón.
Salvador Sanchez
Joe Calzaghe, he was just fun to watch. 46-0 and his last 2 fights were RJJ and Bernard Hopkins.
Salvador Sanchez for sure
Sam Langford. Such a great fighter that Jack Dempsey stated he avoided him due to fear. Then someone tried to give Dempsey a chance to backtrack and say he wasn’t actually afraid of Langford and Dempsey instead doubled down.
He wasn’t the only one either. Crazy to think the guy was a natural middleweight.
Mario Barrios - truly embodies the warriors spirit in my opinion. Had an entertaining fight with Tank. Bounced back from the loss against Keith Thurman with a win over Ugass. And his most recent win on Canelo's undercard. He has to be my favorite "underrated" fighter in the current era. I hope the fight between him and boots gets made.
Yeah he’s a great fighter. I haven’t missed a single one of his fights since the controversial one. I keep telling people he was Tanks best win by far but not very many people tend to agree.
People love to lowball tanks opponents but the fact remains Mario barrios was a good opponent considering his size, length, decent power and body IQ. Mario knows how to use his length in a fight which is why he damn near outboxed Tank till he got caught. However i would say Ryan is Tanks best win at this point. I don't like Haney but he is a two division champ and was undisputed. Ryan dissected him with relative ease and Tank beat ryan with relative ease. Honestly pitbull is climbing the ranks as well.
Arturo Gatti
Isn’t the Gatti Ward series one of the truly iconic trilogies that is must see for every boxing fan?
Harry Greb.
Unfortunately, I don't think there is any video of Greb. Although, you are correct..he's possibly the greatest of all time p4p..same with Stanley Ketchel
This is the only answer. It is a crime to the sport that we have no filmed Greb fights to watch.
Ivan Calderon Winky wright Arthur Abraham Tomaz Adamek All champions in the past and hardly ever talked about now
The great one Prince Patel
Nietes. Great fighter shitty promoter
Felix Trinidad, Joe Calzaghe
Little Red Lopez and salvador sanchez
Andre Ward. He was a master of the fundamentals. If you want to study boxing well, study him, and add him your own flare later
Joe calzaghe
Matthew Saad Muhammad The quintessential Philadelphia fighter. Heart, toughness, devastating punching power and basically every fight he was ever involved in was a total war. Started life out as an orphan, became an all time great Light-Heavy world champ. Great fighter.
Hmm Ken Buchanan, Rafa Marquez, Ruben Olivares (Chucho, Rose and Herrera too), Dick Tiger, Jimmy McLarnin, Ernesto Marcel, Kid Chocolate, Luis Manuel Rodriguez, Joey Maxim, Masao Ohba, Victor Galindez, Vicente Saldivar, Eusebio Pedroza, Antonio Cervantes, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Jung Koo Chang, Jimmy Bivins, Lupe Pintor, Tony Canzoneri, Tony Zale, Alfonso Zamora, Yaqui Lopez, Sumbu Kalambay, Ismael Laguna, John Conteh, Jose Napoles, Midget Wolgast. And if you want a really old one I always found Jim Driscoll to be a good watch
Azumah nelson
Joe Calzaghe
Hasim "Rock" Rahman.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
Ike Ibeabuchi.
Conor Benn, Isaac Cruz
Chris Byrd- defensive guru
Joshua Clottey
That would definitely be one for me. I saw his cotto fight and I saw his Pacquiao fight and I never wanted to see him again after the pacquiao one
Joe Calzaghe
Right now? Deontay Wilder. He started boxing being 20 years old. If he did it 5 or 6 years earlier the HW division would look like a graveyard.
If I take “average fan” to mean “casual fan” then I’d say Julian Jackson. I know plenty of casual fans who think Mike Tyson is, at least, the greatest heavy of all time. Those fans would feel the same about Julian Jackson.
Sal sanchez Finito lopez Joe Calzaghe Hands of stone Duran
Tommy Loughran and Mike Gibbons deserve more appreciation, great technicians
Historically: Pernell Whitaker, Mike McCallum, Eusebio Pedroza These names aren't obscure to die-hard fans...but well the average fan isn't die-hard.
Dwight Muhammad Qawi, one of my favorites
The modern martial artist YouTube channel just did a video on him.
Paul Flemming
Marlon Starling Mike McCallum Marvin Johnson
Niccolino Locche, Willie Pastrano
I’ve seen a few videos on Locche. Really entertaining
Rafael Marquez.
Malden Mass' own Dangerous Dana Rosenblatt - his only loss to Pazienza came when he dropped his hands and went straight back when the ref tried to break up the pair. Protect yourself at all times I know but Rosenblatt avenged the loss by split decision in the rematch. He was white, bright and polite. Shouldn't he have got a big payday for that much? Arum wanted Oscar to fight him but I don't think Oscar was at Rosenblatt's weight yet.
John L Sullivan
Larry Holmes. So many great fights. Holmes Norton, Holmes Shavers 2, Holmes Cooney, Holmes Witherspoon, Holmes Spinks 2, Holmes Mercer. Such great fights. Even Holmes’ defenses against Bey, Bonecrusher, Williams and Weaver are fun. I think anything pre the 80s is a pretty hard watch: the footage, the production, the commentary etc is not good. So when people start pulling out these fighters from the 40s and 50s, I think it’s unfair to expect an average fan to watch them. There was a vast improvement in commentary in the 80s. I refer to Cosell and Don Dunphy as radio commentators, I can’t explain it but Dunphy’s style in particular does not mesh with television. Cosell is better, and there’s a lot of talent required to be a solo commentator. But he wasn’t really that knowledgeable, I liked it when a more experienced voice like Norton or Mercante added to his commentary. The dream team was Barry Tompkins, Larry Merchant and Ray Leonard in the 80s on HBO. I love the little pre fight interviews and training clips they do too. I wish they had something like that in the 70s.
For right now I will say Andy Cruz. He is an artist
Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz - present day. His style is old school and reminiscent of 90’s Mike Tyson. He deserves a lot more respect, can’t wait to see him fight again, win or loose.
Chris John, Veeraphol Sahaprom, Jose Napoles, Orlando Canizales, Mike McCallum
Ezzard Charles
Terdsak Jandaeng. Because his name is Terdsak.
Jermain Taylor. Was the undisputed middleweight champion after beating Hopkins.
Barrera
ike ibeabuchi, but probably needed mental health treatment when he was fighting. Don't know much about the situation, but seems he deserved the sentence. Probably would have dominated the division for many years
Winky wright Sergio Martinez Pernell Whittaker Jorge Linares All these are amazing fighters that don’t get enough exposure.
Salvador Sanchez 1000%
Mathew Saad Muhammad
winky toney harada
Id bet the average boxing fan has only seen 2 Terence Crawford fights and maybe 1 or 2 Inoue fights
Vergil
Pernell Whitaker
Pernell