Fighters that you (controversially) think are overrated

[El Kabong]

Riddick Bowe - thinnest resume of any true heavyweight champion...maybe in the history of boxing when you look at who he could have fought and who he chose to fight.

[marbleheadmaui]

Riddick Bowe - thinnest resume of any true heavyweight champion...maybe in the history of boxing when you look at who he could have fought and who he chose to fight.

Bowe is one of those "I saw him with my eyes" guys.

On one of his best three nights (about all he had) he gives any heavyweight in history a battle.

Any other night? eer, um, not so much

[El Kabong]

Riddick Bowe - thinnest resume of any true heavyweight champion...maybe in the history of boxing when you look at who he could have fought and who he chose to fight.

Bowe is one of those "I saw him with my eyes" guys.

On one of his best three nights (about all he had) he gives any heavyweight in history a battle.

Any other night? eer, um, not so much

Lennox Lewis manhandled him in the amateurs and Bowe never fought anyone that was all that great of a puncher. People think the Klitschko's have a size advantage now...just look at who Bowe fought! Holyfield and Golota guys much smaller than Riddick gave him absolute hell. Had Bowe fought Mercer, Morrison, Moorer, Tyson(yes even after prison), Briggs, Ruddock et al he more than likely would have lost and lost by KO! Bowe had size and he had skill but he was very flawed as well.

Arturo Gatti is overrated in his skill from his many battles but as a blood and guts warrior not many measure up to him.

[Spicoli]

The day Briggs beats a Holyfield part 1 type Bowe is the day I eat both my boots. Shoot this thread screams Briggs .....minus the controversially part

[BIG H]

Whatever people think about Bowe that first fight agaonst Holyfield was an awesome performance and would've (I suspect) been good enough to beat many of the fighters we all have as ATGs at HW.

[El Kabong]

The day Briggs beats a Holyfield part 1 type Bowe is the day I eat both my boots. Shoot this thread screams Briggs .....minus the controversially part

Shannon Briggs a more dangerous puncher than Holyfield? The simple FACT is Briggs would be the most dangerous puncher Bowe had ever fought.

[BIG H]

So...

How about Sugar Ray Leonard? I am not saying his is not great! But Colin Hart from the Sun for example has him as p4p number of all time and he generally tends to appear around the top 3-5 of those polls.

He did beat the other 3 of the fab four, but (and I know it's an mute point and only an 'IF') but if fights were 12 rounds in 1983, he would've lost quite handily to Hearns. He deffo lost the rematch imo. He was 1-1 with Duran (not a criticsim) and his win over Hagler was questionable.

Outside of the 'Fab Four' fights, he was too inactive for me and lept retiring like a bitch. Performances such as the one against Donny Lalonde were not good.

I know I am gonna get a hammering for claiming a man who beat Benitez, Hearns, Hagler & Duran as overrated but his career and his gordy little face bother me.

[Spicoli]

The day Briggs beats a Holyfield part 1 type Bowe is the day I eat both my boots. Shoot this thread screams Briggs .....minus the controversially part

Shannon Briggs a more dangerous puncher than Holyfield? The simple FACT is Briggs would be the most dangerous puncher Bowe had ever fought.

Oh man now that's just straight jacket and rubber room talk. Your putting way to much emphasis on 'a punchers chance' and not looking at a studied and fluid combination puncher who could actually level the power, roll it. Position, set it up and be consistent with it. Huge difference. Briggs is more the standing in the Pub loading up on the slug-o-matic punching bag to impress the gals . Power in itself is awesome but Briggs was a one trick pony with a bad haircut. THAT Bowe would have peeled him off his boot. Ah, just saw the question mark

[Mars_ax]

Riddick Bowe - thinnest resume of any true heavyweight champion...maybe in the history of boxing when you look at who he could have fought and who he chose to fight.

Andrew Golota took the wind out of Bowe's sails, he never seemed to be the same after that. I always thought Bowe had tons of potential, but never lived up to it, he also seemed to have a phobia about fighting Lennox Lewis, which was hard to figure.

[Mars_ax]

BTW, Holyfield was definitely not overrated at HW, he arguably fought the best competition of almost any HW, and held his own, and I can't think of a single HW in the history of boxing that had as much heart.

As for B-Hop, if anything he's underrated.

As for Tyson, a bit overrated perhaps, but it was more due to things that happened outside the ring, like being in prison for 3 years.

[p4pking]

This is a pretty tough ask really, hindsight being 20/20 and all. Fighters who have a standing legacy were almost always exceptional talents one way or another, not to mention incredibly driven to have actually persevered in the sport. It's so easy to nitpick at anyones resume, to say I think so and so wasn't as good as most other people seem to is kind of meaningless when I wasn't even breathing during their career, and have no idea what the perceived risk was for any number of their fights.
It's guys in the present who are overrated left right and center, but they are almost always exposed as such, killing any lasting reputation they could've had. Arthur Abraham was really overrated, now we know that, and noone will talk about him in ten years. Mijares and Hasagawa etc. were being regarded as great pound for pound talents, now the idea of them being mentioned in even good company is laughable. I guess a lot of it comes down to how much emphasis you put on achievement over ability, I can't think of one fighter who I really feel is overrated in both aspects Boxing is littered with supremely talented guys who couldn't apply themself the right way. Very few true overachievers come to mind. John Ruiz Sven Ottke Even those two clearly deserve respect for their dedication. I suppose if I had to name one great fighter I think is heralded a little to much, Id go with Julio Ceasar Chavez... But only because he was beatable and almost got to 100-0, not because he wasn't an incredible pressure fighter. The draw with Whittaker and screwing over Randall in the second fight sours his rep for me, but that's just my worthless opinion, he no doubt had a slew of very impressive wins.

[Violent Demise]

Naseem Hamed. He was a joy to watch and a great show man. But the man never beat an elite fighter who was in his prime. Yes his resume has many good fighters on it. But every single one was past there prime and had lot of mileage on them when they fought Hamed. Numbers don't lie. Going into the Hamed fights they had already had the following number of fights

Manuel Medina 59 fights
Tom Johnson 48 fights
Kevin Kelley 50 fights
Wilfredo Vazquez 59 fights
Cesar Soto 63 fights
Vuyani Bungu 39 fights
Marco Antonio Barrera 55 fights

Barrera beat him. And I think Kelley, Vazquez and Johnson would of too if they were in there prime