Remember, not underrating fighters in general. They have to be greats. Which are underrated? I'd nominate Michael Spinks. For some reason when people mention greats like Charles, Moore, or even Hagler, Monzon, Chavez ect., for some reason Spinks name is often neglected in that conversation, even though he's perhaps the best lightheavyweight ever. Spinks is easily a top 12-15ish all time great, yet isn't appreciated as such. I guess the blow out to Tyson is really all people remember him for. Who's another underrated great?
It's magnified by the facts it was such a hyped fight and Spinks retired right after. Others: Eder Jofre Emile Griffith
I don't know enough about either man to comment, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone so much as type the names "Pascual Perez" or "Manuel Ortiz" on the board... Yet they were both by all accounts dominant, and objectively long reigning champions in their respective divisions In Perez's case, I'd say it's mostly because he was a Flyweight... Ortiz? I don't know the reason
Wasn't anything more for him to accomplish. He cleaned out 175 and ruled their for years, and upset Holmes for the lineal title. Something Moore, Charles, and Foster could never pull off.
Tommy Loughran could be one. Dominated in an era when boxing already resembled boxing yet is little known these days
What also hurts Spinks' image (and I was a fan of his) is that after he was lucky to get past Holmes in their rematch is that he sat on his title and avoided all real challenges while waiting to cash out on the Tyson fight...which almost everyone, including Spinks, knew he was gonna lose.
way ahead of his time... Ranks with Tunney, Leonard, Dempsey, Sharkey and one or two others as one of the really elite skilled fighters of the 1920s, when boxing started to become boxing
Esubio Pedroza. He is rarely mentioned anymore, but I was unhappy that Sanchez seemed to have no interest in a fight with him.
Marcel Cerdan is one. Fought over hundred times and lost only four. He could only compete for the title when he was 32 because of WWII but when he got the chance he defeated Tony Zale. He lost to LaMotta when he dislocated his left arm in the first round, yet he still fought pretty evenly with Jake for seven rounds before Lamotta took over and he had to quit. Before the rematch he got killed in flying accident
:: :: It crossed my mind to throw his name in there but we all know how the thread would have gone ::
Death and the fact that he had only a couple of years where he was fighting world-level comp contributed to Cerdan being kind of forgotten You could certainly make a case that Jake LaMotta is very underrated, at least here... The guy is basically treated like he was some masochistic punching bag who sucked... I think jaws or someone as gay as jaws tried to say Carlos Baldomir would have killed him... says it all, really
Harold Johnson is another one. A great fighter who had the misfortune of not being quite as good as Archie Moore.
I think LaMotta gets his due to be fair. A lot of that has to do with the fact he was the first guy to beat Robinson and his depiction in a great film, but he's never struck me as underrated.