Fighters who proved to be way better than you initially thought

Popular uk fighters in the U.S

1)Naz
2)Lennox
3)Calzague
4)Fury
5)Khan
6)Haye


Those guys come to mind.

 

Hopkins.
Holyfield.
And I like the Pacquiao pick.

 

showtime also showed his fight with wharton....he headlined

 

Canelo. I was pretty unimpressed with him in the early 10s and didn’t think he was very good.

I thought Pacquiao was one dimensional and expected him to have a short stay at the top due to his style.

I wasn’t too impressed in the early 90s with Lennox. I remember USA Network on Tuesday Night Fights did a poll before Bowe-Holyfield 1 & Lewis-Ruddock on who would end up on top. Lewis got by far the fewest votes and I agreed. He surprised me a lot with the Ruddock win, then disappointed during his first run as WBC titlist. Then he totally turned things around with Manny Steward in his corner.

 

Pac by far. Took me the cotto fight to realise how good he was

 

I think the thing that was surprising about Pac is not just that he became that great a fighter, which is one way he kept exceeding expectations, but that he became such a household name globally.

When I first became aware of him, he was fighter of the month in The Ring and was picking up a super bantam strap. He was already world class but the idea that he’d become world famous would have seemed patently absurd, even at that point.

 

Did anyone? That should have been career ending.

 

I have an old Ring magazine (or maybe KO) that describes his ko loss to 3k battery. Basically they called it highly disappointing as Pacquiao barely put any resistance as he was clearly affected by the weight loss.

At the time, I barely even registered it as it was a fight between 2 unknown Asians at a weight most fans (western fans at least) don't care about. Crazy to think the loser would become one of boxing biggest star....

Another interesting (at least imo ) trivia is that Pacquiao was brought in as an opponent to make Lehlo Ledwaba (who?? Lol) look good as HBO was hyping him as a future opponent for Barrera or Morales. I remember being quite shocked when I heard Ledwaba had easily lost (when in fact it was an ATG vs a paper chanp).

 

Pacquaio wasn't brought in to make ledwaba look good. He was a replacement opponent for Enrique sanchez, who ledwaba would've killed

 

True, he was a last minute replacement but it was still supposed to be a showcase for Ledwaba.