Career's Ov'r, He's Un'd Rated...

This thread is dedicated to fighters whose careers are over, and on top of that, they're under-rated in retrospect. And in many cases, they're dead too, which is a bummer for them, assuming they cherished and enjoyed life.

Here's some nominees:

Corrales - I just think his ability and importance in the sport are not fully appreciated.

Others?

 

You can blame Floyd Mayweather for that.

 

I don't think Corrales is under-rated, if anything, I think he's a bit over-rated, if you're talking about his boxing ability...and maybe it's fitting in his last two fights, he couldn't make weight and lost, and then stuck to the "spit out the mouthpiece after a knockdown" script and took a thorough beating until the final bell.

Many of his fights were of the "can't miss" variety, though...there's no denying that.

 

Are you referring to PBF's victory over the guy who was on his way to jail, was likely fighting for money that had already been spent, was under-weight, and who had nothing better to do than to watch the clock? And who even if he beat PBF could not have reaped the benefits? It sounds like a Dylan song.

 

::

Wasn't that the fight he was seen sitting in his dressing room eating a sandwich?

 

Ohh please..I also dislike Mayweather very much, but he dominated Chico Corrales with ease, he made it look tooo easy. Corrales didn't lay a glove on Mayweather that night. Yes Corrales was not at his best weight he had outgrown the division but that was his decision to fight Mayweather at that time. No version of Corrales would beat Mayweather, Chico was too stiff and slow.

 

Not to be overly-technical, but it was the Jumbo-tron ::

Corrales was a world-class fighter in his time & a very good fighter, with some fine attributes, but he is a clear-cut case of a very good fighter who fell short of being a great one. Just too many holes --- the worst of them, in his own head.

Given his limitations, his profile, & his death, I don't think he's under-rated at all. He is at a greater risk of being over-rated, really.

 

Yeah! It was a club sandwich actually, complete with bacon.

I kept waiting for Corrales to just bully PBF against the ropes, smother his punches, and beat his body with short hooks. But it never happened.

 

Other possible examples?

Austin
Jirov
Canizales
Freitas
Witherspoon

 

Freitas & Canizales are good shouts --- though I'll admit to having been partial to Popo, I think it could be said he has become a little under-rated.

 

Exactly. During his career, much of it, he was over-rated (Freitas) and therefore your position was justified. Now that he's been, "exposed," and notice the quotation marks as indicators that the term, exposed, is not accurate, he's under-rated. Let's not forget his speed, his power, and his ability to land what were loaded up right-hands that were technically deficient.

 

Michael Spinks always gets known too much by more mainstream fans for the Tyson destruction rather than what a great fighter he was.

Castillo is often underappreciated for having a really nice run at LW where he fought so many top guys at 135 (and 130).

 

I forgot, Castillo is still fighting.

 

Barely. Nontheless, I say he qualifies. People act as if his weight issues negate his accomplishments - many of them the same people who seem to overlook PBF's deliberate failure to make weight against JMM, a fighter who's already giving away size. If you ask me, the safe bet is that PBF couldn't make 135 either, which is why Castillo's weight wasn't an issue until he faced a fighter with a promoter other than Arum (who at the time was promoting Johnston, PBF and Bazan).

 

You know what's funny, bullshit like this is always noted when it suits a posters obvious agenda, but these minor details are always lost when a poster is to busy sucking a fighter off.

Half the board sucks off Leonard for beating Duran, but do we ever hear about how Duran was partying instead of training properly for the fight, or how his claim of stomache pains was actually substantiated later by medical records of a doctor visit?

Hm I wonder why that is.

 

Well, REED Certainly CAN'T Say that he's "Surprised" that YOU of All People, FAIL to Give Floyd Proper Credit for the Corrales Fight...



REED:mj:

 

artie:::::::

REED knows me well. ha ha !!!

 

If your point is that not only was PBF's win over Corrales not tainted, but also SRL's win over Duran in their rematch, then I applaud you for your insight and welcome further analysis on your part concerning one or both of the bouts you've referenced.

 

It's common knowledge that fight fans are forbidden from talking about Leonard-Duran I.

And to talk about Duran's issue in the 2nd fight are also frowned upon.

Leonard lost the biggest welterweight fight of his career. Damn, I said it.

:Lok:

 

Probably for the SAME Reason that Most Boxing Fans NEVER Actually Take HEED to the FACT that Leonard ALLOWED Himself to B LURED into Duran's Preferred Style of Fighting, in Montreal.....

By the Time of the RE, In N.O., Leonard was Prepared to BOX ANY Version of Roberto Duran....




REED:shadow:

 

Please tell me the Asian fellow in your sig won the fight.

 

Good call with Spinks. It's a bit like Billy Conn's situation with Joe Louis. Anyone studying the Light-Heavy careers of either of these two men would be mightily impressed.

I don't know that I agree about Castillo. I would definitely say that was the case prior to his loss to Corrales --- he was, IMO, on the cusp of the top-10 pound-for-pound rankings & no one gave a damn about him --- labelling him unskilled & crude, which is not the truth. However, sine that fight, I think Castillo has received his due, & maybe even then some.

 

Oleg Maskaev.

 

:giggle:

You'll never give Floyd credit for anything.

 

I don't know that Maskaev is under-rated, that seems hard to believe.

Maybe if things had gone differently in some of his fights, like if he managed to see the final bell against Tua and got that fight to the scorecards, or if he'd managed to continue his early success against Kirk Johnson for the remaning three quarters of the fight, and certainly if he just finished the job against T-Rex, his resume would look better than it does today.

That's not to diminish the two Rahman wins, because those were good wins, and the fact that he won a world title at such a late stage in his career was an accomplishment.

 

Oleg Mackaev? Wasn't he knocked the fuck out by Kirk Johnson some years back?

He's not underrated at all.

 

I don't know that Freitas is under-rated, if anything, I think that perhaps some of the controversy surrounding that Casmayor unification bout, and the decision after, has been forgotten.

He had all kinds of trouble with Barrios before the punch at the bell to end the 11th round...what a classic fight that was, though.

Sort of like with Maskaev, if Freitas had managed to finish the job against Corrales, his resume would look quite a bit different, but he ran out of gas in that one and couldn't stop the tide.

 

Agreed. That was a great fight, one of my favourites.

 

Maskaev is the only HW Champ of the last 10 years who, in my honest opinion, began his professional career as fodder for name fighters. If he isn't underrated today, {and I feel he is} then he was certainly underrated when he was fighting. I don't think he started very many fights as a favourite.