FIGHTERS WITH OVERRATED ATTRIBUTES

For instance fighters who were credited with having particular skills or attributes that they either down right didn't have or not nearly as much as often described.

Naseem Hamed - Had the reputation as being fast which I found to be quite dubious. I never noticed anything fast about Hamed and thought he had average handspeed.

Mayorga - For a long time he had the reputation of being a devastating 1 punch KO artist. This took years to finally die down although I knew it at the time because it was mostly based on him KOing a chinny 6 head's Lewis and catching Forrest with a shot on the temple.

 

Two good examples right there.

 

Paulie Malignaggi's speed AND defense.

 

Hamed had speed. Check out his KO of Augie Sanchez. He was always capable of beating his opponent to the punch. He did it with Barrera. Kelley.

I never thought he was that good. But he did have speed.

Also, while I agree that Mayorga's power was over-rated, it should be noted that it seemed to go down noticably after he moved above 147, and especially at 160 where he was too small I thought.

 

Obviously he's going to run across guys he punches faster than, but when people try to call him fast and mean in it in the same sense as a Roy Jones, Mosley, or Zab Judah then the description becomes completely false.

 

So you mean, he wasn't African American? Uh, no, he wasn't. I think he was Middle Eastern. And fast.

 

You're bordeline pissing me off by implying I was bringing race into the equation when I never did.

If you think Hamed is fast then prove it. Post a video that shows it. www.youtube.com

 

I hated Hamed, but in his prime his handspeed was FAR from "average".

 

I haven't seen an example I like so far.

Lots of people claimed that Holyfield had a big punch as a heavyweight. That's an overrated attribute.

 

I'm just kidding around. :: And no, I didn't mean to imply you were bringing race into it. I guess I'm just surprised that you wouldn't consider Hamed fast, when the entire success of his style depended on his being fast. It's how he won fights. That and his power.

I agree with you though that Hamed never threw combinations the way Mosley, PBF or Judah do or did in the case of PBF. Maybe that's why you don't consider him fast?

 

First one that came to mind.

 

Really? Are you talking post-Douglas/pre-Foreman fight?

 

Whatever Malcolm X.



















::

 

Here's one:

Edison Miranda's punching power

 

Yeah, I don't think Mayorga's power was as over-rated as his ability to deliver it was poor.

 

:notallthere:

 

:notallthere:

Barrera fought behind him. Yes he did. Effectively, but nonetheless.

 

I'm talking up to and through the lewis fights.

 

I think Pavlik's power is over-rated. I think he can punch hard, but I don't think he deserves his repuation as some kind of banger.

 

Pavlik has fucked up more opponents than maybe anyone else currently fighting. I don't mean ko'd, I mean fucked up. You can't do that without having top notch power.

 

no.

Hamed HAD Speed. Anyone that followed Naz's early 122lb career knows this. Dude was FAST..you couldn't land a glove on him and you didn't see the punches coming. Fact!

 

Chris Byrd's defense and boxing ability.

Always was motherfuckingly overrated. Fres Oquendo outboxed him cleanly and was robbed. Wlad and Vitali couldn't miss Byrd's noggin in their fights.

 

who has he fucked up? he gets guys out of there through accumulation - my point is, he's no Nigel Benn or Gerald McClellan.

 

yeah. his freaky antics in the ring clearly fooled people into thinking he was some sort of trickster. early on, he could make journeymen miss often. and he'd make that stupid face in the ring. Ibeabuchi shut that show down!

 

word. Nicely said..I agree with every word in this post!

 

A fuckin MEN!

 

No one really compares him to G-man or Benn in terms of power. Unless they're some nut from Youngstown.

But your right. Kelly is heavy handed, and his right hand is capable of real damage, but he needs to soften a guy up first.

Froch has overrated power also. The only guys with true one punch fight ending power in that division are AA, and Bute.

 

I think he's heavy handed, and with the way he punches, I assume they're heavy lift.

 

I'll nominate Chris Eubank's chin. Very good chin indeed, but some make it seem as if he was chin was undentable, and that wasnt the case.

He wasnt up to par with say Hagler, Chavez, Lamotta, Laporte, Toney. Now those are GRANITE chins.

 

To me this becomes a question of mechanics, and can be broken down to the nth degree and debated forever. So at the risk of starting such a debate...

I never thought Hamed was fast. Hamed compensated for this first with freakish power, and second by being able to throw punches from unexpected positions. He could punch/counter when you did not expect it, and despite the sometimes bizarre circus-style technique, the punches he threw still had devastating effect. But as 122/126 go, he had what I would call very average handspeed.

This is much like the Mayorga case that the OP cited. Mayorga did not have great punching power. He only managed to hurt opponents every now and then when he landed awkward, clubbing blows, often on the temple or back of the head. Any local toughman can hurt someone when they throw the "hammer punch" - the punch people throw when they don't know how to punch. It's like they are swinging downward with their fist, arm in a crooked position like they are hammering a nail. But in professional boxing, that punch is never landed, and thus we look at "toughmen" and laugh at them. Well, to his credit, Mayorga managed to land those types of punches here and there, usually on the back of someone's head.

That does not equate to power punching in my opinion. It's like saying I have this great "hurricane punch" where I run at someone and swing my fist from behind me, down over my head, and I land on the top of someone's head, pounding their spine like a nail. Since this hurts people badly when (if) I land it, am I now a "power puncher"? I could maybe land this punch in .01% of professional prizefights. Compare that to a Foreman short right hand, or a Trinidad left hook.