Which old school boxers are overrated?

JonJonesLost3times

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As a massive UFC fan and a boxing fan I always hear my boxing friends who compete say some of the following:
- Muhammad Ali would beat everyone
- Sonny Liston, Holyfield, Frazier, Foreman would clear the current heavyweight division (would beat AJ easily - i do agree with this as the heavyweight division isn't great other than Fury)
- Roberto Duran would beat Mayweather
- Sugar ray Leonard would beat Canelo and is just a better version of Mayweather with better defence
- George Foreman was the hardest hitting monster and would KO all heavyweights now

Who are some of the old school greats you think are overrated?


I'll give some of my thoughts in the comments and I'll gladly listen to anything anybody has to say.
 
All of them, you ever get into a brawl at a retirement home?
I almost cleared an entire floor before security stepped in.
 
Roberto Duran doesn't strike me as somebody who would just wipe the floor with Mayweather as everybody says. He looked awful when he was stopped by Leonard (apparently there was multiple reasons as to why this was).

Muhammad Ali was beaten fairly several times and I believe 6ft9 Fury would have beaten Ali and everybody Ali was beaten by.

George Foreman was big but if he's the hardest hitting monster, he literally lost to a punching bag against the ropes when he fought Ali. That is not a dig at Ali because we all know he can box, it's just odd to me how Foreman is rated as fearsome as well as a great boxer when if Ali was to stand still against the ropes against Anthony Joshua or Mike Tyson he would get knocked out.

Sugar Ray Leonard used his feet well and had fast hands but his defence isn't comparable to Mayweather IMO, Mayweather had a very tight philly shell defence whereas Leonard was more open and used head movement and traded punches and usually got the better with his speed and feet. In these exchanges his hands would often be down though, Mayweather keeps everything tight and flawless similar to Canelo. I will concede however that Mayweather isn't the GOAT and Canelo actually impresses me more. Mayweather had some very close fights, he was slick but Canelo is immaculate going forward and defensively and he could and would take on anyone in the sport up to 168 and beat them. Mayweather didn't always fight the best.

IMO RJJ is the GOAT.
Calzaghe is also extremely good, however I believe he is wild and would get countered trying to land that volume against somebody like Canelo.

I just find it hard to believe when the absolute pinnacle of boxing today in Canelo Alvarez will just be beaten one sidedly by some of these greats. Canelo's resume is very impressive and his only loss he didn't have a chance. I do think Canelos biggest floor is his feet but he's beaten guys like Amir Khan and Danny Jacobs. If anybody slows down, Canelo has the best defence in the pocket and amazing shot variety - he went up and beat Golovkin in the second by refusing to take steps back against the supposed most feared boxer at the time who was as we know a very decorated champion with an extensive amateur background from a weight above. It would not surprise me for Leonard to beat Canelo but if somebody was to one sidedly put a beating on Canelo you'd have to be almost unbeatable as he is immaculate.

Feel free to dispute any of my points.
 
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George Foreman was the hardest hitting monster and would KO all heavyweights now
70 ies? Shavers had higher 1 punch power than anyone in 70 ies.
Foreman was more effective than he. Therefore iconic fighters from 70 ies we more know are Frazier, Foreman, Ali, Holmes ( late 70 ies ).
 
modern fighters are underrated. but usually professional athletes a couple of years or decades after they are retired get rated way higher. im sure the same will happen to the current fighters.
 
modern fighters are underrated. but usually professional athletes a couple of years or decades after they are retired get rated way higher. im sure the same will happen to the current fighters.
Exactly this.

I know boxing is already a very developed sport but the same happens in MMA and it's even more annoying there because the sport is so new the competition has obviously drastically improved in such a short space.

Guys like Anderson Silva, Shogun, Machida, Fedor, Rampage etc are unbeatable in some people's eyes, despite shogun machida and rampage routinely Koing eachother every other month and Machida running the 205lb division despite not even being able to compete at 185lbs once the competition improved.
When Anderson Silva was champ, welterweights like Nate Marquardt and Demian Maia were number 1 contenders at middleweight... These guys couldn't even cut it in welterweight in todays game despite Maia improve drastically. As soon as strikeforce came over Anderson Silva wouldn't even make top 5.

I do believe a lot of the talent in the past era's would very well hold up and be successful in boxing today, but past era's are always extremely overrated imo.
 
None of those opinions in the original post are far fetched

There is a thread on Ali/Fury still on the first page of the boxing subforum with most backing Ali. Duran/Mayweather at lightweight is also one of those fantasy fights that gets discussed a lot.
 
Boxing is a sport where it is difficult to compare champs of the past to champs of today simply because the rules have changed so much.

Number of weight classes: Much ballyhoo has been created by Manny Pacquiao earning 73 belts in 39 weight classes. Imagine how many belts and weightclasses Henry Armstrong ( or even Georges Carpenter) would have today with the amount of weightclasses there are.

Day-Before weigh ins: What would Jake LaMotta's legacy be if he was allowed to rehydrate for 36 hours before stepping in the ring?

Knockdown Rules: Boxers in the past didn't have to go to a neutral corner during a knockdown. They could hover over a fallen fighter and nail them as soon as they were on their feet. Pick up the phone, Jack Dempsey is on line one.

Comparing boxers today from yesteryear is not unlike comparing tennis players (graphite/wooden rackets) or golfers (graphite/wooden clubs).

I wonder what Pete Maravich's legacy would have been if the NBA added the three point shot before 1979?
 
Pernell Whitaker
Joe Louis
Evander holyfield
 
Prima Carnara
James Braddock

Who is overrating those two?

Yay, let's pick on some boxers from almost 100 years ago whose names I read once or twice top often...
 
Who is overrating those two?

Yay, let's pick on some boxers from almost 100 years ago whose names I read once or twice top often...

There was a whole ass movie about Braddock in 05 that gave him a lot more notoriety in the 21st Century
 
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