Contender Fighters Underrated?

I don't know if it's just me, but do boxing insiders and experts underrated the contender fighters? In particular the two finalists, Mora and Manfredo. Manfredo got his due by some after The Pemberton fight, but few people consider him a real contender for the title, which i think, with freddie roach in his corner, he is. Mora, especially, keeps getting trashed. People say things like 'he'll never break it into the top ten', and 'featherfisted, he'll get killed at a higher level'. To put this in perspective, two well known fighters, Augustus and Sam Solimon, at 18 fights, both had very few KOs. Augustus had 3 KOs at 18 fights. Soliman at 4 KOs at 18 fights. Both these guys had losses too. Mora has been able to stay undefeated, albet his low low knockout ratio. I'm a big Sergio Mora fan, and i know he's no Sugar Ray Robinson (OR Leonard, for that matter), but is he really so shit that he won't even be a contender or top ten fighter? In other words, are Manfredo and Mora underrated? Oh, BTW, please no sarcsatic comments about my lack of boxing knowledge or anything else that's unrelated to the topic, and please no flaming. If you want to flame me, just tell yourself that i agree with your insult and leave it out of the thread. Thanks.

Comments (6)

Bombardier

I was impressed the way Mora dismantled Archak Tel-Meliksetian. Archak is limited but he is by no means an easy fighter to beat. I think Manfredo gets overblown sometimes. The Pemberton win was all right but Pemberton's in bad, bad shape these days. I can accept that both fighters are quite good, but it remains to be seen how far they'll go.

20y ago

EasyE

Ishe is the best of the contender bunch. I hated ishe on the show as well.

20y ago

cobracore

I don't like Ishe - maybe it was the show, but he's so disdainful and arrogant. Not only that, he was probably the most boring character on the show. Never a good way to judge a boxer, i know, but it's reality tv =p

20y ago

hotbox2316

Mora overrates his own ability. Manfredo can do alot. Alfonso is overrated. Jesse is shit. Ishe Smith will be the first to win a world title. totally agree with this,although ishe needs to get more active i know hes got that contracual bullshit goin on right now but damn..

20y ago

armani_model

I hate sergio, even tho manfredo lost to him twice, i could see manfedo earning more money, and gettin bigger fights. Manfredo has more charisma, if i was sergio mora i would wanting to prove myself to alot of people and fight bigger names.

20y ago

Brockton_Lip

Yeah they are underrated. I don't know if its because they have quickly become famous and some people are jealous or annoyed, or something else. Here is a post of mine thats pretty recent. Heres an article I had not seen before; from FightKings.com: THE IMPRESSIVE SERGIO MORA By Michael Amakor Confirming his ranking as one of the best fighters in boxing today according to FightKings.Com, NBC reality TV series "The Contender" champion Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora brutalized a game but outgunned Archak TerMeliksetian forcing the referee to halt the bout at the 2.44 minute mark of the seventh round, at the Aladdin Resort, in Las Vegas on May 4th, 2006 This fight started at a furious pace with both guys landing vicious body shots, and Mora had to regroup after suffering a flash knockdown in the first round. He thereafter proceeded to launch a blistering attack that began to slowly break down Archak. By round six it was clear that it was a matter of time before Mora would land a combination to finish Archak off. That moment came in the seventh round after he had staggered Archak snapping his head back leaving him almost defenseless against the ropes. Mora then launched an assault that battered Archak against the ropes as he moved into position to land the killer head shot. But in the same controversial manner that the Corrales versus Castillo fight got stopped, referee Robert Byrd had seen enough and jumped in to stop the fight, driving Archak's wild with furious indignation, albeit, after the punches were not landing. A review of the clip shows that this may have been a premature stoppage, but it is my opinion that he would have been stopped later on down the fight because he was absorbing to many head shots, better to take a loss now than to become brain damaged after the fight. There is something about the way Mora rips his punches with reckless abandon that tells you he will become a champion one day, he has hands of stones and reminds me of a younger Oscar De La Hoya. If you had watched the contender series you will know he is real deal especially after the way he dismantled and battered the powerful Najai Turpin, the experienced Ishe Smith, the crafty Jesse Brinkley and former WBO NABO Light Middleweight champion Peter Manfredo. Jr, twice, and now this victory on ESPN. I also discovered that he had lost a spot to the 2000 Olympics to no other person but the indomitable Jermain Taylor, after engaging a lion like that, Mora can definitely handle any fighter in his weight class. He remains undefeated and his record now stands at a solid 18 wins. All hail the Latin Snake

20y ago