They say hindsight is 20/20. Some fighters have won fights in impressive fashion and generated a huge buzz on this site. In many cases the hype was a bit premature and the fighters in question eventually were not seen as the world beaters that some of us thought they were. Lets talk about a few of those wins that created this type of buzz before reality kicked in. I will start...
Devon Alexander Kos Jaun Urango
Now Urango at the time was seen as a very durable fighter. He went up in weight to fight my boy Berto and went the distance in an pretty uneventful fight that involved a lot of clinching. Despite this fact he did eat a lot of uppercuts in that fight and continued to come forward. Against Devon back at his natural weight class he was floored by two well timed devastating uppercuts. I think many of us forgot about Devon's actual KO percentage and and basically anointed him a big puncher. Devon would go on to have what many would call a let down fight against Bradley and a questionable win against Matthysse. I witnessed his bout against Randall Bailey live and recalled how there used to be a completely different feeling among fans when it came to Devon. Needless to say Devon is extremely talented and his southpaw style can give anyone issues but at this point in time it seem to me that he has more haters on this board than supporters. It was quite a different case after the right Urango fight.
Robert Helenius KOs Samuel Peter
Though Peter had been conquered by the brothers Klitschko it was still a surprise for some to see him knocked unconscious in brutal fashion. The hype around the Nordic Nightmare was interesting because it meant hope for a worthy challenger to face the dominant bothers. These days we rarely hear his name mentioned in reference to a Klitschko match up. Robert has kept winning however a questionable win over Dereck Chisora made many of us reexamine our initial thoughts. Next surprising lack luster performances against Michael Sprott and Sherman Williams coupled with injuries would basically take Helenius off the radar. Unfortunately for us the destruction we and anticipated from Helenius instead turned into more heavyweight mediocrity.
Please add on some more examples...
I know Foreman is an ATG and the 70's Foreman would beat a ton of great heavyweights, but when he stopped Frazier, people were thinking he was the greatest thing anyone had ever seen.
Considering who Joe Frazier is, that fight is still frightening. Considering who Frazier was going into that fight, Foreman deserves all the hype he got from that win. I mean, wow.
To an extent, RJJ after he handled Toney, people, especially HBO were talking about him in the same breath as Robinson and Ali but RJJ never went onto face another opponent of Toney's calibre yet spent the rest of the 90s hyped as the GOAT. dON'T GET ME WRONG, A GREAT FIGHTER BUT NOT THE GOAT OR ANYWHERE CLOSE
I dunno bout this one. Pacs ko over Hatton and Cotto justified the hype. Hes not on the same hyped up level now but its not as drastic as some of the others mentioned.
Back when he was struggling with Marquez and Morales, I never thought in my life I'd hear/read someone say he'd give Ray Leonard a good fight... Never
Nonito Donaire vs Fernando Montiel was the one that came to my mind. Nonito was hyped to superstar status after that KO win. And so far he hasn't really lived up to the hype.
Rigo vs Nonito as far as these boards go is a huge one. Literally one win against a style that is ALWAYS going to suck against Rigo, in a fight where he still gets put on his ass by Nonito who admittedly hardly even prepared for the fight has some of the clowns on here hyping Rigo as one of the best fighters to ever live. Its pure comedy.
What? Hahaha, Nonito did not prepare for the fight? I remember people were reporting that was the hardest he trained for a fight because he knew what he was getting into, but after he got schooled now he did not train? Hahaha, and he knocked down Rigo on the break and after Rigo got up he controlled the rest of the round.
And get back to me when Rigo gets exposed
You think he will lose the hype and be exposed?
I'm not sure if Broner losing is him being exposed. I still think he is a very good fighter but not p4p or top 10 at 147 unless he beats a Maidana/Guerrero/Alexander.
I'm not sure what's left to expose, he is a slow guy with quick hands, flat feet, ok power and gets hit but seems to have decent enough chin. But the hype will die once he gets beat by Matthysse or Guerrero
You just beat me to a few.
Jones-Toney though? Really? Toney is one of the best middleweights I've ever seen and he got schooled! Legit win for Jones jr and he deserved all the hype he got.
yeah i know,,,, i kinda misread the thread,,, thought it was just fights that sent guys to the next level or breakout performances,, i thought the toney fight put jones on the map,,,,,
I didnt realize till after i wrote it that it was suppose to guys with big wins that got hyped and then became a bust........
with that being said, i gotta go with
lacy vs shieka, pemberton....
maussa vs harris
taylor vs hopkins
judah vs spinks 2
gatti-ward, dorin, leija
peter vs williams
Rigo vs Nonito as far as these boards go is a huge one. Literally one win against a style that is ALWAYS going to suck against Rigo, in a fight where he still gets put on his ass by Nonito who admittedly hardly even prepared for the fight has some of the clowns on here hyping Rigo as one of the best fighters to ever live. Its pure comedy.
first fight i thought about,,,,
also hatton beating tzysu
jones beating toney
GGG beating macklin
lucas beating peterson
pavlik beating taylor
alot of these guys were legit,,, those are just the fights that made them superhype
You just beat me to a few.
Jones-Toney though? Really? Toney is one of the best middleweights I've ever seen and he got schooled! Legit win for Jones jr and he deserved all the hype he got.
ricardo mayorga knocking out vernon forrest. the guy was tough as nails and as raw as they come, way over hyped........... Rockin':boxing:
first fight i thought about,,,,
also hatton beating tzysu
jones beating toney
GGG beating macklin
lucas beating peterson
pavlik beating taylor
alot of these guys were legit,,, those are just the fights that made them superhype
Tyson beating Spinks and/or an old Larry Holmes has got to be up there too.
I know Liston is a hall of fame fighter, and was the best heavyweight in the late 50's/early 60's, but when he beat Patterson it hyped him to the moon too.
rigondeaux later went on to whip nonito donaire, but at the time this is / was my favorite hype train:
rigo KO rico ramos.
this place almost sank into the atlantic after that one.