I like everything about this guy (from what he portrays, personality/attitude wise). He's respectable, really well behaved, never talks crap and he's game for anyone in the division. No ****s given.
Being American in a market where American HWs are badly needed to promote good fights in the US, he will be in demand even with Ls on his record, so at the very least we're going to HOPEFULLY see him box all the big names.
He will fall short of being a champion (because of Usyk) but he still deserves recognition and appreciation. I keep telling my friends to look out for him.
How do you think he does vs Povetkin?
I can see him outboxing and beating Povetkin on points...and the way they both are, it will probably be a war. A knock out either way would shock me and I hope it isnt a boring fight because i'm looking forward to this (regardless of AJ vs Ruiz).
In the UK, we back our boxers even when they lose fights.
We tend to hate boxers when they become arrogant and above themselves.
It isnt about them losing, it's about what they bring. Eg Hughie Fury doesnt even try..and people were booing him at his last fight.
americans talking about Hunter as a 'b level fighter' sums it up. You're a bunch of glory hunting clowns. You guys didnt even fecking support wilder until your xenophobia and racism against eddie hearn kicked in.
My appreciation of Michael Hunter is because that guy does not give a fk and will box anyone. He has the right mindset, is respectful, not ****y at all.
He wanted the AJ fight when Miller failed the drug tests. Fought a war against Usyk. Beat Bakole (who is highly rated in the uk as a prospect) in another war and has just drawn against Povetkin, an elite HW.
Furthermore, this is a cruiserweight who's stepped up to HW. How can you not appreciate him?
No matter what he will give you one hell of a fight.
Show me another American HW who has the same mentally and work ethic as him right now?
fyi, i started watching wilder in 2011. 5 yrs on and he was still boxing bums. Didnt box a single elite fighter until ortiz.
hunter may not ever be a HW champion, but he's already boxed better quality opponents than Wilder..and will continue to do so, that's the best thing, he wont duck anyone.
Well that story is different, Ruiz was sitting on Top Rank Shelf running out of money trying to fight Top Rank and Bob Arum in Court. Ruiz was always KNOWN ABOUT but because he was inactive he was kinda left behind and forgotten
Boxing is just not as popular in America like it is in the UK. Again it takes A LOT of work to get the Attention of the Casual American Sports Fan in Boxing as well as a lot of personality. Once you get their attention you have to work even harder to KEEP their attention because it is so much you have to compete against as far as the other sports which are far more popular than boxing here in the US. This Market is NOTHING like the UK, it is much bigger and far more competition so what works for Eddie in the UK, won't work in the US and I think even Eddie himself would admit that the US Market is an extremely difficult one
Top rank and Ruiz never went to court and was never put in the shelf. He would
Disappear. Then he bought himself out of his contract
You don't understand the US Market or how it works RESPECTFULLY and you Can't know because you're not in America
You're basically trying to make it about Hearn while trying to PRETEND like it is not about him but your threads is basically all about him being some type of SAVIOR for a market even he don't know much about admitted and he is still learning about and even HE admit coming into this market Naive
But NO HE is NOT the Answer, no Promoter is, it is all about the FIGHTERS! People tuned in for KSI vs Logan Paul because of THEM not because of Eddie Hearn, their fans don't even know who the F#CK Eddie Hearn is. KSO and Logan Paul brought their own following from Social Media and Youtube
Mayweather vs McGregor did big numbers because again BOTH have huge followings of their own and they was able to bring them together to buy their Event
I think Hearn is the best and he hardest working PROMOTER in boxing today but it is extremely Naive to expect him to fix things in a Market he himself barely know anything about
you made this whole thread into a 'eddie hearn' thread, not me. He was relevant in A context, but you picked up on that and twisted it.
Did you read that part where I talked about Danny Garcia vs Zab Judah for example? hd nothing to do with EH, that was a pbc card, how come youdidnt pick on that?
these 'us vs them' narratives need to die. right now, as a brit, i have more interest in that list of US boxers than i do UK boxers.
that is down to EH (from MY pov). BUT im talking about YOUR pov.
I'm not talking primarily about 'mainstream' audience either.
i wasnt really talking about Eddie except in the context of my personal 'knowledge' of the US boxing scene in recent years. Think about it..i have a sky sports subscription and suddenly im getting all these US boxing cards through matchroom, without paying extra, brill right? im getting my moneys worth. so naturally im going to watch eddie's interviews and learn about the guys he's pushing. he has more knowledge than i do, he's searching for this 'talent' and finding it like he did in the uk.
(this doesnt magically mean i attribute the talent to him, he didnt create them, but he did make many of us aware of them).
Btw..and i swear im only going there in response to your post..
ksi vs logan paul would not have even been an idea, were it not for eddie hearn promoting the sport in the UK to a point where the likes of ksi were regularly talking about AJ.
He is a fan of AJ and ive been following his channel since 2013.
Ksi is from Watford, he's the son of nigerian immigrants, just like AJ. Watford is a small town.
paul logan only came in after the success of ksi vs joe weller.
However obv the fight being so big, isnt down to EH, it's down to the personalities of Ksi and LP. However it still all links to the EH factor as ive pointed out. No eh, no aj, no ksi vs joe weller.
frank warren could never have made aj into a mainstream star here. i watched boxnation for yrs, he's a grumpty whining git who only got the BT sports connection because they saw the success of sky sports through EH. without EH we got back to the days of channel 5 and boxnation..and it was beyond ****. the dark ages of british boxing (although i did watch Fury on channel 5 for free).
look at the UFC, who on earth would know of Mcgregor without all the work done by Dana White? i dont think EH even comes close to Dana white so far in terms of the work he's done in building the UFC. However the point here is that 'the more people talk, to more boxing will become mainstream'. EH is good for the sport, but OBV i dont think HE is going to crack the US market. However the context of having him there, in a country where people like you exist, people who live in an animalistic territorial mindset, you are more interested in boxing because of him too. you dont like to admit it, but its true.
no EH, even DW would become irrelevant..and he certainly wouldnt be about to earn $100m+ from an aj fight without EH.
(again, im only praising him now after you attempted to diss, him, prior to that he wasnt that important to this discussion).
EH becomes relevant in the context of 'me' knowing about various US boxers because of EH. That's about the most ive really mentioned him.
I have watched GBP cards and pbc cards in the past back when that was all we had.
I havent checked for a while, but when al haymon partnered with ITV sports in the UK, we got quite a few Fox (non ppv) cards and we also got 2 ppv cards for free here.
NOW, again not kissing EH's arse but it's true that his actions led to al haymon doingh a deal with itv, which benefits ME getting free cards. So of course i think that guy has done a lot for the sport where one way or another, the fans benefit. There's a lot i would have zero interest in were it not one way or another linked to him.
I used to get free to air boxing on a romanian channel called gsptv for a long time, it was great but in romanian commentary. then it closed. The manny pacquaio and floyd mayweather cards would air for free on al jazeera sports for years, until they made it 'bein sports' and it left that station. So i wasn't watching boxing on the same level as i am these days. Back then it was the big cards only or romanian commentary.
I subbed to boxnation now and then, it wasnt that good tbh. most british fights back then were a snoozefest.
I'm watching tomorrow's card on KSA 1 tv (i think it will be on there, eddie said it would). all from a motorised dish. will be arabic commentary.
btw, your types love to deflect and divert a discussion when you dont like admitting the truth here
forget mainstream...YOUR Type of american boxing fans, dont appreciate Michael Hunter.
deep down, the mentality is just
'he a bum, he a foo, he trash, he whack, he gay' type of ****.
most american boxing fans just dont know how to appreciate quality.
Was there a lot of hype behind Regis Prograis on social media?
i bet he has more fans in the UK now than he does in the US. Another quality american boxer who's underappreciated.
Here's the thing
Mayweather vs Pacquaio and Mcgregor...huge ppv sales.
Ksi vs logan paul as an amateur fight was doing numbers bigger than Wilder vs Fury.
The market, the audience, it's ALL there. They just need the platform and the end product given to them. They want it shoved down their throats.
Remember when hip hop wasnt mainstream?
Wilder was around for years. Why is he blowing up now? honest to God i think its because of Hearn. No, im not a Hearn arse kisser. However the more he got involved the more it built up an anti-hearn/uk/aj narrative which all plays its part in building attention.
Mainstream fans want to go on youtube and it pops up on their feed as trending. they dont even want to search for it.
How does something begin to trend?
it circulates, people send each other clips. it all comes down to talking about it.
I dont know where americans get this idea that boxing is more popular in the UK. I know even Eddie hearn decided to use that narrative as the perfect excuse and given he has to pander to the US narratives now. However, it's actually the 7th to 10th most popular sport in various polls/stats over here.
seriously..
you know football/soccer isnt just 'a sport' it is THE sport and it involves the champions league, european elite, international football, even the african nations cup will be trending here when it's on. Rugby league and rugby union are followed heavily by large segments.
Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world. it used to be very popular here..then died down, it has resurfaced heavily with t20 format county cricket too. it's going to grow. Even Eddie hearn talked about getting matchroom involved with it once.
Horse racing, snooker, darts, cycling, f1, motogp, even swimming and womens netball, tennis, gymnastics, golf (in no particular order).
i swear they're all big sports in their own right...they have their fans..we're just not open to them to know.
Did you see cricket trending here last summer? rugby was trending a month ago. all these sports have niche markets that obsess with them. the mainstream only watch them when something amazing happens...when it does, it became HUGE.
THIS cricket world cup final was the biggest sporting moment of the year. Even aj's loss didnt come close.
i'm fully aware it's the same in the US. I watched a youtube video of one travel vlogger going to an ice hockey game in Vegas..the atmosphere was brilliant...as good/if not better than a TOP boxing event (they also do that sweet caroline **** LOL)
so of course idont expect the mainstream to support Hunter. I'm talking about the hardcore boxing fans.
right now, this forum, i couldnt find another thread on Hunter, 3 pages in..and this has gone on for ages.
When I watch any video of Hunter, im impressed, i like him immediately. none of that sleazy trashtalking out of the side of his mouth. He's straight talking.
Also, to me, i dont care about a boxer not being elite. I look at an entire division and think of all the type of match ups i want to see.
look at the WW division over the past 10 yrs man.
Even zab judah vs paulie malignagi was a big fight in my mind. I dont care that it wasnt 'trending', it was just one of those fights i wanted to watch.
do you remember when Zab Judah boxed Danny Garcia?
this isnt even about usa vs uk. it's about american boxing fans only hyping the trending fights and not giving a **** about the rest.
There's a growing list of americans right now, i have to watch when they fight...obv down to Eddie Hearn promoting them but it isnt so much about 'him' as it is that im more aware of them through him aswell as the fact i get the dazn/matchroom cards on sky sports. Wanting my money's worth, i keep tabs on who's fighting and watch the ones i like.
You don't understand the US Market or how it works RESPECTFULLY and you Can't know because you're not in America
You're basically trying to make it about Hearn while trying to PRETEND like it is not about him but your threads is basically all about him being some type of SAVIOR for a market even he don't know much about admitted and he is still learning about and even HE admit coming into this market Naive
But NO HE is NOT the Answer, no Promoter is, it is all about the FIGHTERS! People tuned in for KSI vs Logan Paul because of THEM not because of Eddie Hearn, their fans don't even know who the F#CK Eddie Hearn is. KSO and Logan Paul brought their own following from Social Media and Youtube
Mayweather vs McGregor did big numbers because again BOTH have huge followings of their own and they was able to bring them together to buy their Event
I think Hearn is the best and he hardest working PROMOTER in boxing today but it is extremely Naive to expect him to fix things in a Market he himself barely know anything about
Haney, Hunter, Farmer, Andrade, Sims jr, Jacobs, Ababiy have become must watch americans.
then there's the likes of usyk, gassiev (if he even comes back), hrgovic, parker, bivol etc, those elite guys i cant miss obv.
As a matter of fact, i look forward to the US cards more than the UK cards.
Im in America and non of those US fighters you mentioned are “must see” lol
Homeless guys on the streets wont even accept free tickets to see Farmer. He is fkin boring and most of the time I dont even know what he’s looking at.
Andrade is one of the most boring fighters worldwide and no Americans really give a rats ass about that guy. Think of Winky Wright.
Haney, Hunter, Farmer, Andrade, Sims jr, Jacobs, Ababiy have become must watch americans.
then there's the likes of usyk, gassiev (if he even comes back), hrgovic, parker, bivol etc, those elite guys i cant miss obv.
As a matter of fact, i look forward to the US cards more than the UK cards.
I think Hunter is just ok like decent at best. He isnt the savior of American HW like some fans make him out to be. Like he is some darkhorse or some****.
Hunter is a solid B level fighter in a shtty division.
Well that story is different, Ruiz was sitting on Top Rank Shelf running out of money trying to fight Top Rank and Bob Arum in Court. Ruiz was always KNOWN ABOUT but because he was inactive he was kinda left behind and forgotten
Boxing is just not as popular in America like it is in the UK. Again it takes A LOT of work to get the Attention of the Casual American Sports Fan in Boxing as well as a lot of personality. Once you get their attention you have to work even harder to KEEP their attention because it is so much you have to compete against as far as the other sports which are far more popular than boxing here in the US. This Market is NOTHING like the UK, it is much bigger and far more competition so what works for Eddie in the UK, won't work in the US and I think even Eddie himself would admit that the US Market is an extremely difficult one
Here's the thing
Mayweather vs Pacquaio and Mcgregor...huge ppv sales.
Ksi vs logan paul as an amateur fight was doing numbers bigger than Wilder vs Fury.
The market, the audience, it's ALL there. They just need the platform and the end product given to them. They want it shoved down their throats.
Remember when hip hop wasnt mainstream?
Wilder was around for years. Why is he blowing up now? honest to God i think its because of Hearn. No, im not a Hearn arse kisser. However the more he got involved the more it built up an anti-hearn/uk/aj narrative which all plays its part in building attention.
Mainstream fans want to go on youtube and it pops up on their feed as trending. they dont even want to search for it.
How does something begin to trend?
it circulates, people send each other clips. it all comes down to talking about it.
I dont know where americans get this idea that boxing is more popular in the UK. I know even Eddie hearn decided to use that narrative as the perfect excuse and given he has to pander to the US narratives now. However, it's actually the 7th to 10th most popular sport in various polls/stats over here.
seriously..
you know football/soccer isnt just 'a sport' it is THE sport and it involves the champions league, european elite, international football, even the african nations cup will be trending here when it's on. Rugby league and rugby union are followed heavily by large segments.
Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world. it used to be very popular here..then died down, it has resurfaced heavily with t20 format county cricket too. it's going to grow. Even Eddie hearn talked about getting matchroom involved with it once.
Horse racing, snooker, darts, cycling, f1, motogp, even swimming and womens netball, tennis, gymnastics, golf (in no particular order).
i swear they're all big sports in their own right...they have their fans..we're just not open to them to know.
Did you see cricket trending here last summer? rugby was trending a month ago. all these sports have niche markets that obsess with them. the mainstream only watch them when something amazing happens...when it does, it became HUGE.
THIS cricket world cup final was the biggest sporting moment of the year. Even aj's loss didnt come close.
i'm fully aware it's the same in the US. I watched a youtube video of one travel vlogger going to an ice hockey game in Vegas..the atmosphere was brilliant...as good/if not better than a TOP boxing event (they also do that sweet caroline **** LOL)
so of course idont expect the mainstream to support Hunter. I'm talking about the hardcore boxing fans.
right now, this forum, i couldnt find another thread on Hunter, 3 pages in..and this has gone on for ages.
When I watch any video of Hunter, im impressed, i like him immediately. none of that sleazy trashtalking out of the side of his mouth. He's straight talking.
Also, to me, i dont care about a boxer not being elite. I look at an entire division and think of all the type of match ups i want to see.
look at the WW division over the past 10 yrs man.
Even zab judah vs paulie malignagi was a big fight in my mind. I dont care that it wasnt 'trending', it was just one of those fights i wanted to watch.
do you remember when Zab Judah boxed Danny Garcia?
this isnt even about usa vs uk. it's about american boxing fans only hyping the trending fights and not giving a **** about the rest.
There's a growing list of americans right now, i have to watch when they fight...obv down to Eddie Hearn promoting them but it isnt so much about 'him' as it is that im more aware of them through him aswell as the fact i get the dazn/matchroom cards on sky sports. Wanting my money's worth, i keep tabs on who's fighting and watch the ones i like.
I agree that Hunter is the most likeable American heavyweight right now. Despite me being a Povetkin fan, I respect Hunter for his upstanding, politeness, etc.
Do I think he will win? Well, he lost to Usyk and he lost plenty of speed going up to HW. The challenge is, just like Povetkin, they are small guys in the large HW division. One punch from Wilder and Hunter gets KTFO, and Hunter would lose to Fury, AJ, I definitely think Ruiz and others.
Hunter's issue is he got hit plenty and is very open to counters.... and he did beat an over the hill Ustinov who just completely lost it as a boxer. Kuzmin was not bad, but second half he really became open to getting hit.
Hunter's major issue is he does not have the power.
What would be interesting is Usyk vs Hunter at HW...
Tomorrow? I see Povetkin winning by KO in the 7th or 8th round, catching Hunter with a counter.
In any case, this is a serious step up for Hunter and a good fight for both guys.
For Povetkin, this is likely an easier fight than many of his earlier ones... considering he is not going up against giants with REAL power... (Price, AJ, Hughie).
How many were talking about Ruiz a yr ago? how many are now?
look at the threads on this section, they're all about aj, ruiz, whyte, eddie hearn. You can be mad at Eddie but one way or another, he's given another platform to these guys.
there isnt enough airtime on a single platform for everyone, there has to be more.
As a brit...i dont/didn't know enough about the US boxing scene other than those big names and some of the young prospects.
What i appreciate is, since his US venture, im learning more and recognising there's an insane amount of talent 'we' (i/brits) didnt know about..but guess what? neither do most americans (which you also said). Actually with Eddie, he did the same thing in the UK. It's by talking about them, giving them a big platform (which also gets attention by the youtube channels) that helps promote those guys.
Do you think i would watch Scott Fitzgerald vs Ted Cheeseman a few yrs ago? but i did..and it was a good fight and ill be supporting both, at the very least watching them.
imagine someone seeing those two fight and saying 'but dat fight not da same as yoobankz vs benn'.
is that realistic? do you think boxing fans make such excuses?
'we're spoilt for choice because we've had xyz in the past' whilst it's good you're making a point..it is actually a lazy cop out/excuse.
The 'spoilt for choice' excuse will never be credible. We're spoilt for choice for music and people still listen to the ****tiest of **** music.
Perfect example, Jarrell Miller. He became a 'name' during the build up to the AJ fight. That put him on the map and a lot of people began to support him. why? because he had the platform and attention.
the reality is that most american boxing fans are also ignorant. Most dont know about MH, simple. They dont know, therefore dont talk about him.
Well that story is different, Ruiz was sitting on Top Rank Shelf running out of money trying to fight Top Rank and Bob Arum in Court. Ruiz was always KNOWN ABOUT but because he was inactive he was kinda left behind and forgotten
Boxing is just not as popular in America like it is in the UK. Again it takes A LOT of work to get the Attention of the Casual American Sports Fan in Boxing as well as a lot of personality. Once you get their attention you have to work even harder to KEEP their attention because it is so much you have to compete against as far as the other sports which are far more popular than boxing here in the US. This Market is NOTHING like the UK, it is much bigger and far more competition so what works for Eddie in the UK, won't work in the US and I think even Eddie himself would admit that the US Market is an extremely difficult one
I am an American fight fan but I don't like boxers more or less because they are American. Boxrec ranks him 21st in the world and the 6th best American boxer meaning there are 5 American heavyweights they think are better than him. I think the 40 year old Povetkin will win by KO. I base that off their records since I have not seen him fight. Maybe I will like him.
He would easily beat Brezeale, Charles Martin and Washington.
This must be an old list because Brezeale is n/a right now and Kownacki isnt even on the list.
Wilder, Ruiz, Hunter and Kownacki are the stand out guys for now.
I think real boxing fans, who have dazn, will watch that fight esp since it's a co-main event and a brilliant match up (on paper at the very least).
If someone is paying for a dazn subscription, they'll want their moneys worth and wont miss that fight. So i'm guessing he gets at least 400k views. Then there are many who will watch highlights.
Watch his fights vs Usyk, Bakole and Kuzmin. The usyk and bakole fights were wars. Kuzmin was on the slow side and more a test of whether Hunter could take punches from a much heavier guy.
We cant obv gauge from that how good his chin is because they're arguably not big punchers at HW level.
Povetkin is that test though.
I just cant see povetkin dropping Hunter, but hunter will do what he does, lead with his face first and make it a war again. Povetkin will get tired.
I am an American fight fan but I don't like boxers more or less because they are American. Boxrec ranks him 21st in the world and the 6th best American boxer meaning there are 5 American heavyweights they think are better than him. I think the 40 year old Povetkin will win by KO. I base that off their records since I have not seen him fight. Maybe I will like him.
I like everything about this guy (from what he portrays, personality/attitude wise). He's respectable, really well behaved, never talks crap and he's game for anyone in the division. No ****s given.
Being American in a market where American HWs are badly needed to promote good fights in the US, he will be in demand even with Ls on his record, so at the very least we're going to HOPEFULLY see him box all the big names.
He will fall short of being a champion (because of Usyk) but he still deserves recognition and appreciation. I keep telling my friends to look out for him.
How do you think he does vs Povetkin?
I can see him outboxing and beating Povetkin on points...and the way they both are, it will probably be a war. A knock out either way would shock me and I hope it isnt a boring fight because i'm looking forward to this (regardless of AJ vs Ruiz).
Look at the man's record; as good a boxer as he seems to be, most US fans haven't seen him fight since his shot at Usyk in 2017 (some may have an the Kiladze fight, too) at cruiserweight.
He's rebuilding, in a nice stead as a heavyweight, and a win over Povetkin should put him deep in the mix for DAZN.
Fighting in the early afternoon, on this Saturday of all Saturdays, Hunter will again be fighting in front of a crowd with few US viewers
:lol1: :lol1:
You guys are funny on this forum but CUT THE BS! Michael Hunter is not some secret that Eddie Hearn Discovered Micheal Hunter was a Amateur Standout. As a Pro, Hunter is very solid, will he be Heavyweight Champion one day, I guess we will have to wait and see because MANY did not expect Ruiz to become World Champion either.
Currently, America "Under Appreciate" Boxers IN GENERAL because the sport is just not that popular as a whole. We are spoiled in America because of the rich history in boxing, we already had Ali, Marciano, Tyson, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Holyfield just to name a few...so no Americans are not easily impressed with just any boxer because he gets a few good win vs sh#t opponents. This is why Wilder is not a bigger STAR yet either, in American the Expectations are much higher because of that RICH History in the Sport here. Compared to say other countries who don't have anything close to that type of history for their fighter to have to try and fill big shoes.
Hunter is a solid fighter but yeah slow down with all that "underappreciated by Americans" BS because he is signed to Eddie Hearn, because before that nobody was giving a F#CK about him not even you new people pretending like you discovered something that we did not already know about
How many were talking about Ruiz a yr ago? how many are now?
look at the threads on this section, they're all about aj, ruiz, whyte, eddie hearn. You can be mad at Eddie but one way or another, he's given another platform to these guys.
there isnt enough airtime on a single platform for everyone, there has to be more.
As a brit...i dont/didn't know enough about the US boxing scene other than those big names and some of the young prospects.
What i appreciate is, since his US venture, im learning more and recognising there's an insane amount of talent 'we' (i/brits) didnt know about..but guess what? neither do most americans (which you also said). Actually with Eddie, he did the same thing in the UK. It's by talking about them, giving them a big platform (which also gets attention by the youtube channels) that helps promote those guys.
Do you think i would watch Scott Fitzgerald vs Ted Cheeseman a few yrs ago? but i did..and it was a good fight and ill be supporting both, at the very least watching them.
imagine someone seeing those two fight and saying 'but dat fight not da same as yoobankz vs benn'.
is that realistic? do you think boxing fans make such excuses?
'we're spoilt for choice because we've had xyz in the past' whilst it's good you're making a point..it is actually a lazy cop out/excuse.
The 'spoilt for choice' excuse will never be credible. We're spoilt for choice for music and people still listen to the ****tiest of **** music.
Perfect example, Jarrell Miller. He became a 'name' during the build up to the AJ fight. That put him on the map and a lot of people began to support him. why? because he had the platform and attention.
the reality is that most american boxing fans are also ignorant. Most dont know about MH, simple. They dont know, therefore dont talk about him.
:lol1: :lol1:
You guys are funny on this forum but CUT THE BS! Michael Hunter is not some secret that Eddie Hearn Discovered Micheal Hunter was a Amateur Standout. As a Pro, Hunter is very solid, will he be Heavyweight Champion one day, I guess we will have to wait and see because MANY did not expect Ruiz to become World Champion either.
Currently, America "Under Appreciate" Boxers IN GENERAL because the sport is just not that popular as a whole. We are spoiled in America because of the rich history in boxing, we already had Ali, Marciano, Tyson, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Holyfield just to name a few...so no Americans are not easily impressed with just any boxer because he gets a few good win vs sh#t opponents. This is why Wilder is not a bigger STAR yet either, in American the Expectations are much higher because of that RICH History in the Sport here. Compared to say other countries who don't have anything close to that type of history for their fighter to have to try and fill big shoes.
Hunter is a solid fighter but yeah slow down with all that "underappreciated by Americans" BS because he is signed to Eddie Hearn, because before that nobody was giving a F#CK about him not even you new people pretending like you discovered something that we did not already know about