roy jones
A lot of boxing fans share certain attributes that resemble professional wrestling fans: the bravado and drama are more important than the literal skill of the athlete. Many boxers go most of their careers fighting lesser opponents, causing the casual boxing fan to go "Wow, this guy must be really great, he's knocking fools out left and right". But the story occurrs over and over - that the superstar picks a nobody (thinking it an easy victory) without knowing that that "nobody" is going to knock him out. See: Buster Douglass and Glen Johnson.
Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins are both millionaires for fighting nobody's for the most part. It's not that they're not skilled (or were), it's just that eventually they go up against a nobody who realize they are a nobody and seize the opportunity to become a somebody by not being intimidated by the star boxer in the opposing corner.
to quote denzel washington in "Training Day": It ain't checkers, it's chess.