Fighters who's careers were cut short and are over rated, under rated

[Heru]

Edwin Valero is a fighter who's career was cut short but who I thought was hugely overrated while fighting. Opinions?

Underrated... The way he handled adversity and practically shutout good fighter in Mosquera and DeMarco tell me that much.

Look at the Mosquera fight, it was in Mosquera's home country of Panama. Valero came out strong and dropped him, Mosquera though was hitting him hard with right hands early and dropped him... Valero adjusted and came back to dominate him.

Look at the DeMarco fight, it was in DeMarco's home country of Mexico. Valero got a huge cut on his forehead early, bleeding plenty. He didn't panic, it was as if the cut wasn't even there. DeMarco kept coming at him and he went in to boxing/volume punching mode.

He could transition from power puncher to volume puncher. They were discussing about him moving up and fighting Lamont Peterson too. He would've beaten him. He had a lot left to do in his career.

Hopefully my dude Kirkland doesn't turn his career short as well.

[Silencers]

Masao Oba. He doesn't get talked about much but I think he could've gone on to achieve some good things had he not passed away, already had some good wins on his record, he had 5 defenses of his title and was still only 23 years old.

[sonnyboyx2]

Good pick sonny! He was certainly up and coming beating top comp before being sent to prison. Underrated or overrated?

Harry Simon is vastly under-rated he was good enough as a 16 fight novice to beat a peak Winky Wright for the WBO Title, Simon defended his title 5 times before suffering a serious injuries in a car crash which killed 2 people in 2002, Simon was sent to prison for it and resumed his career on his release yet his best years are now lost and behind him.

[talip bin osman]

bad boy tony ayala jr...

most promising this, most promising that...

[NChristo]

if ur talking about missed opportunities.. i heard u can look in Don King's closet too.. plenty of great fighters there that never made it, Tim Witherspoon?

the one i think was cut short and really sucks (because it's his own fault, laziness) is Rid**** "Big Daddy" Bowe. he could've been the greatest according to Eddie Futch. but the fights with Golota.. took too much damage in his career.. could've been so much more i think.

By the start of 93 onwards you can really start to see Bowe go downhill fast, he was done by the Golota fights unfortunately.

[GJC]

Guess you would have to imagine what the legacy of say Tyson suddenly stopping after the Carl Williams fight. Many rate him as the GOAT with his career as it stands so throwing in a lot of what might have beens would probably put him above Ali in many peoples minds.

I'll get a lot of stick for this but I do think Les Darcy is a touch overrated, great fighter but I have seen him ranked in top ten atg MW's which in such a deep division is too high IMO.
Not saying he couldn't have got there but I always think there is a bit of James Dean going on there.
Ironically Dave Sands, Darcy's countryman barely gets a mention but for my money was a great fighter.

[NChristo]

Guess you would have to imagine what the legacy of say Tyson suddenly stopping after the Carl Williams fight. Many rate him as the GOAT with his career as it stands so throwing in a lot of what might have beens would probably put him above Ali in many peoples minds.

I'll get a lot of stick for this but I do think Les Darcy is a touch overrated, great fighter but I have seen him ranked in top ten atg MW's which in such a deep division is too high IMO.
Not saying he couldn't have got there but I always think there is a bit of James Dean going on there.
Ironically Dave Sands, Darcy's countryman barely gets a mention but for my money was a great fighter.

When you mentioned Les Darcy I just remembered Dave Sands, was going to mention him but you already did lol, great fighter, loved his style, would of liked to see him fight the 50s Middleweights.

[NChristo]

Marcel Cerdan's career was somewhat cut short he still had a decent run. Tends to get very under rated, great boxer that could do everything.

[GJC]

Marcel Cerdan's career was somewhat cut short he still had a decent run. Tends to get very under rated, great boxer that could do everything.

Cerdan is a fighter that is severely underrated IMO.
Whilst he died tragically young I'm not 100% sure that he had much more to give though. Could see him beating La Motta in the rematch but then a fellow by the name of Robinson was lurking!
Think the war and not getting to America sooner did him more harm career wise.
Would have loved to have seen the Holman Williams v Cerdan fight

[Calilloyd]

I've been seeing a lot of print for Gerald McClellan lately and how he was an all time puncher and would have been an all time great had his career not been tragically cut short. I personally think it is the circumstances of his tragedy and currant state that compel some on here to over rate him. He was certainly a good fighter and heavy handed but because of his lack of prime top comp I simply can't make him out to be more than he was....a good heavy handed fighter.

Young Stribling was also a heavy handed fighter who's career was cut short at age 28 by a motorcycle accident. Like McClellan, Stribling had a lot of ko's against ham and egger's. The difference being he also had many victories over top fighters of the day and proved himself competitive with the elite. It's unfortunate but Stribling really isn't known by many of todays new fans who would just automatically say a McClellan would have been great. Can he even compare to a fighter who was 256-16-14 (128)?

Than there is Salvador Sanchez who was killed at age 23. Of these 3 fighters Sanchez is clearly the best. How much different would his legacy be today though had he lived but his boxing career fizzled out much the way Wilfred Benitez's career did? Many rank him as one of the greatest fighters ever and a strong argument can be made for that based on his competition. Would that be different today had he lived and the scenario I laid out happened?

Ike Ibeabuchi and Tony Ayala Jr. Both certainly demonstarted the potential to go far. How far they could have gone is just speculation. I think both tend to get overrated and underrated.