Fighters whose style is misunderstood by fans

[SBleeder]

In other words, I'm talking about fighters who are thought of as having a certain style, but really didn't.

Roberto Duran- posters repeatedly refer to him as a brawler. In reality he was a fantastic boxer who could counterpunch beautifully. He was willing to brawl with you, but he won most of his fights by outthinking his opponent.

Sonny Liston: Chronically misidentified as a Foreman-esque "slugger"; Liston was a heavy-handed boxer-puncher, who stalked opponents behind his jab.

[jabsRstiff]

Many people look at Marvin Hagler's bald head, physique, and his fight with Thomas Hearns.....making them think he was the slugger of sluggers.

Truth is, he was a technician first.....and his right jab is one of the best jabs in boxing history.

[Barn]

Was gonna be my first pick.

I'll take Pernell Whitaker to a certaine extent, some people think he barely through punches and was always going backwards defending, which just isn't true.

[The Surgeon]

The worst misconceptions are Duran and Hagler imo.

Sugar Ray had more FIGHT in him than fringe fans think too, the first Duran fight was more typical of him than the second

[The Surgeon]

For a while there people had Cotto pegged as a straight at u body ****ing slugger when in truth he has always had a great jab and throughout his career turned boxer when the occasion called like in his bouts with Ceballos, N'dou and Abdullaev for example

[DarkTerror88]

Frazier is oft viewed as a one handed slugger with no defense. He was, in actuality, a bobbing weaving swarmer. He would put his head in your chest, and use movement of head and upperbody to avoid punches. He had a cross arm defense that would generally protect against uppercuts. He had one of, if not the most vicious body attacks in HW history, and a IMO the best HW left hook. He never run out of gas, and would keep fighting in that ring until he died.

[bojangles1987]

I think Pacquiao is misunderstood. People think of him as a brawler, a guy looking to always get into big slugfests, when he is more of a midrange boxer puncher now. He tries to make his opponents think they are in slugfests, so he can sit at mid range and kill them.

Chavez is misunderstood as having been a face first brawler, and doesn't get credit for his defense while moving forward.

[Thread Stealer]

If you've read a lot of my posts, you know what I'm going to say.

Marvin Fuc*ing Hagler.

People always talking about him like he was some pressure fighter who took 2 to give 1. Watch his damn fights other than against Tommy!

As a matter of fact, I'd say 3 of the Fab 4 get misunderstood quite a bit.

People think of Sugar Ray Leonard as this fleet-footed dancer, but he fought that way when he was adjusting to a certain style of opponent (Hagler, Duran). He normally was flat-footed and was far more aggressive and hard-hitting than people would think. People talk about how he fought Duran's fight in Montreal, well him in the rematch was not exactly Leonard's usual fight either.

Duran, like many aggressive pressure fighters, gets underrated with skills because people overlook them. Same with Chavez. Although both Chavez and Duran could box, and Chavez spent like 90% of the Lockridge fight on the backfoot and circling.

It takes a lot of skills to cut off the ring, slip shots, roll with them, place your punches well, mix it up to the body and head, etc...

[Thread Stealer]

For a while there people had Cotto pegged as a straight at u body ****ing slugger when in truth he has always had a great jab and throughout his career turned boxer when the occasion called like in his bouts with Ceballos, N'dou and Abdullaev for example

Agreed. People were surprised when Cotto outboxed Mosley, but I wasn't. Mosley is more of a speedy slugger than a boxer IMO, and Cotto switched up his fighting styles depending on the situation and opponent.

Like you said, look at the Abdullaev and N'Dou fights. How much of those two fights was he actually applying pressure and coming at his opponent?

[them_apples]

As mentioned..:

Whitaker didn't always run, he'd make you miss and stay in the pocket more times than not.

Duran had probably the best counter right hand I've ever seen, ever. Better than Mayweathers. He could explode and throw it so fast he was beating Leonards jab back to his face.

Tyson being an inside fighter is another, he fought from the outside, he'd make you miss - and counter.

Pacquiao being a face first brawler with just good genetics. Wrong. Maybe at FW he was like that, but as he's moved up he's been a very technical boxer puncher with decent defense.

Leonard being an Ali clone. He fought like that in very very few fights. He was actually a slick boxer puncher by all standards. Rarely did he get up and run, he often stalked his opponents.