Most Overated Fighters of all Time

[Moon]

James Toney for sure. Some people seem to believe in this guy. Why? Is it the WBC "Continental Americas Heavyweight" and IBA "Heavyweight Champ" titles? Or that whopping he put on old Evander? Maybe I missed something during that Jirov bout? Recently though, he got my attention with his domination of ...... Danny Green, now that's impressive.

Really though, Toney had his day from 1991 to 94, notably against Barkley, but those are the 'ole days. He needs to beat "somebody", soon.

[Italian250]

If anything is overrated it is your ability to post an intelligent thread. Lewis, Marciano, and De Lahoya are overrated?? 2 top 10 HW's of all time and a fighter who won titles in 4 different weight classes and took on all comers....

[Klitschko=chicken]

Mike Tyson by far is one of the most overrated.


The media milked Tyson so much because he won in such and exciting and impressive fashion.

The truth is that EVERYTIME Tyson fought a great fighter he lost. Unless you count Holmes but Holmes was old and comming out of retirement to fight Tyson for a payday.

I used to be a Tyson groupie and it took me along time to grasp this truth.

Some people even have him in their top 10 P4P list of all time great heavies. Look at every other heavy that is considered great and you'll find just about every single one of them accomplished more then Tyson.

[RobbieD]

Gotta say Tyson. The only people I really rate that he fought beat him over 3 fights (Holyfield and Lewis) and he was beaten bad by Williams and Douglas who have no business in the spots they got by beating him.

[m00ks]

Gotta say Tyson. The only people I really rate that he fought beat him over 3 fights (Holyfield and Lewis) and he was beaten bad by Williams and Douglas who have no business in the spots they got by beating him.

You gonna tell me prison didn't do **** to him? Had he stayed active, you'd only hear about him.

[bigdlb12]

Lewis and DLH are two of the most decorated boxers of any era. Did you just try and say DLH "Padded his record"? may I ask against who? I dont care if you dont like him, but anyone who questions DLH's level of competion is only going to make themselves sound foolish.

how true about DLH,lets see both him and Tito have fought Camacho,Carr,Campas,Vargas and both loss to B-Hop,just to name a few. DLH padded? LOL hell F*(^ing no, DLH can box and IMO is under rated,everytime he fights people want to see him get beat.he is small frame,good speed,great chin and ok stamina and has some power and yet his boxing skills can handle most of todays Champs

[{BrownBomber}]

There is a lot of over rated fighters , but i have to say right the most over rated fighter is without a doubt MANNY PAC!

[Neuraxis]

I was thinking....Who does everybody here think are the most overated fighters of all time. I don't mean fighters who did not live up to their potential (ie Tyson, Toney, David Reid) I mean fighters that may have had or are having great careers are doing their best but you believe are given more credit than they deserve.

The first three that come to mind are:

1)Rocky Marciano- Something should be said for retiring undefeated, but his career was largely a case of being in the right place in the right time. He beat Jersey Joe Walcott for the title (already and old man) fought a past his prime Joe Louis and Archie Moore (who almost beat him) and there were no real good young up and coming heavyweights to challenge him. He was around 8-10 years prior to the rise of Ali. He also retired just in time to not have to fight Floyd Patterson. If he was boxing 5 years earlier or later, I doubt he would have been undefeated.

2)Lennox Lewis-May be the best SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT of all time. If there was a division for people of his size, but the fact of the matter was he was a good fighter beating other good people who he had 5-6 inches of height on (at least) and who were giving away 20 pounds or more in weight to. Good big man almost always beats good smaller dude. Yet he still managed to get knocked out by Oliver McCall, Hasim Rachman, and lose to Evander Holyfield on the downside of his career. (No not his first fight where he got screwed out of the decision, the second fight they said he won) He also arguably loss to Ray Mercer. Lennox is not even in my all time heavyweight top 15 maybe not even top 20. In a mediocre era of heavyweights he was only just good.

3)Oscar De La Hoya-Here's why. He has won titles in 5 weight classes true and he is an excellent boxer. But the media hype machine (and throngs of female fans) have made him out to be a better boxer than he is. Its also given him a host of questionable decisions from Whittaker to Ike Quartery, to Felix Sturm just recently. If Hop had let it go to the cards he might have set himself up for a screw job as well. He's a great fighter, but he's had a very carefully managed career that has allowed him to make the most of his oppurtunities and pad his record with impressive (on paper wins). When he's been put in front of someone of equal or better talent he's lost (Tito, Hop, Mosley) although if he hadn't run he would have beat Tito.

I'm sure there are more what do you guys think? Do you agree with my choices, who are your choices?

How about the guy in your avatar.

[tonytucker]

I was thinking....Who does everybody here think are the most overated fighters of all time. I don't mean fighters who did not live up to their potential (ie Tyson, Toney, David Reid) I mean fighters that may have had or are having great careers are doing their best but you believe are given more credit than they deserve.

The first three that come to mind are:

1)Rocky Marciano- Something should be said for retiring undefeated, but his career was largely a case of being in the right place in the right time. He beat Jersey Joe Walcott for the title (already and old man) fought a past his prime Joe Louis and Archie Moore (who almost beat him) and there were no real good young up and coming heavyweights to challenge him. He was around 8-10 years prior to the rise of Ali. He also retired just in time to not have to fight Floyd Patterson. If he was boxing 5 years earlier or later, I doubt he would have been undefeated.

2)Lennox Lewis-May be the best SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT of all time. If there was a division for people of his size, but the fact of the matter was he was a good fighter beating other good people who he had 5-6 inches of height on (at least) and who were giving away 20 pounds or more in weight to. Good big man almost always beats good smaller dude. Yet he still managed to get knocked out by Oliver McCall, Hasim Rachman, and lose to Evander Holyfield on the downside of his career. (No not his first fight where he got screwed out of the decision, the second fight they said he won) He also arguably loss to Ray Mercer. Lennox is not even in my all time heavyweight top 15 maybe not even top 20. In a mediocre era of heavyweights he was only just good.

3)Oscar De La Hoya-Here's why. He has won titles in 5 weight classes true and he is an excellent boxer. But the media hype machine (and throngs of female fans) have made him out to be a better boxer than he is. Its also given him a host of questionable decisions from Whittaker to Ike Quartery, to Felix Sturm just recently. If Hop had let it go to the cards he might have set himself up for a screw job as well. He's a great fighter, but he's had a very carefully managed career that has allowed him to make the most of his oppurtunities and pad his record with impressive (on paper wins). When he's been put in front of someone of equal or better talent he's lost (Tito, Hop, Mosley) although if he hadn't run he would have beat Tito.

I'm sure there are more what do you guys think? Do you agree with my choices, who are your choices?

Holyfield won that rematch with Lewis clearly.

[SonnyG8R]

Larry Holmes is vastly overrated.

Don't get me wrong, he is a legitimately great heavyweight, but if you look at most people's top 5 Holmes is usually somewhere between 2-5.I'm sorry, but that is just too much respect.

Larry Holmes never did unify the title. Durng the second half of his title run he openly avoided the challenges of fighters like Greg Page and Pinklon Thomas in favor of safer opponents such as Marvis Frazier and Scott Frank. Tim Witherspoon was supposed to be too green, as was Carl Williams, and yet there are many who believe both deserved the decisions against Holmes. Even earlier in his title days Holmes was knocked down and badly hurt against Ernie Shavers and Renaldo Snipes. And his title winning effort against Ken Norton was so close it could have gone either way.