Most overrated European fighter of the decade?

[BritishBoxing92]

Following Tunney/Carnivore/Kid Lavigne/Whoever he wants to call himself today's anti-American thread, for the sake of balance it's only fair to do a similar poll on European fighters.

So, who is the most overrated European boxer of the past ten years?

ceebs in voting...

[Dave Rado]

Of that list for me its Haye, he's a damn good fighter, but people believe he can beat te Klit brothers, and to me thats overrating him greatly.

I agree that the British press have got carried away on the Haye bandwagon. Most of the US press thinks he has only an outside chance but that he's still probably got a better chance than anyone else around at the moment, and that he's probably going to make it exciting while it lasts. I think that's a fair assessment. But I agree the British press are slavering over him to a sickening extent.

[Tobi.G]

It has to be Ricky Hatton.

[Tobi.G]

you only needed one name here and thats calzaghe

It cant be Calzaghe, the guy never lost!! I have to say i never liked him but overrated? no!

[Roy Hobbs]

I've voted for Ottke. He was rated either #1 or #2 at his weight for many years, but got a lot of biased refereeing, and biased judging decisions, and he would have lost several of his fights without that help. Plus he never stepped up and fought or even called out any of the other top fighters or belt holders. Calzaghe left it late before fighting really highly rated opposition, but he fought some in the end, and he'd been calling them out long before that. Ottke was quite happy to just plough his little furrow in Germany for his entire career and never looked further than that.

Ive heard a lot about ottke & his many gift decisions, but i really dont understand how anybody could call calzaghe the most overrated. The guy was highly skilled & his athleticism, style, & work rate is highly underrated. A lot of the hate stems from him beating bernard & roy in their 40s & as you have mentioned calzaghe has himself to blame for that. He should have made more of an effort to come to the states a lot sooner. he should have taken the initiative.

[jameshepenstall]

I forgot about him, but he's really only come to prominence at the very end of the decade, plus he's far too young to make a fair judgement about him one way or the other, IMO. The way he's ducked Maidana is bad, though, but I still don't think someone who only really came to prominence in 2009 could reasonably be called the most over-rated European fighter of the entire decade.

true, true. i just cant say any of them. i kind of think they are over hyped maybe but overall not overrated by non-countrymen.

[Mr. Philadel]

Ricky Hatton....hands down!!!......and to those sayin' Joe Calzaghe.....say what you what about his slaps or resume, but even a blind man could see that this mofo could box and fight when needed.....there's noone quite like Joe Calzaghe (style wise) in the game

[Dave Rado]

Ive heard a lot about ottke & his many gift decisions, but i really dont understand how anybody could call calzaghe the most overrated. The guy was highly skilled & his athleticism, style, & work rate is highly underrated. A lot of the hate stems from him beating bernard & roy in their 40s & as you have mentioned calzaghe has himself to blame for that. He should have made more of an effort to come to the states a lot sooner. he should have taken the initiative.

I agree with what you say. Some hate him because he took far more credit than they think he should have for beating Bernard and Roy when both were past their primes (especially Roy). Some just hate his slappy style, which I can understand - but his footwork, ring intelligence, speed, workrate, sheer guts and overall skill more than make up for the slappyness for me. And against come forward fighters like Lacy and Brewer, he could be very exciting.

Also, he didn't slap much before he first injured his hand. The fact that he managed to find a way to keep winning despite having such fragile hands is something to respect him for rather than denigrate him for, IMO - but I admit his punching was ugly at times.

Funnily enough, Lewis's defining fights were also against past their prime fighters (Holyfield and especially Tyson) - but that doesn't get held against Lewis in the same way, although he did fight a lot of other good competition before that, I guess.

[STRUGG]

how can hatton be overrated when...........he just loss to the best?

[Ray*]

For me it between Ottke and Hatton..