Great fighters that we don't hear enough about

we always discuss about the best fighters like SRR, ali, pep, greb, armstrong, duran, etc. there are fighters that are always mentioned. but who are some great fighters that may not be top 10 or even top 20, but are still an ATG that we should hear more about.

ike williams- great lightweight. amazing fighter. beat some great fighters like gavilan, jack, montgomery, and angott. good footwork, great quickness and power. there is nothing this guy couldnt do. montgomery said that he was the toughest fighter he had every faced. easily a top 5 lightweight in my book

tommy loughran- i just seem to never hear his name mentioned. he was a great light HW. he is the man who made braddock the cinderella man because of how badly he beat him and put his career down the drain. beat great fighters like greb, carpentier, braddock(at light HW which was the better version of braddock), walker, baer, and sharkey. he probably could have won the HW title too but im assuming that he was paid off to lose against carnera for the title. he is so good at the basics. jab, move, jab, right hand. he impresses me a lot. top 3 light HW IMO.

jimmy wilde- i hear his name mentioned when we talk about great small fighter (which isnt too often), but he is more than that. he isnt just a great small fighter, he is a great fighter in general. he would KO people way bigger than him. at that time in boxing, he had to fight bigger guys. if you want to have hundreds of fights, you have to fight guys bigger than you. a ton of his fights arent recorded either so im sure that he has hundreds of fights. probably more than most fighters ever.

Clubber Lang had a good run, especially considering Rocky's management at the time was sending him bums while Rocky pretended not to realize it. There was a several year stretch where he was easily the best HW around. He then KOs the champ in round 2 and wins the title, but after the rematch, we never heard from him again. History has kind of ignored him since that day.

LMAO wolf that was funny

Sonny Liston definitely doesnt get his due, Mickey Walker, Joe Gans, George Dixon, Nonpareli Jack Dempsey are just a few of the unknow that should be known well. Dont get their due IMO

Birdofthad wrote:

LMAO wolf that was funny

Sonny Liston definitely doesnt get his due, Mickey Walker, Joe Gans, George Dixon, Nonpareli Jack Dempsey are just a few of the unknow that should be known well. Dont get their due IMO

I think if it wasn't for Ali, Liston would've easily held the title into the late 60's to early 70's.

Jimmy McLarnin. Three wars with Barney Ross in the span of one year. Retired the Ghetto Wizard. Beat the breaks off of Canzonari after dropping the first meeting. Retired rich, invested his money and lived a full life until the the age of 96.

A lot of these guys are more well known thanks specifically to the Fight Night franchise. That is how I originally got familar with many of them.

hardcoreBEE24 wrote:

Jimmy McLarnin. Three wars with Barney Ross in the span of one year. Retired the Ghetto Wizard. Beat the breaks off of Canzonari after dropping the first meeting. Retired rich, invested his money and lived a full life until the the age of 96.

good one

good topic..i disagree that liston would of been champ till the early70s.he was koed by leotis martin and struggled with weapner....many great fighters and some true hofamers that never won a title like billy graham or billy petrole are not talked about.maybe because folKs read the name but know nothing about them..williams was a great LW in a history filled with great LWS.top 5 i dont think so but none the less a true great that would walk threw the LWS of today and the past several years..laughran for sure i feel a top 5-7 LH of all time..great left hand indeed..
if mickey walker took fighting on a more serious note instead of heavy drinking threw his career.

WOW on walker.still a top 10 or 15 fighter of all time..yep all time...harry wills was a great one..cerdan also rarely talked about..ditto kid chocalote.now only if he trained religiously..yet a great one..lou ambers also..a shame that he killed a guy in the ring that effected his style a lot yet a ATG..EDER JOFRE GEE WE CAN GO ON AND ON ABOUT THE GREATS OF THE PAST AND IF THEY FOUGHT TODAY THERE WOULD BE A LOT L;ESS MANNY -FLOYD TALK FOR SURE...GOOD TOPIC.MAYBE ONCE A WEEK WE SHOIULD PICK A TRUE atg AND DISCUSS HIM..IM IN FOR SURE.

i agree dmar. we should pick a fighter once a week and learn more about him. im all for it.

you made a great list. fighters like wills, cerdan, chocolate, and ambers are all people i know a little about but i would love to learn more. i know that they beat great fighters and were great fighters themselves.

Charley Burley

Sumbu Kalambay had a very nice career. Wins over McCallum, Barkley, DeWitt, Graham, etc. Nobody talks about him at all though.

Sven Ottke.

ottke and kalambay were both good fighters but far from what i would call great..

A fighter of the week is a good idea. Some on this board know a great deal about boxing history and fighters (I consider myself okay with boxing history and fighters historically but nothing compared to guys like Marble), but others are just getting into it.

i got into boxing about 10 years ago but i started really getting into it a little after that (im only 22). i learned a ton throughout high school but ive slowed down since then. i still try to learn but im not as good about it as i used to be.

i will put up a fighter a week though. i dont know how we will do it. should we vote? is one person going to explain the fighter or are we all just going to discuss the fighter and show his accomplishments and give stories?

dmar5143 wrote:

good topic..i disagree that liston would of been champ till the early70s.he was koed by leotis martin and struggled with weapner....many great fighters and some true hofamers that never won a title like billy graham or billy petrole are not talked about.maybe because folKs read the name but know nothing about them..williams was a great LW in a history filled with great LWS.top 5 i dont think so but none the less a true great that would walk threw the LWS of today and the past several years..laughran for sure i feel a top 5-7 LH of all time..great left hand indeed..
if mickey walker took fighting on a more serious note instead of heavy drinking threw his career.

Ali took Liston's confidence. After those two fights, he was a memory. Would Martin and Wepner have destroyed Patterson and the many other fighters Liston took care of? Could they knock out a man's whole row of teeth with a jab? Angelo Dundee said it best. "The only guy who could lick Liston, did it." Imagine Joe Frazier coming foward against Liston. Well, if you've seen the Foreman vs. Frazier fights, you don't have to use too much of your brain power to envision it. I think Joe's one of the best HW's ever, but styles make fights. He was the most dangerous HW in the late 70s and made for Sonny Liston.

hi frank..ill agree with you that liston was a excellent heavyweight..if you realy look at his fights and ive seen most of them live and one in person liston was not the indestructable force thats been credited to him..sorry. a great powerfull jab yes indeed.a decent body puncher.yep.a devastating ko puncher..absolutely not.looking at the patterson fights and the glass jaw of patterson you see poor execution by sony..terrible levearge on his punches.acuracy lacking on a target ready to go.his ko of nino valdez a washed up wanna bee was not devistating. the win over out of shape mike dejohn who took a ten count on one knee.he quit cause of conditioning..
liston was a great frontrunner .ali took no confidence out on him..liston was far from the puncher foreman was in his prime..in the late 60s liston was ripe for joe frazier.joe would of destroyed him with body shots and hooks...the big stare the newspaper build up of a indestructable fighter was created.the bad prision boy..
wepner was a stiff but gave his all in fights..leotis martin is something else..he had talent and a good punch and was avoided for a while..could he have koed the guys liston did..yep indeed.and in a more destructive fashion..patterson i feel overall was better than martin but with his glass jaw any puncher with clout that hit him could of koed him..look roy harris pete rademacker mcneely all light hitters had him on the deck.i think hurricane jackson did also there first fight.none were big punchers so martin yes indeed could of had a great punchers chance.
liston fought in a era the patterson era which like today is one of the worst eras ever in the HW divsion..maybe even slightly worse than todays era..
liston may have knocked out a few front teeth with a jab not all the front teeth.thats about 14 teeth..exaggeration is part of every legend including listons alis dempseys etc etc etc.angie dundee is great in promoting his fighters..ive had a few long one on one talks with angie and hes more realistic one on one when no press is around..yes at that time when liston was champ ali was the only one capable of beating him..why..the era sucked thats why...no doubt i consider sonny a great heavy but also consider him one of the most overated fighters ever also..

powerpuncher wrote:

i got into boxing about 10 years ago but i started really getting into it a little after that (im only 22). i learned a ton throughout high school but ive slowed down since then. i still try to learn but im not as good about it as i used to be.

i will put up a fighter a week though. i dont know how we will do it. should we vote? is one person going to explain the fighter or are we all just going to discuss the fighter and show his accomplishments and give stories?

...wow only 22 and great insite..powerpuncher just suggest a fighter a real great one and give your thoughts on him..the rest of the posters can give imput on the fighter.its like a general disgussion over a few drinks...

dmar5143 wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:

i got into boxing about 10 years ago but i started really getting into it a little after that (im only 22). i learned a ton throughout high school but ive slowed down since then. i still try to learn but im not as good about it as i used to be.

i will put up a fighter a week though. i dont know how we will do it. should we vote? is one person going to explain the fighter or are we all just going to discuss the fighter and show his accomplishments and give stories?

...wow only 22 and great insite..powerpuncher just suggest a fighter a real great one and give your thoughts on him..the rest of the posters can give imput on the fighter.its like a general disgussion over a few drinks...

sounds good. and thanks for the compliment

Pambéle and Rocky Valdéz.

These two articles help sum them up better than I can:

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=19293&more=1

http://cyberboxingzone.com/cbzforum/showthread.php?t=2477

powerpuncher wrote:

we always discuss about the best fighters like SRR, ali, pep, greb, armstrong, duran, etc. there are fighters that are always mentioned. but who are some great fighters that may not be top 10 or even top 20, but are still an ATG that we should hear more about.

ike williams- great lightweight. amazing fighter. beat some great fighters like gavilan, jack, montgomery, and angott. good footwork, great quickness and power. there is nothing this guy couldnt do. montgomery said that he was the toughest fighter he had every faced. easily a top 5 lightweight in my book

tommy loughran- i just seem to never hear his name mentioned. he was a great light HW. he is the man who made braddock the cinderella man because of how badly he beat him and put his career down the drain. beat great fighters like greb, carpentier, braddock(at light HW which was the better version of braddock), walker, baer, and sharkey. he probably could have won the HW title too but im assuming that he was paid off to lose against carnera for the title. he is so good at the basics. jab, move, jab, right hand. he impresses me a lot. top 3 light HW IMO.

jimmy wilde- i hear his name mentioned when we talk about great small fighter (which isnt too often), but he is more than that. he isnt just a great small fighter, he is a great fighter in general. he would KO people way bigger than him. at that time in boxing, he had to fight bigger guys. if you want to have hundreds of fights, you have to fight guys bigger than you. a ton of his fights arent recorded either so im sure that he has hundreds of fights. probably more than most fighters ever.

Nicve post. Ike is simply scary on film. He gets such leverage on his punches. Loughran is perhaps the best one handed fighter the sport ever saw. His left hand was remarkable. Jimmy Wilde is simply one of the 15 greatest ever to lace'm up. Just astonishing.

How about a guy like Ismael Laguna? Fast, slick and flashy as hell. Got wins over Carlos Ortiz, Mando Ramos and saix of his nine losses came to HOFers. Duran's hero.

Or how about Nicolino Locche. One on the mkost unique fighters ever to step in the ring. You have to see him to believe him.

dmar5143 wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:

i got into boxing about 10 years ago but i started really getting into it a little after that (im only 22). i learned a ton throughout high school but ive slowed down since then. i still try to learn but im not as good about it as i used to be.

i will put up a fighter a week though. i dont know how we will do it. should we vote? is one person going to explain the fighter or are we all just going to discuss the fighter and show his accomplishments and give stories?

...wow only 22 and great insite..powerpuncher just suggest a fighter a real great one and give your thoughts on him..the rest of the posters can give imput on the fighter.its like a general disgussion over a few drinks...

Bird and PP at their age are more than a little scary aren't they?

dmar5143 wrote:

hi frank..ill agree with you that liston was a excellent heavyweight..if you realy look at his fights and ive seen most of them live and one in person liston was not the indestructable force thats been credited to him..sorry. a great powerfull jab yes indeed.a decent body puncher.yep.a devastating ko puncher..absolutely not.looking at the patterson fights and the glass jaw of patterson you see poor execution by sony..terrible levearge on his punches.acuracy lacking on a target ready to go.his ko of nino valdez a washed up wanna bee was not devistating. the win over out of shape mike dejohn who took a ten count on one knee.he quit cause of conditioning..
liston was a great frontrunner .ali took no confidence out on him..liston was far from the puncher foreman was in his prime..in the late 60s liston was ripe for joe frazier.joe would of destroyed him with body shots and hooks...the big stare the newspaper build up of a indestructable fighter was created.the bad prision boy..
wepner was a stiff but gave his all in fights..leotis martin is something else..he had talent and a good punch and was avoided for a while..could he have koed the guys liston did..yep indeed.and in a more destructive fashion..patterson i feel overall was better than martin but with his glass jaw any puncher with clout that hit him could of koed him..look roy harris pete rademacker mcneely all light hitters had him on the deck.i think hurricane jackson did also there first fight.none were big punchers so martin yes indeed could of had a great punchers chance.
liston fought in a era the patterson era which like today is one of the worst eras ever in the HW divsion..maybe even slightly worse than todays era..
liston may have knocked out a few front teeth with a jab not all the front teeth.thats about 14 teeth..exaggeration is part of every legend including listons alis dempseys etc etc etc.angie dundee is great in promoting his fighters..ive had a few long one on one talks with angie and hes more realistic one on one when no press is around..yes at that time when liston was champ ali was the only one capable of beating him..why..the era sucked thats why...no doubt i consider sonny a great heavy but also consider him one of the most overated fighters ever also..

This is interesting. I noticed Sonny wasn't the most coordianted fighter I've ever seen as well. I think he was very powerful though. Patterson was the most knocked down HW Champ in history, but nobody but Sonny ever kept him down.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:

we always discuss about the best fighters like SRR, ali, pep, greb, armstrong, duran, etc. there are fighters that are always mentioned. but who are some great fighters that may not be top 10 or even top 20, but are still an ATG that we should hear more about.

ike williams- great lightweight. amazing fighter. beat some great fighters like gavilan, jack, montgomery, and angott. good footwork, great quickness and power. there is nothing this guy couldnt do. montgomery said that he was the toughest fighter he had every faced. easily a top 5 lightweight in my book

tommy loughran- i just seem to never hear his name mentioned. he was a great light HW. he is the man who made braddock the cinderella man because of how badly he beat him and put his career down the drain. beat great fighters like greb, carpentier, braddock(at light HW which was the better version of braddock), walker, baer, and sharkey. he probably could have won the HW title too but im assuming that he was paid off to lose against carnera for the title. he is so good at the basics. jab, move, jab, right hand. he impresses me a lot. top 3 light HW IMO.

jimmy wilde- i hear his name mentioned when we talk about great small fighter (which isnt too often), but he is more than that. he isnt just a great small fighter, he is a great fighter in general. he would KO people way bigger than him. at that time in boxing, he had to fight bigger guys. if you want to have hundreds of fights, you have to fight guys bigger than you. a ton of his fights arent recorded either so im sure that he has hundreds of fights. probably more than most fighters ever.

Nicve post. Ike is simply scary on film. He gets such leverage on his punches. Loughran is perhaps the best one handed fighter the sport ever saw. His left hand was remarkable. Jimmy Wilde is simply one of the 15 greatest ever to lace'm up. Just astonishing.

How about a guy like Ismael Laguna? Fast, slick and flashy as hell. Got wins over Carlos Ortiz, Mando Ramos and saix of his nine losses came to HOFers. Duran's hero.

Or how about Nicolino Locche. One on the mkost unique fighters ever to step in the ring. You have to see him to believe him.

nice ads. i dont know much about ismael laguna at all other than that he fought ortiz. same with locche. they are names ive heard and know that they fought ortiz.