Was thinking about this today, and had an argument with an AJ fan about it on Twitter... When was the last time somebody in a major world title fight got tonked like AJ did and turned it around emphatically in the rematch? People might say Lewis, but that's bullshit, he got caught with one shot, these can be written off as flukes, he was never dropped four times and he never took a beating. Last example I can think of off the top of my head is Patterson-Johansson.
You almost have to go back to the "olden days" to find good examples. When fights are pretty one sided and decisive there will rarely be a rematch because of that exact outcome.
I fail to see how AJ-Ruiz qualify but LL loses (especially the McCall one) does not. Joshua was in the driver's seat and it looked like he was about to ko Ruiz before he got caught himself. Only differences with Lewis's losses is that he was counted out (or stopped by the ref) exactly after getting caught while Joshua continued for a while. But Joshua fans could argue, and not without merit, that the reason he looked so bad afterward is precisely because he never recovered from the knockdown.
Ok, by ''tonked'' it seems you mean battered instead of outclassed. So yeah, it this way LL losses are definitely different
Nelson-Fenech is a pretty good example. Fenech whupped Nelson's ass in the first fight, and got big time robbed. But Nelson completely obliterated Jeff in the rematch.
Wladerina was giving it hard to Brewster till the last round, and he barely got hit in the last round
No Rosenblatt was whooping Paz before getting one punch KOed. More similar to Lewiss losses than AJ. And I guess youre refering to the 3rd Hilton Ouellet fight? I guess this one kind of qualify
Eric Lucas VS Glenn Catley is a good example. Catley beat Lucas like the bum he was in the first fight, yet got destroyed in the second one (he was damaged good at that point though)
Beyer vs Dany Green kind of qualify. Yes Green lost the first fight, but he was whooping Beyer so easily before the DQ, that the rematch seemed like a foregone conclusion. Beyer turning it around and winning the re was simply astonishing Hell, it seemed like such a foregone conclusion, that His Royness and another german poster, made a fake rbr before the fight that had Beyer winning, and everyone on fightbeat was litteraly tripping. Their epic troll job was soon forgotten not long after, when Beyer actually won the fight
Simon Brown vs Terry Norris comes to mind. Norris was knocked down in the first round with a jab, wobbled at the end of the second, nearly floored at the end of the third and then dropped face first on the canvas and Ko'd in the fourth. Came back to win the rematch easily.
Kovalev turned it around recently. And I thought he had no chance. It’s a winnable fight for AJ, I think. But I won’t be betting on him.
Paul Williams lost like 10 rounds against Carlos Quintana in the 1st meeting only to one round KO him in the rematch
First two rounds were close, wasn't much happening. I mean you could make a case for AJ winning them but 20-18 is hardly a massive lead.
