To qualify, the boxer must have at least one win and a draw or controversial loss to the better boxer. Honestly, the best i came come with his forest and Norton, but both were really good fighters in their own right. Randy Turpin could have been the greatest.example, but je "choked" in the latter round of the rematch. Edit: barkley against hearns is an obvious choice. As is randall against chavez to a lesser extent. And no, santana against Norris doesn't count
Hearns-Barkley comes to mind. It's hard to think of a TOTAL bum having a great fighter's number. It hasn't happened often. Guys like Barkley, Junior Jones, and Norton are some of the better examples.
How about examples such as Spinks vs Holmes? Holmes was definitely the better heavyweight yet lost twice. Holmes wasn't at his best anymore but considering his success even later on his career, who knows, maybe Spinks was a difficult guy for him to fight. In some other examples (such as Ali vs Norton) too, you could argue that age played some role.
Not an all time great heavyweight though. He also beat him twice so it wasn't simply the case of underestimation or having an off night.
I'm pretty sure he gave Qawi his first loss. Or at least that's what I remember from the Spinks-Qawi broadcast.
@Jesus of montreal sorry I've been inundated with work lately, and didn't have considerable forum time yesterday. The topic title is now changed.
Juan Escobar's draw with Salvador Sanchez. A massive anomaly in Chava's career. He even rocked and floored Sanchez.
Vilomar Fernandez seems to be a nightmare stylistically for Arguello. Beat him clearly in the first fight and lost narrowly in the second fight.
Greg Page vs Mark Wills Page wasn't a great fighter amd probably a bit over it but it's still shocking he was stopped twice by a journeyman like Wills, especially in the 2nd one when he came in shape yet was brutally iced.
What is shocking about Barkley Hearns is that the 1st fight looked like the definition of a lucky punch. Hearns was dominating Barkley and seemed on the verge of stopping him. Never saw the second fight but hard to imagine Barkley beating him on points (yet by all account, the decision was legit even though the fight was close)
Yeah Tommy was doing a number on him. Some refs might have stopped it. I certainly wouldn't have been popular, but i'm not sure if it would be on top of "worst early stoppages in history" lists either.
