What's the 2nd biggest upset in boxing history?

Tyson-Douglas is universally accepted as the biggest upset in the sport's history.

In your mind, what would be number two?

 

Maybe Braddock-Baer?

 

odds wise? perception at the time wise? in retrospect ?

holyfield was a big dog vs tyson the first fight. i didnt consider it an upset at all though.

 

Spinks - Ali must be close

 

Perception at the time wise, and in retrospect.

 

Tarver vs Jones 2

 

That was as shocking a result as I've seen live but it wasn't a major upset odds wise. Lotta ppl were betting Tarver after how well he did the first fight. I lost betting jones jr by decision at even odds

 

At the time Ruiz Jr vs Joshua ranks high. Joshua was still undefeated and unlike Douglas Ruiz wasn't even in the top-10, as he was a replacement

 

Randy turpin against SRR has to rank near the top

Rahman Lewis to a lesser extent (there were rumours that Lemon wasnt taking the fight seriously, which seems confirmed by the fact that he came in at a whale weight)

 

I'd consider Lewis-Rachman I a much bigger upset than AJ-Ruiz. Just in general perception.

AJ was NEVER considered some invincible force. He was never considered head and shoulders above the rest of the Division.

Lewis was considered unbeatable coming into Rachman I.

 

Robinson-Turpin is a great one.

Curry-Honeyghan is somewhere in the top 5-10.

 

Going far back in history, Battling Siki beating Georges Charpentier was a monumental upset in its time

 

willie salazar beating danny romero was a huge upset at the time.

and of course who can forget mitchell rose defeating eric esch

 

Fighting Harada beating Jofre was a big upset. Jofre was the best fighter in the world at the time.

 

The two-time Olympic Gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez getting out-boxed in his pro debut against Adan Gonzales

 

Definitely NOT second biggest upset, but an upset nonetheless, Pacman-Barrera 1. I just rewatched it, and it was not just an upset in the result but also in how it went down- complete utter domination by Pacqiauo. Hard to see many featherweights (if any!!), beating the Pacman who showed up that night. He was throwing high speed power 5+ punch combinations like it was the start of the fight, clear through the 11th round. And the way he turned into his punches, extending their distance and power incredibly, caught everyone, not just Barrera, by surprise. Became a superstar overnight. Unbelievable performance.

 

Well I guess if hector garcia beats davis it will take the cake?

 

Fuck no. Tank isn't good enough for a win over him to be anywhere near the top upsets of all time.

Tank ain't no Tyson, Lewis, Robinson, or Curry. He isn't even top 10 P4P.

It might be the upset of 2023, but it wouldn't register historically.

Garcia's upset chances are definitely up now, but I still doubt it.

 

That fight was just shocking. Couldnt believe what i was seeing. Tought Mab would splatter that fuy

 

It's hard to call an upset a great upset when it never should have been an upset at all.

Douglas vs Tyson is an upset. There's simply no way for people to have known that Douglas, a two time failure, had compartmentalised his mother's death and trained to a maniacal extent and that Tyson had been simply going on the opposite direction in his personal and private life. Likewise nobody could have known how fucking hopeless Snowell was prepared. Even then Tyson arguably could have been declared the winner on a different night.

The Robinson Vs Turpin thing was different. That was pure bias on the behalf of the American sportscasters. Ray was touring Europe with his pink Cadillac, a midget to fix his hair, his own team of hanger-ons etc and everybody knew it. They must have known he was not getting serious training in and at the weigh in it was obvious that Robinson was facing a better conditioned man.

Upset yes but it shouldn't have been this massive shock because people had every opportunity to get wise to Rays bullshit approach to the fight. It was largely a blind eye being turned to that and the old "Fainting Phil" dismissal of Turpin that made it such a huge shock.

 

Turpin-Robinson is a good one. I actually think Turpin is one of those guys that just happens to have a style that gives the greatest fighter of all time absolute fits. He could (and did) lose to guys that couldn't lace Sugar's boots, but something about his rhythm when he shared the ring with Ray was unsettling. People say that Robinson was unprepared, and he most likely was, but Turpin was giving SRR a lot of trouble in the second fight too until Ray did what great champions do.

 

The Turpin fight definitely shocked everyone.

It just shouldn't have.

British fighters then had an awful reputation. That whole Don Cockell type of scene.

 

Yeah the whole "horizontal Brit" stuff certainly held strong. To be fair though, Turpin really didn't do a whole lot outside of the Robinson fights. He fought Olson for the title afterwards but was soundly beaten. He got splattered in one by some light-punching (Belgian?) guy if I remember correctly. Still, "not doing a whole lot" outside of beating and giving hell to the greatest boxer to ever don gloves isn't really that bad of a deal. A lot of fighters would have traded careers with him. Seemed like a good guy, Turpin, really sad and tragic life.

 

Turpin actually stopped Cockell at 175 years before Marciano beat him!!

Turpin suffered from CTE I'm sure of it. Was not himself in the later years of his life.

 

Domestically, Kirkland Laing beating Duran was a massive shock.

 

Holy shit! Never knew that about him beating Cockell, that's actually nuts. You learn something new every day, as the saying goes.

 

Donald Curry vs Lloyd Honeyghan is the answer.

 

I recall Liston being an 8 - 1 favorite against Ali in the first fight.

 

Honeyghan was an excellent fighter though.

I feel like if Curry-Honeyghan took place in 2022, it wouldn't be AS huge an upset because now UK fighters are better scouted and get more exposure. So people would have known going in that Honeyghan was very talented.

 

Honeyghan/Curry