luckiest guy ever to win or retain title...

[shommel]

who got absolutley lucky to either win the title or retain it? and how and why do you consider it luck?

[SteveO]

Maybe Griffin beating Jones Jr by DQ for the WBC LH title. Close on the cards with Griffin up on one card, but I suspect Jones would have pulled away had he not hit Griffin when he was down.

[teeto]

let me take this opportunity, gotta be JCC when he fought Whitaker.

[AlFrancis]

Billy Backus.
Beating an all time great Napoles on a cut eye.
Worlds apart.

[Bad_Intentions]

Maybe Griffin beating Jones Jr by DQ for the WBC LH title. Close on the cards with Griffin up on one card, but I suspect Jones would have pulled away had he not hit Griffin when he was down.
:good

[MRBILL]

Jake LaMotta in 1950.... Gene Tunney in 1927.... Ali in '76.... Michael Spinks in 1986..... I know every weight class goes, but this was just off the top of my head in a flash.... Cheers...

MR.BILL

[teeto]

Come on guys, in terms of pure luck my pick must be a hot one, no? Some great picks here for the subject of the thread, but i had Whitaker beating JCC 10-2 in rounds, though i did think it was competitive and hotly contested.

[Bad_Intentions]

the only one that pops in my head is JBD beating tyson.

[teeto]

the only one that pops in my head is JBD beating tyson.
U r joking?

[The Wanderer]

the only one that pops in my head is JBD beating tyson.
No, that's called a huge upset, and a lot of skill, and a lot of different circumstances working together. Not luck.

[Woller]

I admit that I had ODLH winning by a mile. (like the judges, thank god, once they were right)
Woller
But what about Barkley ko Hearns?

[teeto]

No1 Replying To My Post???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[heehoo]

Bentt vs. Morrison.

[heehoo]

let me take this opportunity, gotta be JCC when he fought Whitaker.

Nah, that was a robbery.

[teeto]

Oh shit yea, it was JCC moving up to CHALLENGE for a title, just saw the thread properly now and it says RETAINING!

embarrassed mysellf there!!!

[hit me HARDER]

Lloyd Honeyghan

[Laurent Robert]

JCC vs Taylor?

Lewis v Vitali?

[Curtis Lowe]

Tomas Molinares. He won the Welterweight championship from Marlon Starling with a one punch knockout. The lucky part was he hit Starling after the bell. Starling didn't even remember being hit and went down so akwardly he screwed up his ankle. If I recall correctly, Molinares never made a defense.

[red cobra]

Billy Backus.
Beating an all time great Napoles on a cut eye.
Worlds apart.
The Ultimate Fluke, as Napoles proved in the rematch.

[zulander]

Not really a classic fighter but in years to come Rachmans name will be conjured up in threads like this

[TBooze]

Ad Walgast defending against Joe Rivers, despite Ad pretty much being out cold at the end. The advantages of having your friend i guess.

[SteveO]

But what about Barkley ko Hearns?

I thought about that, but then Barkley came back and beat Hearns by decision. It was a split, but it was a decision.

Almost like it showed that he could beat him, and the first win wasn't flukey.

[teeto]

Yeah Barkley deserved that decision in the rematch imo definitely.

[Jersey Joe]

Billy Backus.
Beating an all time great Napoles on a cut eye.
Worlds apart.

I have to disagree. Backus fought well and the cut was not luck, it was the result of his punches landing on Napoles. Backus fought respectably in the rematch too. It's not like he was a bum who got lucky.

[MRBILL]

JCC vs Taylor?

Lewis v Vitali?

Lewis was lucky against Klit in '03...:yep

[Calroid]

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 1

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 2

[My2Sense]

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 1

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 2

WINNER.

:good

[TBooze]

Jorge Vaca for that stupid accidental butt rule that meant because Honeyghan was not cut, he lost a point and thus the title to the Mexican journeyman.

[Rattler]

I wanna say John Ruiz, I really do.

[Arriba]

Maybe Griffin beating Jones Jr by DQ for the WBC LH title. Close on the cards with Griffin up on one card, but I suspect Jones would have pulled away had he not hit Griffin when he was down.

I think Jones would've knocked him out in that round IMO.

[Longhhorn71]

I have to disagree. Backus fought well and the cut was not luck, it was the result of his punches landing on Napoles. Backus fought respectably in the rematch too. It's not like he was a bum who got lucky.

I concur too.

The fight was in Syracuse....his uncle Carmen B was there, Billy's a southpaw, and he wanted to win. He cut up Napoles which is all part of the game.

But bad move on Backus' Mgmt to fight Napoles in Jose's backyard of Los Angeles 6 months later. Billy took the $$$ to defend out there.

[Rebel-INS]

I thought about that, but then Barkley came back and beat Hearns by decision. It was a split, but it was a decision.

Almost like it showed that he could beat him, and the first win wasn't flukey.

The first win was definitely flukey. Barkley was being massacred until he landed that huge right. Would've been stopped if it wasn't for that punch. He did deserve the second fight though.

[he grant]

Love him but Foreman beating Moorer was pretty lucky to me ...

[Longhhorn71]

Love him but Foreman beating Moorer was pretty lucky to me ...

George made us old farts proud.

[Taylor_brogdon]

Carlos Baldomier beating Zab Judah and then KOing Arturo Gatti to retain the title.

[Dempsey1238]

Carlos Baldomier beating Zab Judah and then KOing Arturo Gatti to retain the title.

Dont belive any one of thsos fights were lucky, Zab stop fighting after getting hit with a good shot, and Gatti was just past his prime coming into the fight, and it was not relly a close fight.

[Taylor_brogdon]

Well according to alot of critics, Carlos has ZERO chance of even coming close to beating Zab. Gatti was also the favorite going into the fight.

[Dempsey1238]

Perhaps he was the underdog, but neither of thsos wins were lucky so to speak.

A Lucky win imo, is when one is way behide on the cards, and finds a way to win, Lamotta, Marciano, even Louis pull that off. Carlos was not behind in either fight for that to count imo.

[Taylor_brogdon]

How about Tysons one punch KO of Botha. He was behind on the cards until the stoppage..

[Dempsey1238]

Maybe a few rounds, but Tyson was not trailing like Louis vs Conn I or Marciano Walcott imo. Botha gave Tyson some trouble, but we all knew sooner or later Tyson was going to find the mark. It was only a matter of time.

[JohnThomas1]

Chavez might have been a wee bit lucky vs Randall too.

[AlFrancis]

I have to disagree. Backus fought well and the cut was not luck, it was the result of his punches landing on Napoles. Backus fought respectably in the rematch too. It's not like he was a bum who got lucky.

I'd never call any fighter a bum and all respect to Backus. I've haven't actually seen this fight so I was making assumptions based on both fighters records and mark on the welterweight division. Your right that cut eyes are part of the game and I've never heard otherwise that the cuts weren't caused by clean punches. I'll take back then that he was lucky.
You've got to admit though that it is one of those results that goes against the form guide.

[fists of fury]

Chavez might have been a wee bit lucky vs Randall too.

You're talking about Randall 2 and the cut, correct? That would be one of my picks as well. Randall seemed to be getting the better of Chavez when the fight was stopped.

John Mugabi beating Rene Jacquot springs to mind as well. Jacquot slipped and hurt his ankle in the first round and could not continue. Maybe Mugabi would have won anyway, but not so easily.

Virgil Hill vs. Adolpho Washington, where Washington (admittedly behind on points) got TKO'd by a ringside cameraman.

[rusty nails]

jcc vs taylor.. nazeem hamed vs kevin kelley ditto augie sanchez(a little more pepper on some of those shots and hamed could have been out)

[JohnThomas1]

You're talking about Randall 2 and the cut, correct? That would be one of my picks as well. Randall seemed to be getting the better of Chavez when the fight was stopped.


That's the one, cheers.

[teeto]

You've got to admit though that it is one of those results that go's against the form guide.

Right there, like you said, in terms of greatness- worlds apart.

[stevebhoy87]

ramirez v whitaker, how ramirez won that fight and kept his title i'll never know.

[he grant]

Randall / Chavez 2 was complete robbery ...

Leon Spinks was pretty lucky as well ...

Jess Willard was kind of lucky ... can't imagine how a 37 year old champ agrees to a 45 round fight to be held in Cuba against a giant with a concrete chin ?

[TBooze]

ramirez v whitaker, how ramirez won that fight and kept his title i'll never know.

Senor Suliman made it so.;)

[guncho]

the guy that beat twice Terry Norris by DQ!

[zadfrak]

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 1

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 2

Man, was that 2nd fight strange or what? And going into that rematch Santana was one of those sacrificial lambs Don King used to like bringing in for title defenses for his money makers. If memory serves correct, that journeyman had only won 2 or 3 of his previous 10 fights going into that Norris bout against nobodies and he was rewarded with a title shot.

And then Norris goes and tags the guy to get dq'd again with one of the biggest cheapshots the sport has seen. Incredible. To me it was more surprising than Golata-Bowe 2 because at least in that one you had 2 top 10 guys fighting and knew about the history of both guys and their fouling.

[zadfrak]

ramirez v whitaker, how ramirez won that fight and kept his title i'll never know.

How he kept his title is simple; One guy was a Don King fighter and the other guy was with a different promotional company. From about 77-2004, you can almost count on 2 thumbs the amount of times the King fighter was not the beneficiary of a controversy when the bout involved a rival promoter.

Statistically, it should be a 50-50 thing.

[Slider75]

who got absolutley lucky to either win the title or retain it? and how and why do you consider it luck?

The first guy i could think of was Hasim Rahman against Lewis in their first fight, that was a lucky punch, and Lewis proved in the rematch that the guy was just a Has-been Rahman (Lewis own words)

[True Writer]

Ali vs Norton. Ali had a lot of "luck" in his career

[Jack Presscot]

Come on guys, in terms of pure luck my pick must be a hot one, no? Some great picks here for the subject of the thread, but i had Whitaker beating JCC 10-2 in rounds, though i did think it was competitive and hotly contested.Funny. I had Whitaker beating DLH by the same score!:good

[Danny]

Surely Buster Douglas must be up there in this one? Him beating Tyson was not just a fighter becoming champion, it was like winning the lottery on the same night aswell.

Douglas earned $24,000,000 for his first defence of the title. Clearly, Douglas knew he had made it, in terms of financial stakes he had, & his motivation deteriorated greatly once he knew this!

[TBooze]

Ali vs Norton. Ali had a lot of "luck" in his career

The better you are, the luckier you seem to be....

[whodunit]

Mercer - Damiani and
Byrd - Vitali Klitschko come to my mind

[jeffradka]

That's the one, cheers.

whos that in your avatar?:admin

[JohnThomas1]

whos that in your avatar?:admin

Sal recently said who she was in the pic sticky thread at the top of the page. I can't remember the name :lol:

[Bigcat]

Luis Santana immediately sprung to mind..

To lose in that fashion once was unlucky but twice .. God damn..

[Drew101]

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 1

Luis Santana versus Terry Norris 2

Nicely done.

Along the same lines, Pedro Carrasco won the title against Manuel Ramos by DQ despite being down four times in the fight.

[ThinBlack]

Tony Tubbs was lucky, despite his talent, to face a disinterested Greg Page to win his belt.Michael Dokes, though he had the tools to beat Mike Weaver, was beneficiary of a Don King masterplay.Mike Rossman probably got to Victor Galindez at the right moment.Ray Leonard caught Marvin Hagler on the downslide.Duane Thomas, depending on whose view, was probably fortunate to get John Mugabi with a thumb(?).Mark Breland was definately fortunate to retain his belt in a draw against Marlon Starling.Jim Watt, though he deserved the victory, was lucky to catch a Howard Davis Jr who was not ready for the challenge.

[red cobra]

Yeah, all Douglas did was land 20 kazillion lucky punches.

[lufcrazy]

Carl Thompson against some guy called rothman I think.

He was battered from pillar to post and to be honest his corner did a shitty job by keeping him in the fight, rothman dropped his guard for one second and carl caught him ending the fight.

I don't believe in lucky punches but he was very fortunate to still be allowed to throw a punch let alone score a knockout.

[lufcrazy]

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[Lester1583]

Carl Thompson against some guy called rothman I think.

Thompson also got lucky against Haye.;)

In Thompson-Sellers - Sellers got lucky;) - very exciting short fight.

[HawkFan16]

Ruiz vs. Golota
Byrd vs. Golota
DLH vs Trinidad
DLH vs. Mosley II

[ThinBlack]

Eusebio Pedroza vs Bernard Taylor.Being in his hometown of Charlotte and able to pull out a draw, truly amazing.

[SugarRay]

Barkley ko Hearns???

[tommygun711]

Barkley ko Hearns???

But Barkley clearly won the rematch too. Not like it was luck.

[Hands of Iron]

Lewis was lucky against Klit in '03...:yep

It was an unsatisfying conclusion to a great fight, but Lewis' supremely heavy hands did the damage. The whole thing is made worse by the statements by Lewis prior to the fight about being at the peak of his powers and continuing for several more years and what not, as well as the initial prospects of a rematch taking place abruptly halted.

[Hands of Iron]

Yeah, all Douglas did was land 20 kazillion lucky punches.

Love that fight for the simple fact Mike got to play punching bag for the better part of 10 rounds and showcase a worthy chin. Prior to that, he'd been so ruthlessly effective at slipping jabs and countering, unloading supercharged combos to the body and head from his midrange sweet spot.