Fights that were big but turned out to be (almost) mismatches

[ChrisPontius]

Here are a few:


Holmes vs Cooney: Big hype, i'm sure all of those that followed boxing at the time can remember it. I actually wouldn't call it a mismatch, but from round 6 on, it became awfully apparant that Holmes was just so much better and not going to tire. Cooney had trouble getting his punches in and outside of the end of the 5th, didn't land all that many of his favorite hooks. His power kept him in the fight though, and the early knockdown made it exciting.

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Marciano vs Walcott II: I wasn't around, but i suppose there were a lot of sceptics picking Walcott to win a decision if he stayed away from Marciano's right this time. Not a crazy view considering Walcott did well on the scorecards the first time around. Also consider that many people (most notably Nat Fleischer) thought Rocky was a wild slugger without too much skill. Can't really blame them, that is the first thing that catches the eye.
Controversially or not, the fight was over in one round with Marciano retaining the heavyweight championship of the world.



Louis vs Schmeling II:Perhaps the biggest fight of all time, Louis lost the first match and didn't consider himself champ untill he avenged that loss. Millions were glued to the radio, but Joe paralysed Schmeling less than a minute into the fight with a bodyshot and no one finished better than Joe Louis.


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Lewis vs Tyson: A lot of historic revisioning on this on, with people claiming the outcome was a dead certain going into the fight. However, because of the one-sidedness of the fight, many people forget that going into it, Lewis was 36 years old and had just been knocked out by a lesser puncher in Rahman. He could've aged over night. Tyson was far from what he used to be, but he was still knocked guys out early and fast: Botha (one punch), Golota, Savarese. The fight hype was huge and the betting odds were even. However, after the 1st round it was hardly competitive, despite the most biased referee i've ever seen in a big fight.

Jones vs Griffith II: After the competitive early fight and the controversial disqualification, Jones wanted to set the record straight. He was a favorite to be sure, but not many expected it to be over so quickly in one round, by his signature leaping left hook.


Tyson vs Spinks: Spinks' promoter, Butch Lewis, had purposely waited a few years to sign this fight, in order to make it grow. And grow it did. Tyson was a clear favorite, but many expected a competitive fight as Spinks had never lost officially, and in his worst outing (Holmes rematch), he still held his own. Outside of die-hard fans without too much knowledge of the sport, i don't think many people predicted the fight to last a mere 91 seconds.

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Ali vs Liston II: Liston was still a big thing despite the embarrassing first match. Let's not forget that this was prior to Ali taking bombs from Foreman, Shavers, etc. He survived Liston the first time around, but was still layed out pretty bad by Cooper and dropped by Banks. I think the odds were slightly in Clay's favor, but there were many SuzieQ's who thought Liston was indestructible now that he would seriously train for the fight.
Controversial, though some people (notably: Larry Merchant and Jack Dempsey) thought it was a legit KO; it was over almost before it started.

[fists of fury]

Jones-Toney. Maybe not stricly speaking a mismatch, but Jones won easily, against the dominant middleweight. Most expected a very tough fight.

[mcvey]

Here are a few:


Holmes vs Cooney: Big hype, i'm sure all of those that followed boxing at the time can remember it. I actually wouldn't call it a mismatch, but from round 6 on, it became awfully apparant that Holmes was just so much better and not going to tire. Cooney had trouble getting his punches in and outside of the end of the 5th, didn't land all that many of his favorite hooks. His power kept him in the fight though, and the early knockdown made it exciting.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]


Marciano vs Walcott II: I wasn't around, but i suppose there were a lot of sceptics picking Walcott to win a decision if he stayed away from Marciano's right this time. Not a crazy view considering Walcott did well on the scorecards the first time around. Also consider that many people (most notably Nat Fleischer) thought Rocky was a wild slugger without too much skill. Can't really blame them, that is the first thing that catches the eye.
Controversially or not, the fight was over in one round with Marciano retaining the heavyweight championship of the world.



Louis vs Schmeling II:Perhaps the biggest fight of all time, Louis lost the first match and didn't consider himself champ untill he avenged that loss. Millions were glued to the radio, but Joe paralysed Schmeling less than a minute into the fight with a bodyshot and no one finished better than Joe Louis.


[Only registered and activated users can see links]


Lewis vs Tyson: A lot of historic revisioning on this on, with people claiming the outcome was a dead certain going into the fight. However, because of the one-sidedness of the fight, many people forget that going into it, Lewis was 36 years old and had just been knocked out by a lesser puncher in Rahman. He could've aged over night. Tyson was far from what he used to be, but he was still knocked guys out early and fast: Botha (one punch), Golota, Savarese. The fight hype was huge and the betting odds were even. However, after the 1st round it was hardly competitive, despite the most biased referee i've ever seen in a big fight.

Jones vs Griffith II: After the competitive early fight and the controversial disqualification, Jones wanted to set the record straight. He was a favorite to be sure, but not many expected it to be over so quickly in one round, by his signature leaping left hook.


Tyson vs Spinks: Spinks' promoter, Butch Lewis, had purposely waited a few years to sign this fight, in order to make it grow. And grow it did. Tyson was a clear favorite, but many expected a competitive fight as Spinks had never lost officially, and in his worst outing (Holmes rematch), he still held his own. Outside of die-hard fans without too much knowledge of the sport, i don't think many people predicted the fight to last a mere 91 seconds.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Ali vs Liston II: Liston was still a big thing despite the embarrassing first match. Let's not forget that this was prior to Ali taking bombs from Foreman, Shavers, etc. He survived Liston the first time around, but was still layed out pretty bad by Cooper and dropped by Banks. I think the odds were slightly in Clay's favor, but there were many SuzieQ's who thought Liston was indestructible now that he would seriously train for the fight.
Controversial, though some people (notably: Larry Merchant and Jack Dempsey) thought it was a legit KO; it was over almost before it started.
Winky v Tito was pretty one sided for a fight that was 50 /50 on paper.
Gavilan v Davey.

[Manassa]

Calzaghe-Lacy most notably of late.

[sweet_scientist]

Henry Armstrong vs. Barney Ross

Jim Driscoll vs. Abel Attell

Marcel Cerdan vs. Tony Zale

Jose Napoles vs. Emile Griffith

Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Naseem Hamed (maybe that's a little unfair to Naz?)

Oscar de la Hoya vs. Julio Cesar Chavez I

Wilfred Benitez vs. Roberto Duran

Roy Jones vs. John Ruiz

Pernell Whitaker vs. Azumah Nelson

Bernard Hopkins vs. Felix Trinidad

Floyd Mayweather vs. Diego Corrales

[ChrisPontius]

Calzaghe-Lacy most notably of late.

Good shout. Thought you hated modern boxing, though.

[The Funny Man 7]

Ray Robinson vs. Bobo Olson II

[Longhhorn71]

Monzon vs Napoles.

Angelo Dundee was amazed how
easily Carlos handled Napoles.

[Bigcat]

Tyson v Spinks

Lewis v Tyson

[bigjake]

floyd patterson vs, henry cooper
patterson blasted him out of there

also shavers vs, norton

[Manassa]

Good shout. Thought you hated modern boxing, though.

I don't hate it. I don't particularly like it either, but I will use it as an excuse to have a late one down the pub.

[Rebel-INS]

Hearns v Duran

[OLD FOGEY]

Chris--I thought Cooney did decently--I don't see this as a mismatch. Holmes was better but Cooney put up a decent fight.

One that has not been mentioned is Dempsey-Tunney in 1926. Jack was totally outclassed in this one.

I suppose Johnson-Jeffries could be mentioned also as a big one which turned out to be a one-sided rout.

[Hatesrats]

Hearns v Duran
You beat me to it bro...lol
Hagler Vs. Hearns

[Dempsey1238]

Johnson Jeff was a BIG fight, at the time it was the highest gate of all time. Also the biggest crowd of all time before Jack Dempsey blow it away with the million $ gates.

[klompton]

Cooney-Holmes wasnt a mismatch. I thought Cooney did very well and that Holmes struggled with him far more than he should have.

[SchweitzerMan]

You beat me to it bro...lol
Hagler Vs. Hearns

Hmm...I don't think it was one sided. The first round was so action packed it was hard to tell who the winner was. Also remember Marvin was very close to being stopped due to the cut

[joe33]

Lewis - golota
Tyson - golota
Bruno - Tyson (the first one)

Im sure many will disagree about the tyson bruno one,but in the uk a lot of people felt big frank had a good chance

[pokerbox]

I would say James Buster Douglas and Evander Holyfield, was a big fight that turned out to be a bit of a mismatch.

[C. M. Clay II]

Willard-Dempsey deserves a mention.

[ChrisPontius]

Chris--I thought Cooney did decently--I don't see this as a mismatch. Holmes was better but Cooney put up a decent fight.

One that has not been mentioned is Dempsey-Tunney in 1926. Jack was totally outclassed in this one.

I suppose Johnson-Jeffries could be mentioned also as a big one which turned out to be a one-sided rout.

You are right, i exxagarated a bit.

Dempsey Tunney is a good one. I considered mentioning Dempsey vs Fulton, but i don't think the fight was that big. One newspaper article mentioned Dempsey as being "relatively unknown" going into this fight, although in other states he was quite known i suppose.

[Hatesrats]

Hmm...I don't think it was one sided. The first round was so action packed it was hard to tell who the winner was. Also remember Marvin was very close to being stopped due to the cut

Maybe not one sided during the 3 rounds it lasted...:yikes
but by it ending up in a 3rd round finish. History will
prob see it as a Blowout win by Hagler.
(Nothing will ever top those rounds for me...as long as I live)

two of my all-time fav's going at it.

[radianttwilight]

Hagler-Hearns was a competitive fight IMO.

Hagler was about to get stopped on that cut, and Hearns did break his hand in the first.

Imagine what Hearns' legacy would look like with an early stoppage of Hagler at MW...

[crippet]

Lewis V Ruddock
Lewis V Grant
Hatton V Mayweather
Holyfield V Douglas [I think??]

[BlackWater]

Tyson v Spinks

Lewis v Tyson

These.

[mcvey]

Lewis V Ruddock
Lewis V Grant
Hatton V Mayweather
Holyfield V Douglas [I think??]
Though Hatton was ultimately outclassed he made it competitive I thought.
I watched it in a bar in Phuket Thailand[Sruffy Murphys] along with a crowd of hungover ,fellow Brits[it was early Sunday morning out there].Not a good start to the day!

[crippet]

Though Hatton was ultimately outclassed he made it competitive I thought.
I watched it in a bar in Phuket Thailand[Sruffy Murphys] along with a crowd of hungover ,fellow Brits[it was early Sunday morning out there].Not a good start to the day!


I included it because I kept hearing that however it went Hatton would not go down, could not be stopped etc....
Hatton was conclusively KO'd by a not generally concusive puncher

[mcvey]

I included it because I kept hearing that however it went Hatton would not go down, could not be stopped etc....
Hatton was conclusively KO'd by a not generally concusive puncher
Seems fair.I thought Mayweather would win ,and ,having seen him shake ODH a couple of times I wasnt suprised it was by stoppage ,but thought it would be a tko via cuts.

[Rebel-INS]

Hagler-Hearns was a competitive fight IMO.

Hagler was about to get stopped on that cut, and Hearns did break his hand in the first.

Imagine what Hearns' legacy would look like with an early stoppage of Hagler at MW...

There would've been an immediate rematch, and I reckon Hagler would win that one.
Then again, Hearns might actually think about boxing in a rematch rather than going toe to toe.

Errrm Tua v Ruiz was a ridiculous fight, especially seen as how they were both big up and comers and Ruiz had the most experience and went on to accomplish a lot more than Tua.

[Mendoza]

Hearns and Duran.

[Thread Stealer]

Floyd Mayweather-Diego Corrales: Not a big "event", but a very big fight among boxing enthusiasts. The odds were close to even, but the fight hardly was.

Roy Jones-James Toney: refer to above.

[Mike T]

Hearns-Duran

[Doppleganger]

Hearns vs Cuevas: Hearns was the up and coming new sensation but Cuevas was a devastating puncher with an cast iron jaw. Most fancied Cuevas to beat the young Tommy Hearns but when the bell rang Tommy totally dominated the fight and knocked out the long time WBA Welterweight Champion in the second round with a tremendous right that had him wobbling all over the place, desperate to stay upright.

Lewis vs Ruddock: Ruddock had just been 19 rounds with Iron Mike Tyson and had never been off his feet. He was expected to give the up and coming Lennox Lewis a stern test. Perhaps it was a little too much too soon for the young Lewis but what happened instead was that Lewis imposed his will, and right hand, and hurt Ruddock with almost every shot, flooring him 3 times and forcing a one-sided stoppage in the 2nd round.

[janitor]

Willard Dempsey, Willard was the betting favourite.

Schmeling Risko, Risko was the heir apparent to Gene Tunneys throne and Schmeling the unknown European fighter who was only there because he looked like Jack Dempsey.

[El Matador]

Wright-Trinidad was one of the worst; that immediately comes to my mind.

I had a creeping feeling it was going to end up like that, but I stuck with my awful prediction (I had Trinidad winning late).

It was a big fight, big crowd, PPV ... and Tito didn't win one round on my card.

[Longhhorn71]

Wifredo Gomez's destruction of Carlos Zarate.

Might even put Sanchez's destruction of Wilfredo Gomez.

[SchweitzerMan]

Zelenoff vs Hartly.

Zelenoff was acting and looking confident and ready to fight. Unfortunately for him looking and acting confident doesn't make up for not having talent or confidence.
Hartly dominated Z with constant pressure

[laxpdx]

Benn-Barkley
Hearns-Barkley I
Forrest-Mayorga I
Frazier-Foreman

[josak]

Too bad Lewis Tyson didn't happen earlier. What a fight that could've been.

[rendog67]

tyson vs douglas

if i didnt know the history and just watched the fight, this was a mismatch on the night

[ChrisPontius]

Willard Dempsey, Willard was the betting favourite.




Are you sure about this? Do you have the exact betting odds?

Not that i don't believe you, i just find it hard to believe that people actually favored him. Goes to show you how little they knew about the fighters.

[Rebel-INS]

Hearns-Barkley I



Do you mean it was almost a mismatch until Barkley sparked him? Because Hearns was killing Iran.

[Maxmomer]

Willard Dempsey, Willard was the betting favourite.

Schmeling Risko, Risko was the heir apparent to Gene Tunneys throne and Schmeling the unknown European fighter who was only there because he looked like Jack Dempsey.

You think that Dempsey-Fulton could be categorized here as well? Weren't the odds on them pretty much even? I think it was viewed as a pick em' at the time, and it was the fight to determine which one would get the title shot against Willard.

[crippet]

Pacman v Hatton

[heerko koois]

Tyson vs bonecrusher smith
Holmes vs Frazier
Chavez vs Rosario
Rosario-Bramble
Curry-Honeyghan

[janitor]

Are you sure about this? Do you have the exact betting odds?

Not that i don't believe you, i just find it hard to believe that people actually favored him. Goes to show you how little they knew about the fighters.

One important leason that I have learned about boxing history.

It was not until about the mid 30s that the media realised that a fighter who had been inactive for three years was not the same man as when he last fought.

It was a total blind spot for them!

That will explain a lot about past opinions.

[janitor]

Here is one of the few papers that had the competitors even:

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[red cobra]

Monzon vs Napoles.

Angelo Dundee was amazed how
easily Carlos handled Napoles.
Dundee called him a Super Champion....and he was.

[g.dog]

hearns duran
de la hoya rueles
mayweather corrales

[lufcrazy]

Lewis - tyson
Floyd - mosley
Hopkins - tito

[Sangria]

Terry Norris-Paul Vaden

McClellan-Jackson II

Norris-Brown II

[Threetime no1]

Minter v Hagler
Leonard V Duran 2
Curry v Honeghan
Nunn v Kalambay (Maybe)
Lewis v Tua

[cuchulain]

Winky-Tito
Floyd-Gatti
Martinez-Williams 2
Tszyu-Judah
Vitali-Sollis:yep

[Unforgiven]

One important leason that I have learned about boxing history.

It was not until about the mid 30s that the media realised that a fighter who had been inactive for three years was not the same man as when he last fought.

It was a total blind spot for them!

That will explain a lot about past opinions.


I don't think there was any difference in thinking on the issue of lay offs.
Vitali Klitschko was a 2-1 favourite against Sam Peter after a FOUR YEAR lay off.
Floyd Mayweather can take two years off and still be a favourite against anyone, barring Pacquiao.

in 1970, Quarry was 3-1 UNDERDOG against beating a 3 1/2-year layoff comebacking Ali.

The thinking has always been the same. The effects of 2, 3, 4 year lay offs are known to be detrimental, but to what degree is impossible to assess until the fight happens.
And the abilities and ratings of the individual fighters comes into play.

Jess Willard was actually good, and he was HUGE, at 6'6 and 250 pounds, to Dempsey's 6'1 and 186 pounds.
It's more surprising that Dempsey was as good as even in the reckoning.

It's funny how people seem to downplay Willard so much to the point where "it should have been obvious" that Dempsey beats him.
The real story is how good Dempsey turned out to be.
Obviously, Willard was rusty as hell, but that's not the only factor.

[FJAY360]

De La Hoya - Trinidad was one sided for 9 rounds.

[zadfrak]

One not mentioned yet is/was Frazier-Foreman 1. Anybody around at the time thought it was incredible and Foreman was a big underdog. And nobody thought Joe could get destroyed like that. But there were a few folks around that did like the foreman chances going into it.

Same thing w/ Foreman-Norton and lots of folks liked/loved the Norton chances in that one.

[DKD]

Duane Thomas v John Mugabi was unexpected and all the stranger because Thomas couldn't follow it up.

What about Barrera v Hamed?