Potentially Unblemished Records

[Russell]

What fights conceivably could very well have unblemished records if not for flukes, robberies, and so on?

Aaron Pryor's sole loss was against Bobby Joe Young... He took a knee and rose a second too late for some reason or another. Very similar to Chuvalo/Quarry and very easily avoided.

[Thread Stealer]

Pernell Whitaker up until the Felix Trinidad fight, although I never scored the Wilfredo Rivera fight, nor have I seen it in years.

[Drew101]

What fights conceivably could very well have unblemished records if not for flukes, robberies, and so on?

Aaron Pryor's sole loss was against Bobby Joe Young... He took a knee and rose a second too late for some reason or another. Very similar to Chuvalo/Quarry and very easily avoided.

Yeah...but Pryor was way behind in the fight.

[the cobra]

JMM's 3 losses and his draw have been close enough to say he may have deserved to win, I thought he beat John, Norwood, and Pacquiao in the first fight. His only other loss is a DQ in his pro debut, which I would count as a fluke.

RJJ if he stopped after the first Tarver fight. It was a debatable decision itself, but he got the win and his only loss was a DQ up to that point.

[Russell]

JMM's 3 losses and his draw have been close enough to say he may have deserved to win, I thought he beat John, Norwood, and Pacquiao in the first fight. His only other loss is a DQ in his pro debut, which I would count as a fluke.

RJJ if he stopped after the first Tarver fight. It was a debatable decision itself, but he got the win and his only loss was a DQ up to that point.

There's absolutely no question that JMM beat John.

Anything else is straight shit.

[janitor]

Jim Jeffries if he had never come back.

[red cobra]

Lennox Lewis, had he come into the ring prepared and at his best, would have never lost to McCall and Rahman. He proved that in the rematches. He wasn't supposed to lose to either one of these guys and everybody knows it. He would be the second retired, undefeated heavyweight champion.

[red cobra]

I agree with the Aaron Pryor post as well. That Bobby Joe Young fight could have been avoided.

[Thread Stealer]

Lennox Lewis, had he come into the ring prepared and at his best, would have never lost to McCall and Rahman. He proved that in the rematches. He wasn't supposed to lose to either one of these guys and everybody knows it. He would be the second retired, undefeated heavyweight champion.

The McCall fight had more to do with Lewis's poor balance and leaving himself open when he threw right hands than being undertrained.

Say Lewis beats McCall in 1994 and never hires Manny Steward, or feels a change is necessary. Someone probably would've beaten him.

The loss to McCall was good for Lewis in the long-run.

[Bill Butcher]

Ali without the 3 yrs 7 months lay-off would have likely met Frazier in 68 or 69 with no ring rust & no loss of speed (especially foot-speed) & won a 15 rd UD.
He would likely have gone for either Louis record defences or Rocky`s record 49-0 or both then retired.
The 3 1/2 yrs did enough to Ali`s legs to allow the styles of Frazier & Norton to catch him in the later rds, that wouldnt have happened to an active Ali I dont believe.

Ps. Before anyone posts, let me tell you, yes, I do know that it was Ali`s poor conditioning & underrating of Norton that caused the defeat rather than the fact his legs were slower but he`d likely have retired by the time Kenny came along in 73 & if they did meet, Id fully expect a Muhammad Ali of 45-0 or 22 title defences (or something similar, you get my point) not to be showing up in the shape he showed up in when he lost to Ken putting his entire legacy in danger, it would look more like their 2nd fight only Ali`s legs wouldnt slow after rd 5 like they did in the rematch (& he still won that fight)

So yes, I say Muhammad Ali woulda been unbeaten if not for that army vietnam shit.

:good

[NickHudson]

'Fluke' or 'robbery' is way too strong a word, but Bowe almost got an unblemished record save for the borderline loss to Holyfield in their second match.

[Thread Stealer]

how did mcclelland lose to two journeymen early on in his career i dont have too much knowledge of this era of boxing, he still rightly lost to benn though, but i would appreciate an answer

I'm guessing he was one of those fighters that improved as he went along. I'm not too sure if he was a Kronk fighter from the start or joined the gym later on.

I remember one of the guys he lost to, Dennis Milton. He lost to Julian Jackson and Bernard Hopkins. Jackson hit him with a right hand in round 1 and Milton was stretched out on the floor. His hands were still stretched out, reaching towards the sky, while he was on his back being counted out.

[Russell]

how did mcclelland lose to two journeymen early on in his career i dont have too much knowledge of this era of boxing, he still rightly lost to benn though, but i would appreciate an answer

He was going through trainer trouble at the time if I'm remembering correctly. Really hadn't gotten himself together at that point.

[Rebel-INS]

He was going through trainer trouble at the time if I'm remembering correctly. Really hadn't gotten himself together at that point.

The fighters he lost to were slick fighters, a lot of people think he would've always had trouble with fighters like that.
He wasn't exactly the most technically gifted of fighters.

[Dempsey1238]

Still think Ali losees somewere down the line. He would still lose to Holmes. Ali was not the type of guy to just walk away.

[Thread Stealer]

Still think Ali losees somewere down the line. He would still lose to Holmes. Ali was not the type of guy to just walk away.

Agreed. Ali liked the limelight and the paydays too much. Look at how long it took for him to finally retire.

Also, you fight as many quality guys as Ali did and you're eventually gonna lose due to styles, off-nights, underpreparation, controversial decisions, etc...

[JohnThomas1]

IIf Foreman would of fought Ali like he fought Norton then he would of won.

He couldn't, end of story. Ali was light years different to Norton.

The bottom line is Ali kicked George's ass and at that time there wasn't a thing he could do about it. Later with Ali declining who knows, but i think the loss took a bit of stream out of George too, mentally as much as anything.