After last week’s post on fights that never lived up to the hype. I thought it would be only fair to look at fights that shocked the world so here is my top 10.
10 Kostya Tszyu V Ricky Hatton 4th June 2005
This fight made my list because at the time it was a big upset. Kosty Tszyu was the established champion and one of the pound for pound best who had never been stopped. Ricky Hatton was a young fighter who went into the fight a huge underdog so nobody could have predicted what happened.
9 Chad Dawson V Adonis Stevenson 8th June 2013
This was Stevenson’s first fight at light heavyweight and everyone thought that Dawson’s power, hand speed and movement would be too much for Stevenson. However Stevenson had other plans he destroyed Dawson with a one punch knockout.
8 David Haye V Nikolay Valuev 7th November 2009
This fight was billed as David v Goliath and it was that. At the weigh in Haye gave up nearly 46 kilograms and nearly 2 meters in hight. Nobody could see how Haye could win. On fight night Haye put on a boxing master class to out box Vauev and in the last round he nearly put the giant on the canvas
7 Cassius Clay V Sonny Liston 25th February 1964
Clay went into this one a big underdog with the bookies nobody thought he could handle the power of Liston as he had knocked out his previous two opponents. Liston was a scary man and everyone was predicting an easy win for him. However when the fight started Liston couldn’t lay a glove on Clay and he quit at the end of the 6th.
6 Roberto Duran V Davey More 16th June 1983
Going in to this fight many people saw Duran as a fighter well passed his best maybe looking for one more big payday. Davey More was seen as the next big thing in the devision. He was a young champion who had already made 3 successful defences of his title and it was widely believed that Duran was going to be number 4. On fight night Duran rolled back the years to stop More in the 8th round.
5 Oscar De La Hoya V Manny Pacquiao 6th December 2008
Now I know what your thinking this wasn’t an upset but it was at the time. Many people within boxing thought this would be an easy win for De La Hoya, then he would move on to a rematch with Floyd Maywather who he had lost to the previous year. However on fight night Pacquiao beat De La Hoya black and blue which forced De La Hoya’s corner to pull him out at the end of the 8th round.
4 Larry Holmes V Michael Spinks 21st September 1985
This one was a history making night Holmes went into the fight 48-0 just one win away from Rocky Marciano’s record. On paper at least this should have been a routine defends for Holmes but as we know fights aren’t fought on paper. On fight night Spinks boxed Beautifully probably the performance of his career to win a unanimous decision.
3 Lennex Lewis V Hasim Rahman 22nd April 2001
Hasim Rahman shouldn’t have had a cat’s chance in hell in this fight. Lewis should have been too slick and technically the better boxer, however on fight night you could see Lewis wasn’t at his best his punches and work rate was slow and he ended up getting floored in the 5th round. Although Lewis got his revenge in the rematch it was a loss that followed him for the rest of his career.
2 Wladimir Klitschko V Corrie Sanders 8th March 2003
How this fight got made I will never know because going into the fight Sanders had only fought 3 rounds in the previous 2 years. Based on that fact nobody was giving him a chance, but this is why we love this sport. He dropped Klitschko in the 1st round and dropped him again in the 2nd round to win the fight.
1 Mike Tyson V Buster Douglas 11th February 1990
Tyson went into this fight undefeated and the undisputed champion. The world thought it was going to be an easy nights work for him. Douglas however had other ideas and despite been dropped in the 8th and only just beating the count, Douglas came out in the 9th and took it to Tyson. Tyson only just survived the round. Douglas sent Tyson to the canvas in the 10th and he couldn’t beat the count. So now not only did he become the 1st man to beat Tyson he also became the undisputed champion of the world.
Hi Chris what a great 10 fights really enjoyed them don’t know we’re you find them but keep up the good work cheers billy.