Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

I just watched Douglas-Holyfield again today and I must say I was seriously underwhelmed by Buster's conditioning,effort and performance,especially in a title fight.

It got me wondering what were some of the other poorer title fight efforts that there's been?

I'm not looking for fighters who got caught flush and stopped early because it's boxing and stuff like that happens.

What I'm after is fighter's who for whatever reason let themselves and their fans down by their undeachieving efforts when they could clearly have done better.

Examples of fighters quitting,coming in fat,being scared or being generally disappointing in title fights is what I'm after.

Any examples spring to mind?

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

akinwande v lewis
tyson v holyfield 2
manfredo v calzaghe :D

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

peter klitschko
seldon tyson

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

sam peters...that was a terrible showing by a champion

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

Are we talking the defending champion's performance, or the challenger as well?

If the former, Seldon - Tyson has to pretty much take the cake. Can't get much worse than that.

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

I'm his biggest fan but of got to say Duran Leonard 2.
What a disappointment.

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

Tim Witherspoon vs Bonecrusher Smith. He got caught early but he was out of shape and unmotivated.

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

Frank Bruno was a disgrace the night he defended his title against Tyson.

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

I don't think Bruno was a disgrace ... I think he got destroyed by a very motivated Tyson who always had his number ....

Sticking with poor performances by champs ....

Sullivan - Corbett
Dempsey - Tunney 1
Baer - Braddock
Liston - Ali 1
Foreman - Ali
Lewis - McCall 1
Bowe - Holyfield 2
Witherspoon - Thomas
Qwai-Spinks
Monzon-Griffin 2
Hagler-Duran
Ali - Lyle
Ali - Evangelista
Ali - Norton 3
Ali - Young

off the top of my head ...

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

Another one was Kirk Johnson coming in at about 260 pounds for his fight with Vitali Klitschko and being subsequently destroyed in 2.

Although from memory that was only a title fight eliminator so I guess Kirk doesn't count in this thread.

Greg Richardson fought like he was absolutely petrified of Jeff Fenech when they met for Fenech's Jnr Feather title.It was a shameful display as Richardson ran and ran and ran,offering little to no offense before meekly folding in the 5th.

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

I love to read this classic stuff and rarely post.

It is not big on a world stage but Stipe Drews VS Danny Green for the light heavy strap 18 months ago or so.

Stipe took one jab to the face and decided it was safer running for the remaining 35mins and 49 seconds.

weakest performance by a defending champion i have ever witnessed.

Secondly i dont think Danny Green was exactly champion material. Just a solid contender

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

The Douglas defense was pretty horrific.

I've seen a few documentaries in which his trainers said that he was having pizza sent to the gym on a frequent basis.

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

The 80's heavyweight simultaneously had amazing performances (Page against Coetzee) to ones that made you roll your eyes in disgust (Bowe KO 1 Dokes!)

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

What about Mijares in the Darchinyan fight?

Absolutely no gameplan, not in it from the start, utterly destroyed despite all the hype on him.

Throws nearly 700 in 9 rounds against Arce but cant even manage half that against Vic in the same timeframe.

Re: Poorest Title Fight Performances
 

Yeah, I haven't seen that fight yet but I'm wondering where all the Mijares is God bullshit stemmed from as of now.