Fighters who surprised you with gutless performances

Nigel Benn of all people, in his last fight. He left me terribly vexed for many years, the disgrace.

 

i was just thinking of this one to...i agree it isn't gutless but surprising. he showed heart in the first 2.5 rounds, really seemed to be trying but stopped when he realized this was an entirely different animal

 

Barrera against Pac.

ONce he started taking punishment and realised the flat footed "all at my own pace" outside fighting that had got him by Hamed and he had used against washed up fighters like Tapia wasn't going to work....he just went into a shell and tried to whine his way out of the fight.No attempt to change approach, up the tempo etc...

Embarassing stuff and a big part of why i consider Barrera very good but not a true all-timer by any means like some on here do.

 

Holyfield vs. Sherman Williams was one of the worst I've seen.

 

surely you don't mean the tank :admin

 

Mike Tyson vs Kevin Mcbride.

Mike Tyson could of won the fight, on points but decided to quit. If he knew deep down that this was his last fight, he could of went out all gunz blazing one last time for all his fans like myself who followed him and supported him through thick and thin.

This something i have never quite forgave him for.

And i will always rate Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield higher.

"But Mike Tyson will always be rated higher in my heart, for me personally"

 

Throw in Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis.

Tyson made a goose of himself in the lead up with press conference brawls, foul tirades to the media and talking about eating babies and what not.

Come fight night after round 1 he didn't fire a shot. He just stood on the outside getting picked apart and shoved around by Lewis and you could tell he more or less mentally quit.

Past prime or not it was a weak display.

 

I think Scarface certainly pussied out a little bit with the way he went down. Cowardly evasion of the shotgun blasts and no attempt to escape the atrium swimming pool after eventually being hit.

 

Morales surrendering in the third Pacquiao fight was hard, in that it was clear that it was a once in a lifetime sight. A man with Morales' pride not going on his shield, capitulating of his own accord. I knew then that I was watching a fighter in Pacquiao who would transcend any man he'd fought. He was a future all time great, and Morales saying no mas proved it.

Haye was abysmal, but anybody with an understanding of him as a fighter knew the guns blazing approach that was his key to victory wasn't going to happen. Haye fought like Haye fights. He just wasn't good enough.

Mosley against Forrest II was awful. He did well, but only because he threw about 20 punches a round, ran like a rabbit, and held like an octopus, flopping into clinches whenever it looked like Forrest would launch his right. A cowardly performance.

Mosley, Morales, Barrera etc. are proof positive boxers are men, and no man is invincible. Every human, no matter how hardcore, no matter how big their heart, can be broken. I just wish certain fighters I admire tremendously hadn't done so with apparent ease. Perhaps they were broken before they entered the ring.

 

mosley vs forrest two i felt was more cowardly then mosley vs pac
i remember that fight it was so god awfully boring with mosley skeeting around

 

Tyson in holyfield two comes to mind. He took his losses to douglas, holy 1 and lewis like a man going out on his shield.

In the 2nd holy fight he knew it was the only way he could maintain some aura of terror. It was marketed like a real bad ass who had the beating of holy yet was tired of being butted so went one further. In reality it was a man who knew, at that time, he'd met his match and a dq loss can look better than a ko loss.

Ofcourse it worked, combined with some good matchmaking and a typical golota breakdown tyson once again rose to the top contender spot.

Still, the moment tyson bit the ear again, he quit.

Even shot tyson went out like a warrior against williams and had to be pulled out of his wrestling match with the collosus.

That one dq loss is out of character of the career of iron mike and I can only conclude he took the easy way out. After his great first round in the first fight I think tyson genuinely believed he lost because he gassed. He trained harder for the rematch and holyfield could still take his shots. In my mind he definitely quit that night.

 

Some poor answers in this thread IMO.

Morales vs Pacquiao III and Arguello vs Pryor II shouldn't be on there for starters.

Alright, both men could have got up, but had taken hidings in the previous rounds and knew what was coming. Both had the punch resistance to allow them to take bad beatings had they got up.....

Genuinely gutless performances - I'm talking bad quit jobs, trying to use the cut rule to their advantage, not trying. Here goes.....

Mosley vs Pacquiao
Judah vs Clottey
Alexander vs Bradley
Golota vs Grant
Haye vs Klitschko
Harrison vs Williams I, Rogan, Guinn, Haye
De La Hoya vs Trinidad

 

Tua against Lewis.

Pathetic performance by Tua.

 

Audley Harrison broke my heart that fateful night against David Haye

 

holyfield against tyson in rematch

after getting pay back for his dirty **** that he always gets away with

he runs from the ring like a *****