Fighters that won most fights where they were on the verge of losing

Name your examples thoroughout boxing history.

I'll start with the next few:

Riddick Bowe - Holyfield 3 (dropped hard in round 6, comes back and KO's Holy in 8th), Golota 1&2 (no need of explanation), Billy Zumbrun (completely shot Bowe was in deep trouble in 5th round but came back and won the very close fight).

Carl Froch - got dropped and outboxed by Taylor only to come back and KO him few seconds before the final bell. got dropped and badly hurt by Groves in the 1st round, came back and stopped Groves late. Andre Dirrell- no drama here, but the fight was extremely close, could've easily gone for Dirrell.

Tommy Morrison - suffered broken jaw and hand vs Joe Hipp, was losing on 1 card before stopping Hipp in 9 th. Was knocked down twice and struggled vs Carl Williams but stopped him in 8th. Won a war vs Ruddock where he was knocked down too. Drew with Ross Puritty but had to get up in rounds 6 and 10 from the canvas.

Orlando Salido - probably the most fights of the recent fighters. Regilio Toor - scored an extremely close win, when the KD in the last round made the difference on the judges' cards. Carlos Gerena - Salido lost early rounds but rallied late and won a close decision. Weng Haya - Salido was in deep trouble after being knocked down twice early, but came back and stopped Haya in 8th. Loma - a very close fight, where Salido used all of his dirty tricks, was hurt in the 12th, but still won the fight. Terdsan Jandaeng - famous war where Salido was dropped 3 times and his opponent was down 4 times, KO12 for Salido. Maybe I missed some of his fights here.

Add your fighters.

 

MATTHEW SAAD MUHAMMAD

- both fights against Marvin Johnson

In the first fight, Johnson was way ahead going into the 12th and final round. Matt went all out and felled a tired Johnson along the ropes with less than a minute left in the fight.

In the second fight, Johnson was ahead after 7 rounds and Franklin (Saad) was cut badly. He tore into Johnson and, with blood all over his face and masking his vision, he pounded Johnson into the canvas with a left uppercut.

- The Richie Kates fight.

Near the end of the 4th round, Kates lands a straight right hand and Franklin (Saad) is deposited face first on the canvas. He staggers to his feat just as the bell sounds. He is carried back to his corner. Kates starts the 5th round strongly and Saad can do nothing but back to the ropes and goes into a protective shell. He lashes out just enough so that the fight is not stopped. Midway through the 5th, Saad finds a second wind and springs out of his shell, and proceeds to punish Kates, hurting him. Near the end of the round, Saad lands his own straight right, and Kates goes down face first. He, too rises and the bell sounds. Finally, in the sixth round, Saad lands another straight right that badly staggers Kates, and the ref. waves it off. WAR.

-The second Yaqui Lopez fight

Ahead on points after 7 rounds, Lopez hurt Saad midway through the 8th round. Saad staggered back to the ropes and Lopez wen all out for the finish. Saad was able to hold his hands up and move his head from side to side to avoid some of the unanswered barrage that followed. He remained upright and then finished the round strongly. Lopez had shot his wad and Saad dominated the rest of the fight, finally stopping a tired Lopez in the 14th round after four knockdowns.

- The first Conteh fight.

A past his peak Conteh remained a very smart fighter. His right hand was no longer a weapon, after being broken a few years earlier. But he had a great jab and hook and he worked Saad over with the left hand for most of the fight. Saad started rebounding in the late rounds and began to get to Conteh. Finally, he dropped John twice in the 14th round. Saad went all out to finish the job in the 15th round, but a gallant Conteh survived.
Saad got the decision in what I still think was a bad call.

They didn't call him "Miracle Matthew" for nothing.

 

Jackson vs Norris and Graham ..

 

Froch v taylor.Taylor well in front in his back yard . Taylor went back to his corner in the eighth with a worried look Froch was Still coming! Going into the last Taylor was still winning but was running out of mojo big right from froch badly hurt Taylor follow up dropped him. was stopped on the ropes with seconds left in the Twelfth !.Dramatic stuff!

 

First fighter that came to my mind!

 

Would you say that Saad is a definitive example of what an endlessly brave, all action fan friendly legend looks like?

 

Surprised you chose him

Honestly, he was absolutely the first name that came into my head when I saw the thread title. Greatest come-from-behind-to-win fighter ever.

 

He is absolutely the definitive example. Gatti lost too many of his thrilling fights but he is another one, along with Bobby Chacon.

 

Gatti doesn't even belong to be ranked past the likes of Carbajal and "Chiquita" Gonzalez for terms of excitement in the modern age. He was a very exciting fighter, but not a once in a generation kind of exceptional case that the likes of both Chacon and Saad were.

Their success at the upper most level was just so much more positive and higher than that of Gatti, who really benefited from soft match making and a massive size advantage over his opponents at times.

 

I don't often wildly disagree with you Russell but this is one of those times. No argument about Chiquita and the excitement he brought but Gatti was THE single most exciting fighter of his generation, whether he was well-matched or not. His wins over Rodriguez, Ruelas and Ward might not have been as elite as some other fighters but in terms of come from behind exitement, there aren't many greater.

 

I can't give Gatti the same credit for dramatic wins over faded entities as I do Chacon over his equally thrilling wins over absolute killers like Bazooka Limon and Danny Lopez, in their primes! Ruelas was gone and Ward was years past his best vintage when they finally matched up.

Maybe I simply see things in tiers? Call it boxing forum syndrome.

 

I think so.

 

I agree with most of this, except Ruelas wasn't shot when he faced Gatti. He may have been adversely affected phychologically by killing Jimmy Garcia, but he was still a good fighter at the time he faced Gatti.

 

Well, I don't think he was shot either, hence why I said he was faded. I think he was a bit faded, with almost 50 pro bouts to his name.

Gatti was also a much larger man than the undersized Ruelas, and I really think Gatti's ceiling was shown in his three bouts post Ruelas fight, 2x against Robinson, after having to move up in weight and being matched with those slightly larger fighters.

 

Tyson fury against Cunningham and Pajkic and John McDermott to some extent depending how you scored the fight