1st for me is Leon Spinks. He was supposed to Defend his title against Ken Norton. But he opted to be stripped(WBC) in order to have a rematch with Ali. Norton's camp went all out & called it corrupt, even wanted the government to intervene. Norton tried to lower himself to $200k, but when it was all said & done. Spinks defends both titles for less than $500,000 or fight Ali & make 3 million? They tried to say Spinks was afraid of Norton, but realistically that is when a belt becomes meaningless, if U can fight for 1 belt & make 3 million? In 1978? If this adds up- https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=1000000&year=1978 1,000,000.00 in 1978 =$4,045,619.97 in 2019! I said DAMN! 12 million 136 thousand 859 dollars.91 cents 2nd for me is Timothy Bradley. After beating Alexander & then Casamayor there was one man left which was Amir Khan. Khan called him out claimed he was ducking. Ring had him 2nd best @ Jr. Welter. But Tim signed with Top rank as a result got stripped. And what happened next? leading up to it Bleachereport said : "It seems unlikely to me that Top Rank would view a younger fighter like Bradley as somebody to feed in-house to Pacquiao " They & Us the fans were hoping for Pac vs PBF. Didn't happen and bleacher got it wrong as Tim's next fight was Pac! He got paid 5 mil then 6 mil 2nd time out. I didn't see Bradley as ducking Khan. He made a money move & it paid off for him.
Eder Jofre. When he won the featherweight title (a monstrous feat in itself for the 37 year old legendary Bantam) he was stripped for 'failure to defend'. He then re won it by KOing ATG Vicente Saldivar. He then basically retired.
Riddick Bowe. At the time Lennox Lewis was an unproven commodity, riding that UK hype train. Over time he would prove himself to be the greatest HW of his era, but how could anyone know that in the early 1990s? There was no demand for that fight here in the states. Mike Tyson paid Lewis step aside money so he could fight Holyfield (if my memory is correct) and we don't give him nearly as much grief as we do Bowe. Of course Tyson eventually did fight Lewis, but by that time it was already all over for him
He'd just destroyed the guy who was #1 viewed as the best heavyweight (based of the Tyson fights) in the world by some and #2 had just gone 19 rounds with Mike Tyson. Well yeah, Tyson is more loved than Bowe and acknowledged that Lewis deserved it by paying him step aside money. He also as you said, did actually fight him.
I'm on the fence for Lewis dropping his belt over Byrd. He was going to fight a guy I can't even remember his name until Vitali subbed. He was willing to fight a forgotten never was, but not the guy who outclassed Tua in Byrd by saying no one wants to see it. Kirk Johnson? Hypocrite move to rag Bowe for doing, then he did it.
You can hate all you want but at least Bowe made his statement.... While your favorite fighter used his manager and backroom deals in smoke filled rooms to dodge their mandatory, at least Bowe put it out there for the whole world to see.
Yep. He made his statement and now he's remembered as the man who threw his world championship in the trash rather than face the man who already bested him as an amateur. That's his legacy and he only has himself to blame for that.
