...when the fight is stopped too late and it's very risky for a health of a fighter. Many people will name Mercer - Morrison as the worst one, but I think these 3 were even worse. Denis Lebedev vs Roy Jones Jr. This content is protected Alex Garcia vs Bernard Benton This content is protected and the worst one, in my opinion - Ingemar Johansson vs Eddie Machen This content is protected
I remember the Garcia-Benton one. Pretty nuts. And Machen is lucky he wasn't killed. Back then they didn't really stop fights until a guy was down and out. Just saw Kitten Hayward-Curtis Cokes and Hayward was just lambasting him around the ring and the ref just stood there. That fight would have been stopped 3 times today.
Putting this in the correct thread; (I looked to see if anyone who filmed had put this nomination on YouTube, but no dice.) The worst I ever personally witnessed was at the KC Sports Arena in Hull, a sub-.500 journeyman from Slough, name of Ian Bailey, being allowed to take very uncommon amounts of punishment from Samir Mouneimne by Howard Foster. Bailey was tough as nails and about as game as I've ever seen in person, but he was horribly overmatched and outsized, couldn't lay a glove on Mouneimne, and the punishment had already gotten excruciating by the 4th. Mouneimne was hitting him with the kitchen sink, finding him at will with whatever he felt like, pounding him over and over, but he just didn't have the power to get him out, so Bailey kept on coming and sucking up the abuse. He wasn't fighting for anything but pride, he wasn't defending an undefeated record and there was no title on the line, but he had zero quit in him that night. Foster had no justification for letting it continue. He finally pulled the plug in the 7th of an eight-rounder, long after he should have intervened (nine minutes of boxing can be a long time), and only after several ringsiders, including myself, had begun shouting at the fool to save a tough, brave guy to ensure he could fight another day. Bailey ended up going the ten-round distance with Josh Warrington later that year, a couple months before Warrington took out Mouneimne. Ironically, and worth noting, this was about 8 months or so before Foster stopped George Groves in the first Froch fight (I was always confident that Groves was about to be finished properly, but when it's premature it's premature).
I'd forgotten that one, from James' reunion run with Ann after the Ishida mess. I recall it being relatively one-sided, with Tapia having moments, but Kirkland was just so exciting when he got into his groove. Waste of a fighter, ultimately. Guessing you'd have pulled the plug after the second KD in the 12th? Any earlier would have been a disservice to Vargas' championship gameness. Incidentally, the 5th round in that fight is one of the finest three-minute clinics I've ever seen. Just a couple more years of experience and seasoning before going in with that monster, Feroz could've won the thing.
How can you even argue that Denis Lebedev vs Roy Jones Jr was stopped too late? RJJ landed a great shot on Lebedev that sent Lebedev crashing into the ropes moments before Lebedev landed the shot on Roy that caused the ref to step in. Roy wasn't in any trouble before that point, which was seconds from the final bell.
I know I'm going outside the guidelines of the OP but indulge me ! The worst stoppage I ever saw was in a Welterweight contest at the Midland Sporting Club Solihull between Peterborough's Lenny Gloster and Vince Bailey from Birmingham in 1983. Gloster had been a well known amateur, everyone in the game knew him whereas Bailey was a novice pro with a handful of amateur fights behind him. Lenny was steadily out boxing Bailey, not hurting him because he couldn't really crack an egg, but it was pretty one sided. Just as Syd Nathan moved between the Fighters, Vince connected with a perfect left hook, bang on the chin. Nathan literally had to hold Gloster up to raise his hand. He was unconscious !
Machen vs Johannson was terrible. One that should be added to the list is Cooney vs Norton. one more punch and i think Norton dies