Some guys have all the luck. Some guys have all the pain. Some guys get all the breaks. Some guys do nothing but complain. But enough Rod Stewart, let’s talk boxing. Who are the guys who somehow ended up in more than one crazy finish, the kind of fights and fight endings that you just don’t see come around but when they do, this guy is standing there. I’ve got a couple of examples: John Mugabi: First fight after the Marvin Hagler loss, he’s suddenly a rising new star on boxing’s horizon. What does he do? Next fight out he faces Duane Thomas for the vacant WBC 154-pound crown. And what happens? He argues against thumbless gloves, wins that pre-fight debate, and takes a thumb to the eye that, IIRC, cracked his orbital bone and led to him taking a TKO loss. (Of note, Marvin himself was on commentary and questioned the Beast’s heart by asking: “What’s wrong with his other eye?”) So he takes a year off to heal, wins like seven fights in a row over the next 18 months or so, and finds himself facing Rene Jacquot for that same WBC strap. And what happens? Jacquot slips and turns his ankle and Mugabi gets an easy TKO win when Rene can barely stand up to defend himself. Another example, Terry Norris: Now maybe it’s that WBC 154-pound title, because Norris is the champ and he’s just beaten Simon Brown in a rematch to claim it. What happens next? He gets DQ’d for hitting Luis Santana when he’s down and loses the belt. And in the rematch? This time he gets DQ’d for hitting the same Santana after the bell. Hard-luck Terry finally wins the third fight of this legendary trilogy and moves on with his career. Can you think of any other Bizarro World fighters who find themselves in these Twilight Zone fights?
Recently Donaire fluked his way to the Inoue fight IMO. After a loss to Frampton at a weight he didn't belong at, Donaire looked pretty much done. He was 35, after all. He moved back down to 118, and enters the super series. Drawing a hard first match up, he's being beaten on points by the talented Burnett, and all of sudden; Burnett has a freak back injury. He withdrew from the fight at the end of the fourth round. For the next round, I seem to recall someone pulling out and Donaire getting an easy break. He beat Stephen Young by KO6, and so had a guaranteed shot at the Monster. When nearly everyone expects him to lose in less than 4 rounds, he puts forth the most memorable performance of his career and gives Inoue the hardest fight of his career in a FOTY candidate!
Eubank vs Dan Sherry, Michael Watson II, Carl Thompson II Backward headbutts Sherry, who he was getting to and who seemingly pretends to be hysterically injured and no DQ given, just a no contest and points deducted and Eubank still maintains title on points marginally. Dropped to one knee by Watson, and due to Eubanks aura of invincibility ref Francis fails to administer standing eight - Eubank rises immediately, walks in and drops Watson with uppercut; again no standing eight administered due to ref in shock, and bell sounds to end penultimate round. Stopped near start of last round. Eubank behind on all three cards. Thompson closes Eubanks unhealed eye again and ringside Dr orders fight off between rounds despite Eubanks protests. Eubank ahead by three on cards with three to go.
Lewis in 97 had the McCall rematch followed by the Akinwande DQ. Luckily Golota was on hand to bring a bit of sanity and order to proceedings. Bowe had the Elijah Tillery farce, Fan Man in Holy 2, Buster Mathis DQ, then ended his career with the two Golota fights (plus riot). Makes you wish all the more that they had fought. Literally anything could have happened.
Bernard Hopkins - Falls out of the ring against Robert Allen in their first fight and is unable to continue. In his first fight with Chad Dawson he is body slammed to the canvas and is unable to continue. Against Joe Smith he is knocked out of the ring and is unable to continue (or is counted out).
Not to mention his heart ailment in the first Michael Moorer fight or when Hasim Rahman complained about Holy's butting because Rahman grew another head out of his forehead or even in his Olympic Final when he got DQ'd against Kevin Barry when the Ref yelled 'break' and Holy couldn't check the final hook.
Donald Curry following up his loss to Honeyghan with two consecutive wins against Tony Montgomery and Carlos Santos - both by DQ, both from multiple headbutts, both in the fifth round.
I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to include Sonny Liston for the two Ali bouts — quitting on his stool + the ointment or whatever that got in Ali’s eyes, plus the whole strange finish to the rematch. And Ali gets bonus points for the glove tear/replacement vs. Henry Cooper.
That weird trilogy involving Mando Ramos and Pedro Carrasco. The first fight was held in Spain, for the WBC belt that had recently been stripped from Ken Buchanan. Ramos was winning handily (had Carrasco down a few times) before being controversially DQ'd, so a rematch was ordered. This was closer and Ramos only won on a split decision, but there were allegations that a judge had been bribed, so a third match was ordered. Ramos won again, only this time he failed the post-fight drug test, so another rematch was ordered. Regrettably, Carrasco denied us a fourth installment of this legendary series when he decided to retire instead. Who knows what would have happened in that one?
