Erik Morales vs. Zahir Raheem 2005 - Morales and Pac fought tuneups on HBO to hype their rematch. HBO announcers previewed it like it was just a two-hour commercial for the big HBO PPV featuring the two. Only, Morales lost. Arum was enraged but so in denial that he didn't even go thru the motions of having Morales fight a rematch with Raheem and win that first. The fight with Manny went ahead anyway. Ron Lyle vs. Jimmy Young 1975 - Ali and Lyle was set. Ali was just going to make a quick trip to Cleveland to pick up his Ring belt and pocket a cool million against journeyman Chuck Wepner. So Lyle took a tuneup against 13-4-2 Jimmy Young in Hawaii ... and proceeded to lose a one-sided decision. Since it wasn't on national TV and most never saw it, the Ali fight went ahead anyway. Jimmy Young vs. Ossie Ocasio 1978 - Since Young did it to Lyle, I thought I'd bring up Young's cherry-pick gone wrong. Entering 1978, Ali was the champ. Ken Norton was the #1 contender. Young was a really really close #2. In Feb. Ali lost to Spinks in a monster upset. In June, the other top heavyweights Young and Norton fought on a doubleheader. Young faced the complete unknown Ossie Ocasio and Norton defended his newly awarded WBC belt against Larry Holmes. Young began the broadcast by losing to Ocasio, which absolutely ZERO people saw coming. And Norton finished off the broadcast by losing to Holmes. Recent loser Ali provided studio commentary. He was as surprised as anyone by what he'd just seen. So was the rest of the country. Within six months, the top three heavyweights in the world had all lost to newcomers named Leon, Ossie and Larry. And the glamorous 70s era of the heavyweight division was basically over, too. Juan Carlos Gomez vs. Yanqui Diaz - Undefeated (37-0) former cruiserweight champ Gomez moved up to much fanfare and immediately grabbed a top 10 rating by the WBA. Took on late sub and former Cuban teammate Yanqui Diaz, who was sort of floundering as a pro, on a Friday the 13th night on a Top Rank Spanish language card. I clicked over to watch it. Shockingly, Gomez was destroyed in one round. Later learned Diaz was the top rated heavyweight in Cuba when Gomez was on the squad. Sort of like what happened with Morrison and Bentt. When two old amateur teammates get together as pros, sometimes the old amateur #1 reminds the hot pro prospect who used to be boss. The loss slowed Gomez's career for a number of years.
Sanders for sure was a cherrypick. I'm sure watching him get thrashed by Rahman had Wlad and his team licking their chops. They weren't scared of him. Instead it was another cherry gone bad.
I just don't see how a guy with arguably the heaviest hands in the world at the time could possibly be a cherry.
I wouldn't say this was a cherry pick Richard M. Cruz was a late, "Take it or go home", substitute for an Argentinian Slugger called Sosa. It was actually a nightmare pick for Barry as much of his sparring and planned strategy was rendered irrelevant.
Thanks for the info my friend, Barry was headed toward a showdown with Azumah Nelson in a title unification.
I've mentioned this one before but it's the one that always springs to my mind. Ray Gilbody v Sandy Odanga. Gilbody was British Bantamweight Champion and unbeaten, a former Olympian and boxing in his hometown to boot. It was Odanga's debut. The Fight was recorded for television to be broadcast that weekend as a showcase for Gilbody. Given the title of the thread, you can guess the rest. Odanga massacred Ray from the first bell. He was decked, battered and pulled out at the end of the 7th. The really weird thing is that this was Odanga's only known professional fight.
Nobody at the time thought Sanders had the heaviest hands in the division. Corrie spent most of his career to that point fighting blown up old cruiserweights (Cole, Czyz, Nelson, Pritchard, DeLeon), losing to Tony Tubbs' cousin and getting knocked out by the only top 10 heavyweight he'd ever faced to that point (Rahman). On top of that, he was 37 years old and semi-retired. His career was essentially over when he faced Wlad and won spectacularly. It was great, but totally unexpected.
I remember Dave Gorman saying that he really knew Stevie Cruz would win when he saw McGuigan doing roadwork in 105 deg heat My pick would be Cotto-Margarito 1 ..... They were ridiculing Tony calling him The Statue before the fight. I was laughed at too on the forums for predicting Tony would demolish Cotto. BTW before any wise guy says anything There was no loaded gloves whatever Tony waited his time then beat down Cotto making him quit on his knees
Don’t see how Cotto-Margarito qualifies. It was the best fight to be made at 147, as Floyd was technically “retired” (and had been negotiating a rematch with Oscar anyway). Zelenoff fought a 1-14 guy and quit once he got hit lol. It was like those martial artist conmen who claim they can do “no touch knockouts” and have this look of utter shock once they got punched. This content is protected
I came here with Morales-Raheem in mind. Raheem was pretty inactive but had good boxing skill. He gave Morales a nice little lesson that night. By "gone wrong", I still throw De La Hoya-Sturm in the mix. Sure, DLH got the decision, but it ended up highlighting how out of his depth he was at 160. How about Warrington-Lara? Few, if any, saw Lara as being little more than a stay-busy bout. Paul Williams being upset by Carlos Quintana came as more than a subtle surprise. If I remember right, and I may well not be, but I thought Dunne stopping Cordoba was a shocker.
Nobody was saying or thinking that at the time. . Even Klitschko himself says Sanders was seen as a cherry pick. “Jennings is from Philadelphia, just like Rocky Balboa. So, there are definitely parallels. The young man hasn’t been around for long, but he has nothing to lose and is hungry for a challenge. “That’s why he is a danger to me. In the past, even Corrie Sanders was called tomato can in the press. And you know how that story ended. I lost that fight.”
