Sacrificial lambs that won in boxing

Another talented poster pointed out both Spinks brothers. Those two were sacrificial lambs, Muhammad Ali fought Leon on Feb 15 1978 to avoid a fourth fight against Ken Norton, who defeated Jimmy Young for the top spot honors on Nov 5 1977. Norton was then declared WBC Champion, Spinks upset Ali, then refused to fight Norton. Michael Spinks was a terrific World Light Heavyweight Champion. IBF Champion Larry Holmes fought Spinks on Sept 21 1985, the 30 th anniversary of Rocky Marciano's last bout on Sept 21 1955 against World Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore, Marciano TKO'd Moore in the 9th round to go a perfect 49-0, 43 KO'S. Larry wanted to break Marciano's undefeated mark but fell short, losing by 15 round decision.

 

Don't bite too hard buddy. Ha Ha.

 

Foreman was a 3-1 underdog vs Frazier!!!

 

Won me ten dollars in the eighth grade, a crisp Alexander Hamilton.

 

Yeah mate Holmes - Spinks was seen as a huge mismatch at the time.

 

James Kirkland getting stopped in one round by Nobuhiro Ishida.

 

Many of what I’m seeing here I would simply classify as upsets. But if you want a real sacrificial lamb then look no further than Tom Bethea, a 9-5-1 club fighter taking on middleweight champ Nino Benvenuti in a non-title and coming out the winner. Even got himself a title shot after this embarrassment to Nino.

 

Andy Ruiz Jr would be eh obvious recent example.

He wasn't even on the radar.

Joshua was preparing for a fight with the top ten ranked Miller, and then when he failed the chemistry, this fat man little was brought in as a replacement.

I did not think it worth paying to watch the fight!

 

He came to the UK in the early 70s, and gave our middleweight Mark Rowe the mother and father of a beating, think he outweighed Rowe by quite a bit, have spoke to Rowe about the fights, there were 2, and he said he generally does not feel hurt in a fight, but Bethea, hurt him, and hurt him alot, his face was badly bruised, both eyes nearly shut, he looked like a car accident, Mark was always too brave for his own good.
FYI. No less a referee than Harry Gibbs stated that Rowe was the best body puncher that he shared a ring with, when you think that Gibbs was the 3rd man in the second Briscoe / Valdez fight, that says a lot.
stay safe guys.

 

Grrrr!! Just playful puppy bites Rich. Lol.

One way to view a sacrificial lamb is an opponent who isn’t necessarily eligible or required to be engaged AND who is also expected to be beaten rather handily.

Not sure where he was rated at the time or if it was entirely necessary for Ali to fight him - but Norton vs Ali 1 seems a nice answer to the question.

I believe Ken was a 5-1 underdog. I guess Ali had his sights set on a rematch with Frazier and then on to Foreman at the time. Ken was viewed as a mere stepping stone - but again, I don’t know if Ali even had to step on that particular stone (a very troublesome stone as history proved).

Ali’s own complacency and poor conditioning reflected the general feeling of how much chance Norton had against him - Ken wasn’t given a lot of chance at all.

A huge SD upset loss and broken jaw later and Ali’s comeback march to the title was sent hurtling backward.

His “work” in tray now didn’t just consist of a revenge rematch vs Frazier and then a title shot at Foreman (formidable enough) - but newly created work was now also thrown in - a rematch with Norton to avenge his devastating loss.

 

George Foreman vs Michael Moorer…a lot of people felt like the fight was a farce

 

Willy Wise was supposed to be a tuneup for Chavez Sr, but the promoters forgot to tell him.

 

Hasim Rahman vs Lennox Lewis 1 …a reporter asked Rahman how it felt to be a huge underdog …..” Somebody’s gonna rich off me “

 

Carlos Baldomir vs Zab Judah …it was a tune up for Floyd Mayweather

 

Good Post Pug.