One Hit Wonders?

While I understand what you are going for, I think it's fair to say that both Cruz and Douglas were considerably better than mediocre. Along the line of what you are saying, I will go with Leon Spinks over Muhammad Ali and Jim Braddock over Max Baer, both for the heavyweight title.

 

The best example I remember of a one hit wonder was the night Akinobu Hiranaka scored a first round KO over Edwin Rosario for the WBA junior welter title. Hiranaka was about as much of a nobody as anyone could ever come up with for a title fight. Never heard of the guy before that and as far as I know he never did anything after

 

Good call. Hiranaka only had one fight after that, against Morris East, and was KO'd in the 11th round. That KO resulted in a brain injury which ended his career.

Rolando Pascua also comes to mind, although he may have had a couple of decent wins after his upset of Chiquita Gonzalez.

 

That was another good example. I don’t recall if Gonzalez’s title was on the line for that fight or not but he was undefeated prior to that loss.

 

Hasim Rahman. He was a good fighter overall, but nothing special.

Good power, good jab, good overall boxing ability, average chin, average speed, average size for a HW.

Nothing special compared to more skilled, quicker, harder hitting, bigger and taller boxer like Lennox Lewis.

 

Chan Hee Park beating Miguel Canto. Had a lot of talent but just didn't seem to achieve much else afterwards. He wasn't able to secure a victory in the rematch against Canto and also followed up with 3 losses to Shoji Oguma.

 

Tomas Molinares. Fought well against Starling for 5 rounds then in the 6th landed an after the bell shot koing a fighter who had never been stopped or would be in future fights.

If I remember right the fight was ruled a no decision the following week. Molinares was still crowned champ by the WBA but then suffered a deep depression, gave up his title and then was knocked out in his next 2 fights.

Previously to the Starling fight he was unbeaten (23-0 20 kos) and on a run of 11 kos over non-descript competition.

 

Park sure packed a lot into a short career. Turned pro at the age of 20. Retired at the age of 25. He went 5-3-1 in nine title fights. His final fight was a KO loss to a man who lost more than he won. Sounds like he picked a good time to retire.

 

Braddock is a much better example I think. Leon is kind of in the Douglas category — a legitimate talent who ended up underachieving due to personal issues.

 

Ted Sanders beating the holy something or other out of Alex Ramos. Although to be fair, he was always a tough out for middleweights of that era.

 

Really unfortunate that he couldn't hold it together. Could have made a mark as one of South Korea's greatest boxers but it wasn't to be.

 

In the early '80s it seemed like no wanted the WBC flyweight title. In a 2 year period, the title went through 6 champs, all who lost the title in their first defense. They were Prudencio Cardona, Freddie Castillo, Eloncio Mercedes, Charlie Magri, Frank Cedeno and Koji Kobayashi. It's not that they didn't beat some decent fighters here and there, it just reflects how politics work in a multi-title era where favored sons are eased into title shots that they may or may not have deserved.

 

Anyone remember Breidis Prescott? Mostly known as the guy that KO'd an undefeated Amir Khan in one round and then just fell off afterwards.

Zahir Raheem is also another fighter that was mostly known for upsetting Erik Morales and was never heard from again getting beat by Freitas and KO'd by Funeka.

 

Nah, he was more a three hit wonder.