Most embarrassing performance from a major heavyweight champion

I actually don’t find most of these particularly embarrassing. I voted for Wlad vs Purrity due to Purrity being a true journeyman, and Wlad being a champ and decorated amateur.

 

Most of your examples was with “past their best” fighters and a few that redeemed themselves (like LL losing to Rahman and Klit losing to Purity) so to me the answer is AJ losing to Ruiz in a fight he should of won, followed by Fury “losing” to Ngannou.

 

See Ruiz was a serious contender, so I don’t find that one too embarrassing, even with it being a colossal upset.

I have more respect than most for MMA fighters in the boxing ring, especially at heavyweight. So that coupled with the expectation of Fury to underperform often and seeing how fat he was, I didn’t find that one too embarrassing either.. and again, Ngannou is a world class fighter and a freak athlete.

 

Joshua dominated Ruiz and then got caught and stopped.

I'm not sure what was embarrassing about the "Performance".

Usyk's "Performance" against Verhoeven was far more embarrassing comparatively, despite winning, because Verhoeven had much more success than what Ruiz had.

 

What a clownshow, people pretending Fury's embarrassing night was worse than their hero AJ's utter humiliation.
Let's break it down.

Fury's fight was basically a circus fight, an exo cash grab, that he didn't really prepare for. He paid the price and was lucky to escape. The opponent was actually a SHW, stronger and leaner and hit harder. Fury still won the fight and didn't get stopped regardless, and he actually showed determination to win.

AJ's fight was a proper championship fight he did truly prepare for. He was fighting an undersized massively fat opponent who he dwarfed and hit far harder than. He lost, was TKO'd and basically quit in front of the world.

 

Fury against Ngannou probably. Usyk Vs Verhoven wouldn't be that far behind considering this was a guy who most considered P4P #1 almost losing to a 1-0 kickboxer. But atleast Usyk put him down and stopped him, though it'd be fair to say the stoppage was early.

Fury couldn't even put a dent in Ngannou and was dropped by him. As a boxing fan I felt like I had to go into hiding to avoid all of the annoying MMA guys that I knew would be incredibly smug about the fight.

Fury's performance was made worse by Joshua annihilating Ngannou soon after, which put to bed the idea that maybe Ngannou was genuinely just a world level boxer that would give most guys trouble.

 

Tyson wasn't a champion when he lost to the guys you mentioned.

Fury's performance was shameful, opponent wasn't a boxer and just showed Fury only had his size left by then.

 

Holmes had already had 20 world title fights and was 35 years old when he lost to Spinks. Who is considered one of the best Light Heavyweights of all time and was a credible as a Heavyweight I don't see this as embarrassing.

Some of the other examples as well are again from fighters at the end of their career.

Ali had early stages of parkinsons vs Spinks and was way past his best and atleast Spinks was a top 10 rated Heavyweight and a Olympic gold medalist.

Tyson was no longer a world class fighter vs McBride and was completely shot.

The worst on this list is Fury vs Ngannou because Fury was considered the number 1 Heavyweight and he was an active world champion. And many thought Fury could've lost the decision and he was also dropped which made it worse.

I know Patterson got dropped by that Olympic gold medalist who was making his pro debut but Patterson atleast dominated him after that.

 

I think Fury, Usyk from that list, but AJ shoukd also be there to make a holy trinity. Not v Ruiz but v Jake Paul. I don't mind these kind of fights, its all about the prize at the end of the day, but contracts be dawned, a top fighter fighting a novice should show that gap. AJ smashed Ngannou for instance.

 

Wlad never redeemed himself against Ross Purity. They never fought again.

Joshua beat Ruiz. Lewis beat Rahman (nearly killed Hasim with that shot).

Fury didn't lose to Ngannou.

But Wlad got stopped by Purity. And Wlad never rematched with Ross.

That said, Mike Tyson quitting against McBride was humiliating. He was past his best, yes. But Tyson wasn't out or unable to go on. He just quit. And McBride was awful.

 

Fury v Ngannou was pathetic as was Usyk v Verhoeven,however Fury only held one Belt at the time and was no2 in the Division where as Usyk still held three Belts at the time and was no1 in the Division. Fury after the pathetic showing against Ngannou then went on to fight Usyk for Undisputed,Usyk after his pathetic showing against Verhoeven proceeded to drop all three belts,avoiding Kabayel and the other two mandatorys,removing himself from Championship level in the Divisiom,this surprising move from Usyk is the most embarrassing performance and reaction from a Heavyweight Champion imo ! Had any other fighter pulled this stunt there would have been pages and pages on here slating them and we all know it but it’s Usyk so he gets a pass for it !

 

I can’t find what’s embarrassing about Holmes or Ali on this list. Unsure why those two are mentioned given the conditions.