I personally think it goes to Roy Jones Jr. in his prime. People actually believed he could move up to HW and successfully challenge the likes of Lennox Lewis. Then again, is it suprising when you go through the divisions like he did, when your sole loss in 14 years is a DQ one which you erase with a one round KO, and so on? Who else?
Tyson with ease. Remember that Douglas was a 42-1 underdog. Douglas may not have seemed like the next big thing, but he was no slouch. Imagine if Lewis had been favored by that amount against McCall or Rahman.
I agree. Liston and Foreman were fearful, but they were never favorite by ridiculous odds as 44-1. Ali, when he was seen as aging and past his best, was still only a 3-1 underdog against Foreman. When Holyfield was perceived as washed up in a similar fashion, he was 22-1 against Tyson, despite the prison layoff.
I guess heavyweights are at the disadvantage of having no where to "move up" to. I can't compare any heavy to Roy Jones being potentially put in there with the number one heavy in the world, personally.
What about Michael Spinks? Or Gene Tunney, Harry Greb, Archie Moore, stanley Ketchell, Bob Foster, even james toney. I think Tyson is hard to beat though. Jack Johnson must have been another, and his invincibility lasted a long time, despite some average performances. Also, in Australia at least, Jeff Fenech had a damn fine aurora, up until the second Azumah Nelson fight.
Remember though them odds (for the Douglas fight) were only set up in one Hotel for one greedy punter who thought he was on a winner and duly got stung. Who was really put money on Roman to beat Foreman? No hotel or bookie is going to set up a book they cannot make money on.
Who favored Spink's against Holmes? Or especially Tyson? Who felt that Greb could move up and dismantle Dempsey?
Quite a few people figured Spinks had a chance against Holmes. The Jinx was in his prime; The Big Black Cloud had found out last time out, the Truth was he was past his best. I reckoned on Spinks to beat Tyson , but to fair I was far from being alone....
Mike Tyson, and that partly explains the victory of Buster Douglas being considered the greatest upset in sports history.