Cool subject. The best have been named already, but I'd like to just chuck a little list together. Ezzard Charles Srisaket Sor Rungvisai Benny Paret Gene Fullmer Stanley Ketchel Larry Holmes Aaron Pryor Gerry Cooney Bernard Hopkins Dwight Muhammad Qawi? Bennie Briscoe?
*Deontay Wilder - the current man everyone loves to hate *Dereck Chisora - been fined numerous times by the BBBofC for bad behavior *Mike Tyson - from biting Holyfield's ear to biting Lennox's leg during a brawl when the fight was formally announced to trying to break Botha's arm I don't recall Gerry Cooney ever being cast in the roll as the villain. A lot of stuff went on around him leading up to the Holmes fight, but Cooney never said anything controversial. Holmes pushed the race stuff and took on the role as the villain in that confrontation, including trying to attack Cooney when he came over for an interview with Howard Cosell after the Snipes fight.
Off-subject, to tell you the truth, Robertson didn't deserve his title shot. A year earlier he would have, but by the time Duran put it on the line, Robertson had dropped 3 out of his last 4. How was he getting a title shot? I always say for the first couple of years of his reign, Duran's people were very nervous about putting their prize in with anything decent after the DeJesus encounter. Which is why a shop-worn Robertson was cherry-picked for his first defense.
Eubank at his pantomime heelish best, entering the ring in Germany (Followed by arguably a career best performance): This content is protected
There is good money in being a heel, just ask Floyd Mayweather. People weren't buying all those ppv's for his exciting performances, they were buying them to see him lose. When people pay to see you lose, you have hit the jackpot
It just wasn’t uncommon back in the day for fighters who were coming off losses or who were winning some and losing some to get title shots. Walcott had lost two in a row when he beat Ezzard Charles — most recently to Charles himself by wide decision in which Joe was put down for a nine-count. George Chuvalo lost two out of three when he was granted a shot at Ali. Pablo Baez went 3-3-2 in his last eight and found himself in the ring with Thomas Hearns for the welterweight crown. Champions didn’t defend just twice a year in those days. When you’re making several title defenses a year not all of the challengers are going to be monsters. You can find countless examples of this.
Pat, I agree with you that it does happen it's just that it always sticks in my craw like a bad decision and I don't have to like it. Regarding your 3 examples, although Walcott was getting these shots, they were somewhat acceptable because they were competitive. However, they weren't very exciting and a lot was said about the public stomaching another Charles-Walcott fight. That one I would say, meh! As for Ali-Chuvalo, one of those two losses was to Ernie Terrell for the WBA title, the other was to Eduardo Corletti. I agree, that should have eliminated his chance right there. However, The original bout was Ali-Terrell and this was put together on 17 days notice. Again, I don't like it and I;ll bet Arum had to grease a few palms to salvage his show. Lastly, don't get me started on Pablo Baez. I always bring this one up on what a poor title reign Tommy Hearns had. That was pathetic. Regarding Jimmy Robertson, he was hot stuff in '72 but it came crashing down when he got thumped by Rodolfo Gonzalez, then got stopped by Chango Carmona. He beat a club fighter and then got thumped again by Ben Villaflor. If a fighter gets a shot coming off at least competitive losses, I can give some slack, but it had been 7 months or so since Duran won the title and this was the first time putting it on the line. I liked Jimmy Robertson, but this was a gimme and it shouldn't have been for that length of time.
