I feel like Tyson vs. Douglas will probably remain the biggest boxing upset forever at this point, with pretty much no one dissenting. If you had to list the 10 biggest upsets ever, what other fights would you include on the list? It doesn't have to even be in order necessarily. I would say: 1.) Douglas vs. Tyson 2.) Braddock vs. Baer 3.) Backus vs. Napoles 4.) Honeygan vs. Curry 5.) Rahman vs. Lewis 6.) Ali vs. Liston 7.) Holyfield vs. Tyson I 8.) Philips vs. Tszyu 9.) Sony Boy Jaro vs. Wongjongkam 10 Dejesus vs. Duran I Could be forgetting some big ones. Let me know if I am/
George foreman vs Muhammad ali. Ray Mercer vs larry Holmes. Tommy morrison vs Michael bentt. Tim witherspoon vs James smith 2 Frank Bruno vs oliver McCall. Oliver McCall vs lennox Lewis. Sonny Liston vs Leotis Martin. George foreman vs Jimmy young. Michael spinks vs Larry Holmes 1. Jack dempsey vs gene tunney 1. Ray Mercer vs jesse Ferguson. Vitali klitschko vs Chris Byrd. Wladimir klitschko vs ross puritty. And sooooooo on.
An interesting point, I guess it depends if we are using hindsight, as without it, there would be two different lists. The without hindsight would indeed have a Tyson/Douglas fighting for a place, but would have plenty of competition. Corbett/Sullivan; Johnson/Jeffries; Louis/SchmellingI; Ali/ListonI; Ali/SpinksI all compare to the Douglas/Tyson upset and without hindsight two or three of the fights I listed may be bigger upsets. And that is just the bigger Heavyweight fights...
Robinson losing to Randolph Turpin might still have been the biggest upset in boxing history before Douglas-Tyson. Robinson, 128-1-2 and on an eight and a half year unbeaten streak, losing against an unheralded contender from England. Robinson may not have been focussed but no-one saw that coming.
I'm not sure I'd classify De Jesus-Duran 1 as one of the major upsets of all time. In fact is was the 3rd fight in that trilogy that saw the emergence of Duran as we remember him today. He still pretty raw and unrefined in the first fight though obviously still a good fighter who was the favourite. Upset no doubt, but not all time upset in my opinion. I'd throw Pacquiao-De La Hoya in the mix. It doesn't seem like it now, but the boxing world was expecting a total mismatch and we all know what happened. Ishida-Kirkland is another more modern example. Not that Kirkland was some all time great but seriously....it was difficult to imagine a bigger "tomato can" type tune up fight than this and it ended in a KO despite Ishida having almost no power. Shocking
Some say it is Scrap Iron Johnson unspoken victory over a certain Smokin fighter from Philly that is the greatest upset ever.
I know it’s not ranked as a top ten upset. But when Manny fought Barrera the first time in 2003 and just outclassed and beat him up. Barrera was a 5-1 favourite. I remember the build up couldn’t see anything about Manny he was an Asian fighter with a big left hand but that’s it. Very few stories on him in the media. Barrera was the MAN back then he was p4p top. When Manny won I was in shock for 2 days. No excuses he beat the best fighter on the planet from pillar to post.
Yeah okay lol. It made me check it out on boxrec. Joe won easily but Scrap Iron was a tough test as always. Full credit to both men.