Or fights that were generally thought to be easy but but favourites got beat? Tyson v Douglas probably most famous. Tyson v Holyfield 1 was supposed to be a warm up for Tyson v Lennox . Morrison V Bentt , another warm up for Lennox.
AJ V Ruiz 1 was meant to build up his reputation in America in anticipation for a WIlder fight. Also, Lennox Lewis V McCall 1 in anticipation for Bowe V Lewis in 1994/95 after they failed to agree on a fight in 1993.
Remember "Vicious" Vivian Harris? he was being touted as a potential opponent for Mayweather & secured an intended showcase fight on a May undercard vs. Carlos Maussa. Harris was so unnerved by being in the spotlight that he left his hotel room during the night before the fight & paced the streets, then weighed less on the day-after weigh-in than for the previous day's official weigh-in. Harris ended up shooting his bolt in the 1st rnd or 2 looking for a KO, then walked into a hook & got sparked. ww champ Angel Espada was eyeing a potential showdown w/ leading contender Andy Price when he took his title down to Mexico to defend against local clubfighter Pipino Cuevas, who had just given Price all he could handle in losing a close, debatable dec. Espada probably figured to make a statement by schooling a fighter that had given Price so much trouble, but the ploy backfired spectacularly when Cuevas dusted Espada in 2. Espada would never again hold a world title & would be battered into submission in 2 subsequent attempts to retake the title from Cuevas.
Hi Guys. Not immediately seen as a tune up loss, but Norton's win over Ali was a huge upset, Norton was viewed as a safe bet, with a loss to Garcia on his CV, but he fought out of his skin, up against a unprepared Ali, who didn't take Ken seriously and paid the price. stay safe guys , chat soon.
Tyson vs Holyfield one was one of the biggest PPV`s in boxing history, Lewis was payed step aside money so Tyson could fight Holy as Lewis was the No.1 contender at the time, Tyson v Lewis would have been nowhere near as big as Holy v Tyson in 96, Lewis wasn`t considered a legend yet and would have been an underdog vs Tyson at that time.
Victor Ortiz was all but assured a big payday vs. Canelo if he simply got past journeyman Josesito Lopez (who was a late sub iirc). Instead, Lopez broke his jaw & stopped him, & ended up getting the Canelo fight instead. RJ's fight w/ Glen Johnson was intended as an "easy" path back to a title & potential setup for a unification rubber match w/ Tarver. Carlos Baldomir was supposed to be just a warmup for Judah's anticipated fight w/ Mayweather.
Baldomir over judah tune up for mayweather vs Judah Raheem over Morales tune up for Pacquiao vs Morales 2 Of course both of those fights still ended up happening and were quite competitive but Judah only got a purse of 1 million dollars for the Mayweather fight,it would’ve been 3 million had he not been beaten in a huge upset a few months earlier.The Mayweather-Judah pay per view did 374,000 buys which was actually quite good.People were still whinging saying mayweather wasn’t a good draw at the time,but that was pretty harsh because had Judah looked spectacular against Judah I think it would’ve done over 600,000,after all Judah was the undisputed welterweight champion and a pound for pounder and Mayweather was the pound for pound king.It lost a huge amount of it’s appeal after Judah lost to a nondescript opponent.
