"Cheese Champs" who got their "comeuppance" against the Real Champ

Zarate Zamora

 

I think one of the biggest examples of "cheese champs" was the heavyweight division circa 1995-96
Frank Bruno- WBC belt
Bruce Seldon - WBA belt
Frans Botha - IBF belt
I might be mistaken but I think all three were promoted by Don King.

 

Douglas-Holyfield.

 

Mmm don't think that's quite right Wass. Unless u count Douglas s supposed long count as evidence that Tyson was still the champion and he was shamefully robbed!. Some do..

 

Tyson V spinks in some people s opinion s.. If you don't believe in the lineal line of heavy weight s. That spinks beat the man who beat the man. Spinks didn't actually have a official belt I believe when he stepped in the ring with Tyson, but Mike held wbc, ibf and wba. Some actually didn't believe spinks was the champion at the time. Myself personally recognised spinks above Berbick, Smith and tucker.

 

Yes the ones with sh1t for brains, the only one that got robbed was Douglas. It's disgusting how Don King and Mike Tyson reacted after getting their asses kicked......

 

Took away a lot of respect I had for Tyson back then. I just wanted him to say fck off to Don King, admit he got his ass kicked, and get back into contention for another title shot. Only the IBF stood by the ko of Tyson for a few days whilst King and the rest tried there best to steal back the belts. Talk about sinking low!

 

Ali was clearly a fraudulent cheese champ when he fought Holmes who showed everyone who the real champ was by giving Ali the biggest beating of his life. Yet there was some so called traditionalists who insist before the fight that Ali was still the real lineal champion and that Holmes who clearly was the best fighter in the world at that time, couldn't be considered champ until he beat Ali. Never mind the fact that Ali ducked Norton, the guy Holmes eventually beat to win the title but then after beating the hapless Spinks, Ali chose to retire rather than face Norton or leading contenders like Holmes. Even after being retired 2 years and clearly a shadow of the fighter he was, its crazy that he could be considered the true champ when he was the one who chose to duck and retire.

 

Ellis was actually a super game, pretty damn talented fighter. He beat the better competition going into the Frazier fight. Joe was just a beast in 1970 and way too much.

 

As soon as I saw the thread title my first thought was Foster-Rondon. Rondon went in scared to death and was obliterated in 2 by the real champ Foster.

 

The only reason Ellis could possibly claim he beat the better comp (and its a highly debateable point) when he fought Frazier was because Frazier rightly refused to jump through any more hoops after earning a #1 rating thus refusing to go through with the wba tournament. That being said Ellis marquee wins at HW were Bonavena, Quarry (both of whom Frazier beat by a wider margin by the time he fought Ellis), Patterson (who most, including myself, dont believe Ellis even beat), and Leotis Martin. Frazier had beaten Quarry, Machen, Jones, Chuvalo, Mathis, and Bonavena. Not sure how anyone can claim thats "worse" than Ellis' HW resume in 1970. Thats beside the point that Ellis and Dundee gleefully announced their intention to duck Frazier after the shameful Patterson decision and then attempted to do just that by instead agreeing to face Henry Cooper in a thankfully aborted title defense. So no cheese champ is not too terribly strong a word. He was brave and talented but his claim to a championship was tenuous at best and the opportunity was created by promoters and circumstances outside of the ring, not by his ability to defeat the best. Frankly if Harold Valan would have known how to score a pro fight we wouldnt be having this discussion.

 

Ellis far more decisively defeated Bonavena, dropping him twice and dominating in a manner Frazier did not. Machen was on last legs when Frazier beat him and Jones not much better. That's how.