Favorite examples of old shopworn fighters reversing the script and beating/exposing prospects?

There are many examples of this throughout boxing history.

Some of my favorites that might fly under the radar.

Francois Botha exposes fellow South African and big punching prospect Flo Simba.

- Simba was 10-0(9 ko) and 20 years the junior of the old bloated and battle hardened Botha. He just wasn't able to deal with white Buffalos infamous smothering/spoiling tactics and that led to him being tired relatively early which let to his glass chin being shattered in the 6th round.

Botha deserves an honorary mention for his performance in the SBW fiasco as well.


Joachim Alcine was seemingly shot in 2012 going into his fight with a top young prospect in David Lemieux - 0-1-1 in his last two fights with one being a first round stoppage to the bruising Alfredo Angulo and the other a DRAW to Mexican journeyman Jose Medina. That would make him the ideal opponent for a young prospect who had recently suffered a bad loss? Nope! Alcine instead conjured up everything he had left into a very educated boxing performance and ultimately a victory over the green and flawed Lemieux. Alcine went on to lose his next fight in the 1st round to a rebounding Macklin in what would be an 0-5 losing streak in total 2-6-1 run since. Which definitely lends credence to him putting everything he had left into routing the young Lemieux.


I have a couple of others in mind but think these are good enough examples to get you guys thinking. What are your favorites?

 

Funeka went to chechnya and exposed Murzabekov
Does Abell Zimmoch count?

Everyone's favorite of course - Thompson exposing Price.

 

Actually many of Botha's latter-career expeditions. He ought to have a w over SBW as well.

 

The correct answer is actually Carbajal vs Arce.

 

Popo Freitas over Mike Oliveira.

 

Nah Abell was a live dog against the flawed and already exposed Zimmoch - As most of us followers of the HW division noted.

Price/Thompson might just barely count. Only because Thompson was older and the fact it was such a shocking upset at the time - But he wasn't completely spent. Mostly talking about completely shot(or seemingly so anyways) conjuring up unexpected performances in fights where they were being served on a platter to a young prospect with some level of hype behind them.

 

From 2017!

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This is always my go to answer for these posts. I love this match, one of my favorites to watch.

 

Erik Morales comeback was amazing. Dude was obviously washed up. But the old man still had some youth left in him.

 

Yeah Garcia I and Maidana he deserves tremendous credit for the performances he turned in, even in defeat. Popped Cano who is a solid fighters cherry as well.

 

Mike Jones vs Randall Bailey!

 

I might remember wrong, but Cano was the only of t he 3 not to use a size advantage. And Morales just picked him apart.
Maidana(as rugged as he was back then) got off to a fast start and that saved him.
Garcia... man i honestly feel that the left hook he landed in the 11th ended Morales. (and up to that point, it was a close fight and Morales had taken the control)

 

Grady Brewer actually qualifies twice over:

- in 2011, aged forty, he upset Fernando Guerrero, then unbeaten, not just a heavy favorite but tipped as having MAJOR potential to make waves in the sport by many in the industry (trainers, pundits, journalists and super-fans - who collectively might wish to entirely forget about what kind of things were spewing from their mouths in 2011...not just about Guerrero, but fellow "p4p ruler for years to come" Yuriorkis Gamboa, etc)

- fast-forward a few years, and he springs another upset, over Moroccan kayo artist Said Ouali. Now, this wasn't as significant an upset on paper as nobody ever rated Ouali (who came in having tasted defeated already four times) as highly as people had Guerrero in 2011, but when you consider that Brewer was by now 43, and had always had a shaky chin, and was in with a big puncher and fringe world class operator nine years his junior, and especially that Grady had gone on a bad skid after basking ever so briefly in his Cinderella Man glory post-Guerrero (in that span he ran up a dismal 2-7 record and only nabbing one single clean victory, over a guy with a .500 record, the other being a DQ in which all-around scumbag Giorbis Barthelemy was kicking his ass pillar to post with Grady on the verge of being KTFO when the Cuban - suffering a mental collapse worthy of an Oliver McCall or Andrew Golota - bit him) - then his lasting ten with and moreover defeating Ouali might actually be the bigger miracle.

 

Campillo - Thomas Williams Jr

 

Grady Brewer was the one who made me watch FNF.
I heard about his story and his nice little upset, and decided to give FNF a look. (more of a casual back then). Man, FNF had lots of nice little upsets.

I miss FNF