Fighters who had their finest hour in losing efforts

Juan Diaz was most impressive in the early rounds before succumbing to Marquez.

 

Considering he was 40 years old at the time ,yes I do.
And it is "losing efforts",the consensus of the press gave Driscoll the fight against Attell by a wide margin.

 

Juan Diaz V Marquez 1 - showed alot of heart in a war with marquez - shame his lowest hour came in a victory against malignaggi

 

Bert Cooper's battling losses to Holyfield and Moorer were the arguable highpoints of his career.

 

Probably already been said - at work and don't have the time to check - but Billy Conn against Joe Louis is the biggie for me

 

Luis Firpo against Jack Dempsey.

Yvon Durelle against Archie Moore.

Ron Lyle against George Foreman.

 

SRL showed heart in his first fight with Duran
Pinklon Thomas showed chin taking bombs from Tyson
Glen Johnson losing to Dawson in a great fight(probably not his finest but he tested him)
Lamotta taking SRR's bombs and not even going down. What durability!
Barrera losing to Morales in the first fight of a classic.

 

Carl Williams giving Larry Holmes all he could handle and arguably coming out on the short end of the decision.

 

vitali klitchko against lewis? sailor tom sharkey against big jeff? teddy brenner always said wallcott against marciano.

 

tua vs ibeabuchi for a modern touch

 

Here's one that people don't talk about that much...

A virtually unknown Courtney Hooper made an extremely gallant stand against Meldrick Taylor in a crack at his 140lb belt, and though he lost a wide decision went toe-to-toe with the champion, and produced a fight that had the crowd on its feet.

Also, Vaughn Bean earned more respect for hanging fairly tough with Holdyfied and Moorer than he ever did from any of his victories.

 

Hooper seemed capable of stepping up after Taylor, because as you suggested it was a very credible performance by Courtney. Sadly Hooper never did respond to his good press post Taylor.

Bean was your honest trier with a decent whack (to a certain level) and a world class chin. These two tools with proper promotion can make you a real player at Heavyweight.

Personally I thought Bean gave his best, in defeat to Vitali. He actually tried to win that fight, rather than give a good account in a decision defeat like he did against Moorer and Evander.

 

Chris Eubank VS Carl Thompson I & II

Chris Eubank vs Joe Calzaghe............

 

i don't know about the last one, actually i have to disagree with the others as well. for me, eubanks finest hour was knocking out benn. he made a very good account of himself in all 3 of those losses but he peaked in acclaim well before