Suffering a blatant robbery can have different effects on different fighters. On one hand Marvin Hagler didn't reach the full marvelousness of his evolution until the bogus draw with Antoufermo convinced him to go all out in the ring. On the other hand, Jeff Fenech lost a piece of his soul forever, in the ring and out, when he 'drew' with Nelson. What are some other examples of a robbery affecting a fighter's ring trajectory?
Saad Muhammed felt he was robbed against Gregory, then vowed not to leave things to the judges anymore...its a vow he mainly kept in exciting style.
Same for Lucas Matthysse, felt he got robbed in the Judah and Alexander fights (close but still) and now he starts faster. Seems to work for him so far.
Ken Norton has said that he lost his drive after being robbed in his third go round with Ali. On the other hand I believe Evander HOlyfield was fueled by his victimization at the Olympics.
I'm not sure how many guys here remember Dale Brown, an outstanding cruiserweight from the early 2000s. He had no natural to speak of. He was very slow, he didn't have any appreciable punch, he cut, he didn't have a great chin, but he had a Benny Leonard esque skill level, with great skills, defense, and combination punching. He pushed Jirov and Mormeck very hard before he was brought in as a tuneup for O'Neil Bell. Brown completely dominated Bell. It was one of the few fights where I've scored a 10-8 round in fact. It was no surprise though when Bell, who was aligne with King and being groomed for a Mormeck fight was the bogus winner. Brown never recovered, becoming a mediocre journeyman overnight.
Yeah that Bell robbery was brutal. I think you're underselling his speed and chin i wouldn't describe them as harshly as you did, neither were below average imo.
After his "loss" to Larry Holmes, Tim Witherspoon went on to win titles twice in the Heavyweight division.
