Fighters who were good - as long as they weren't fighting punchers

What are some examples of fighters that had shaky records against big punchers, but outside of that were very good?

The definitive example for this is probably Ken Norton, who gave Ali and Holmes hell and was one of the top contenders of his day, but suffered embarrassing early KO losses to Foreman, Shavers, and Cooney.

Bobo Olson would also be a leading example for this IMO. In a way, he was rather like the middleweight version of Norton. He had an impressive peak as MW champion and compiled a very good resume, which includes HOFers like Randy Turpin, Kid Gavilan, and Joey Maxim(twice). However, he was crushed by Archie Moore in a challenge for the LHW title and was twice blown out by a comebacking Ray Robinson who most people figured to be an easy fight for Olson at that stage of their careers. He later earned distinction as a LHW contender for a number of years, but was KO'd by Doug Jones and Jose Torres (in 1 round).

Speaking of Torres, I've always felt his management kept him away from big punchers. The first (and probably only) time he fought a real one-shot KO artist was against Floro Fernandez, and he was blown out by him. The next biggest puncher he fought was probably Dick Tiger, and he lost twice to him. He earned his LHW title shot by blasting out Olson and then won the title by clobbering Willie Patrano - both of whom were definite non-punchers.

I've always thought Pipino Cuevas' ability to handle punchers was questionable as well. He tended to ignore defense and ate right hands like candy, but he didn't fight too many (if any?) truly big punchers until he ran into Hearns and was duly crushed. He was also KO'd rather early by another of the harder hitting fighters he fought in Duran.

Perhaps Hector Camacho qualifies for this as well? He did outclass JL Ramirez, but against Rosario he fought ultra tentatively and just did enough to make the fight close. In other fights against solid punchers like Chavez, Tito, and DeLaHoya, he did nothing other than just back away or hold.




What might be some other examples?

 

Good picks.

 

Keep in mind though, Olson had looked very impressive beforehand against Maxim and had him down a few times. Meanwhile, Moore hadn't looked so good in his previous title defense (a come-from-behind KO of Harold Johnson), was around 40 years old and reportedly struggling hard to make the weight. There was reason to believe Moore might be ready to be taken at that time.