Fights in which the 'cannon fodder' upset the prospect

Lets take a closer look.

Calloway had a grand total of 7 knockouts in 43 fights when he fought Chagev.

Ross had 23 knockouts in 26 fights when he fought Marciano.

See the diference?

Chagev was given a tough oponent designed to give him a tough fight.

Marciano was offered up as a sacrificial lamb to Ross.

If you quesation this then I will give you the testimony of Marciano's then manager who specificaly stated that he wanted to give Ross another easy win and so gave him Marciano.

 

It should be noted that Marciano had no distinguished amateur background; in fact, he hardly had an amateur background at all. Chagaev, as far as I'm aware, does have an extensive amateur background, and I'm sure Maskaev did. You wouldn't put Foreman in with Chris Finnegan in 1970, would you?

 

And with the shoe on the other foot

Bobby Joe Young - Darrell Chambers

to make it even better, Bobby's cornerman outsmarted Emmanual Steward.

 

again, not true.

calloway had 32 knockouts.

chagaev was not given a fight with calloway to test him. calloway was just thought of a fodder.

rocky had been good enough to compete at the olympic tryouts as an amateur......so he proved he could fight a little.
and he was 4-0 with 4ko´s going into the ross fight.
and he was a heavyweight, where ross was at best a light heavy!!!

and ross had been held to a draw in his 11 th fight by a guy with a record of 0-0-0 and had otherwise only met no hopers.

so if the manager thought that matching his light heavyweight with shaky credentials against a heavy with marcianos background would be easy pickings.......well, then the guy didnt know what boxing is about.

so if marcianos manager thought he was overmatching marciano, then this idea was based simply on his own incompetence.

but that doesnt make ross a better fighter!! nor does it lay proof to that marciano was not a protected fighter.

 

I am PRETTY sure that 0-0-0 record is pretty incomplete.

 

Courtney Burton/Angel Manfredy was a bit of an upset. Later in Manfredy's career, but eh...

Ivan Robinson/Arturo Gatti?

 

Yeah, and Oliver blew him out in one.

 

On Marciano, though, the promoter did say that Marciano was the opponent and he expected him to lose to Quinn and Ross.

 

A. Boxrec is very incomplete, moreso the farther back you go. Some of those opponents may have had many more fights than boxrec lists.

B. Most prospects' first 15 opponents have losing combined records- for example, James Toney's first 15 opponents were 58-65-1 according to boxrec-, so this is hardly a blot on Marciano's legacy, particularly seeing how he didn't start boxing 'til he was well into his 20s and had a brief amateur career with no professional instruction until he had a half-dozen pro fights.

 

Yes, Marciano wasn't viewed as a prospect at the time. He wasn't like Chagaev, who was a high-profile amateur with a big management backing who was viewed as a potential champion from the moment he turned pro. Marciano had a very quiet, brief, low-profile amateur career and wasn't expected to go anywhere in the pros. Ross and Quinn were viewed as prospects with potential and Marciano was intended to provide record-padding wins for them. In fact, Marciano's pro debut opponent Epperson was a well-regarded local amateur himself and was also expected to beat Rocky.

 

Liston was considered the prospect.

 

"This Marchegiano kid's got nothing. He can punch all right, but I've never seen a fighter as clumsy. The kid doesn't know what he's doin' out there. Quinn won't have no trouble with him." - said the fight's promoter, Sam Silverman to Quinn's manager, Jimmy O'Keefe


"Ross was classy. He had twenty-six wins and twenty-three knockouts. He was fighting for me in New Bedford, and I was looking to keep him around for the summer. I figured Rocky was bound to get beat, and Ross was the kid to do it. I threw Rocky in to give this kid another win and keep his popularity up in New Bedford." - Sam Silverman

 

Ross was undefeated and coming off a victory over Wilfie Shanks, an
experienced trial horse who had been in with at least 3 top ten fighters,
Vic Dellicurti, Al Priest, and Artie Levine. Shanks had lost to all of them, but his presence shows that Ross was moving up far past a preliminary boy such as Marciano's opponents. Shanks 38-16 record was certainly respectable.
Quinn was coming off a win over Johnny Melko, who was 31-11.
Quinn and Ross were obviously far more advanced than Marciano.

 

On the original question--Jerry Quarry beating Mac Foster and Ron Lyle might fill the bill.

Lee Savold defeating Lou Brooks.

Johnny Shkor defeating Buddy Moore--Moore was considered the hottest heavyweight prospect ever, a better prospect even than his stablemate, one Sugar Ray Robinson.