Fights where credit was taken from the winner for being too dominant

Holmes vs Cooney.

Crawford vs Indongo

Wilder vs Ortiz

 

Does Hopkins-Trinidad fit that description? It pretty much made his rep as a great fighter at that point.

 

Foreman/Frazier 1
Sanchez/Lopez 1
Napoles/Cokes 1
Mguigan/Pedroza
Braxton/ Saad 1

could be persuaded otherwise, maybe

 

Ken Norton TKO 1 Duane Bobick. While Norton was favored 11-5, it was thought to be a competitive bout between two of the top five contenders. The Ring had Norton at #3 and Bobick at #5. Afterwards Bobick was seen an overrated joke who'd built his record on stiffs.

Earnie Shavers KO 1 Ken Norton. Going in, Shavers was supposed to be a tune-up for Norton. Ring had Norton at #2, while Shavers was unranked. Shavers had lost badly to Holmes and had only beat three oft-beaten "opponents" since. People were chomping at the bit for a pretty much done-deal Holmes-Norton rematch later in the year. Afterward, Norton was seen as a past his prime fighter who couldn't hang with big bangers.

Larry Holmes TKO 3 Leon Spinks. While Holmes was favored 4-1, some writers were predicting a Spinks victory based on his recent performance against Bernardo Mercado. The Ring had Spinks as Holmes' #3 contender, behind Mike Weaver and Gerry Cooney. Afterward, Spinks was a hard-luck kid who didn't have much skill and was lucking in catching Muhammad Ali at the right time three and a half years before.

 

I disagree.

 

Excellent calls.

 

Don’t know if it’s already been mentioned but I think Lennox Lewis’win over Razor Ruddock may be one possible example. Going into that match a lot of people picked Ruddock to cripple Lewis and when the opposite happened, Ruddock was all of a sudden “ ruined from the Tyson fights. “

 

Great mention Goo.

 

Bob Foster vs Mike Quarry, June 27 1972, Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

That's my take on your thread but it is a bit of a fine line .. In Saad - Conteh 1, Saad was a solid favorite and Conteh coming in was viewed as a past his prime one armed fighter .. Conteh suprised everyone by fighting the fight of his life against a prime Saad .. in my opinion Saad came on super strong in the championship rounds, dominated the end of the fight , dropped Conteh four times, had him hanging on for his life to go the distance and ruined him as a fighter as the rematch showed .. it was viewed as a great fight, a classic after it was over but almost all of it was focused on Conteh's surprise performance .. he clearly had a lot left and showed it in the proper opportunity .. he also got wrecked as it ended ..