Good fighters who had a few losses but still became Champions

Good call on Monzon. The 9 draws, 4 of which came between wins 21 and 89, lead me to believe Monzon may have benefited from some good ol’ fashion home cooking.

 

The most important thing to know is that Argentina is known for having tons of draws, literally what the country is known for as far as fighters from there or who have fought there. Look into it, as your comment implies you may be unaware.

Also of note about him is that he redeemed all of his 3 early losses. Off the top of my head I recall he redeemed 7 of the 9 draws he had. Also usually beat them each multiple times after.

 

Its norm to have losses on your resume before you become champions. If someone doesnt have a loss then it usually means their resume is a lost cause at world level...which is way worse than having a loss...not having a decent win.

 

Freddie Pendleton had near 20 losses before winning his first world tittle.

Buster Drayton had around 10 losses before he became champ.

 

The WBO belt back then (1999) wasnt a true championship belt, it was a bit of a joke. No one considered Nelson to be a "champion" back then, but getting a strap was still a good achievement.

Fabrice Tiozzo, Vassily Jirov and Juan Carlos Gomez were the WBA, WBC and IBF strap holders.