He didn't show much till he got his shot...

Gilberto Keb Bass. Seriously, is there a more unlikely 'world' champion in recent years? Going into a fight with the relatively proven champion Omar Nino Romero, he was 33 years old and had a record of 33-20-4, yet won a deserved majority decision. And in his first defence, he stopped former world champ from the weight below(although far past his best) Jose Antonio Aguirre.

Another example is a fighter from the same division, Luis Alberto Lazarte. He lost in three 'world' title attempts and one Interim challenge, and after some wins over very underwhelming opposition beat Carlos Tamara for the IBF title. Although he shouldn't still be champion, he was blessed to get a draw against Archie Solis IMO, which should be put right in the rematch.

 

Sergio Martinez? He was supposed to be there to make up the numbers against Kermit Cintron, since then he's been an absolute hurricane.

 

despite being a 2 weight world champ, Manny Pacquiao certainly announced his name in the big time, dismantling Marco Barrera in 11 rounds

 

Tim Bradley? Wasn't the most touted of prospects early on.

Nonito Donaire? It all changed with the Darchinyan fight.

 

Tomas Rojas?

Guy got completely hammered by Vic not too long ago in 2 rounds and had amassed a pretty uninspiring record. Has since go onto to win the WBC title and has beaten 2 Japanese fighters on their home turf, including Nashiro :good

EDIT: should have properly read the thread, his one big shot was against Vic and he got beaten badly

 

Good example, one of my favorite fighters.:good

 

Brandon Rios - got into trouble with the law, wasn't a 'can't-miss' prospect, underdog against Peterson and really impressed that night and then against Acosta. He's certainly come from almost nowhere.

Miguel Vazquez is another one at lightweight.

Julio Cesar Miranda at Fly - was easily beaten by Pong, stopped by that South African guy Donaire beat but since then has gone a good run and picked up a title.

 

Surely Aguacerito himself is a better example than Rios? Rios was fairly well known off the back of the Peterson fight, Miguel was virtually unknown before the Moses fight, and certainly before he fought Antillion.

 

Yes but Acosta has just lost

Nah, Acosta is a good mention as well. He was a nobody before fighting Antillon and Urbano was getting a lot of hype after his sparring with Pacquiao but Acosta did a number on him. And then he went to ****ing Namibia to beat Moses!

 

Hopkins? A loss in his first fight, comprehensive defeat to Jones Jr in his 1st world title fight and then a draw vs Mercado (I had him losing by 2 rounds) in his 2nd hardly made you think he would become the undisputed middleweight champion and without doubt a future Hall of Famer

 

Actually thinking about it maybe Hopkins doesn't really belong in this thread unless his Mercado rematch counts as his 'shot'

 

I was about to name a few fighters from Japan and Thailand and realised that there wasn't much point. Almost every world champion they have applies I think.

 

Jon Thaxton. He had some mild success at Area level but his record was slowly beginning to resemble that of a club fighter's. A spirited effort against Colin Dunne was not enough to reverse Thaxton's fortunes and his record at the end of January 1996 read a distinctly average 3-3 in his last six fights.

At this point, everything seemed to be going against Thaxton. Title aspirations were fading, his sink or swim victory over multi-titled amateur Dean Hollington was a distant memory and he had to rely on late call-ups to continue to pursue his boxing dream. Ironically however, it was one of those late call-ups that was going to be his saving grace.

Paul 'Scrap Iron' Ryan; the hard hitting, talented and then-unbeaten British, Commonwealth and WBO Inter-Continental light welterweight champion was struggling to find an opponent for his February 10th date in-front of the Sky cameras. Italian Antonio Strabello was the original choice of opponent, then it was the American Gene Reed, yet he abandoned the idea of fighting Ryan once he arrived in London. Two days before the fight was to take place, Thaxton got the call.

Due to an IRA bomb, Thaxton prospered from a valuable 72 hours extra preparation after amendments had to be made to both the venue and date. Still, the virtually unknown Thaxton was given very little chance of causing the upset regardless of his confident demeanour before the fight. On the 13th February at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, Thaxton got his chance in the spotlight. Titles weren't on the line, but careers were.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LITzByerkVo[/ame]


Just over two minutes into the fight and Thaxton caused arguably the biggest upset of the year. A booming left-hand flattened Ryan, whose world title ambitions were crushed. Despite being unknown and on a bill that contained Terry Dunstan decisioning Dennis Andries for a 2nd time and the up-and-down thriller that was the rematch between Kevin Lueshing and Chris Saunders, Thaxton was the surprise star of the night.

This fight proved to be a springboard for Thaxton, who signed with Warren after the fight and gained National exposure. After a long, successful career Thaxton can lay claim to being a former British, European and WBO Inter-Continental champion. And none of this could arguably have been achieved had he not taken his shot at Ryan.