The bigger upset I believe was the Donald Curry vs Lloyd Honeyghan World Title bout in 1986. Donald was on a roll, a complete fighter, especially his victories over Milton McCrory and Marlon Starling. He was talked about being a challenger to World Middleweight Champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler in early 1987, bypassing Mike McCallum, also a World Champion at 154 lbs. With the Honeyghan loss, it opened the door to Hagler vs Leonard on April 6 1987, won by Sugar Ray Leonard, by decision. Jose Napoles losing his World Welterweight Title to John H. Stracey, of England, was to be expected on Dec 6 1975, because of Napoles poor showings against Armando Muniz, during the year. He began to slide after his unsuccessful bid to win the World Middleweight Championship from Carlos Monzon, on Feb 9 1974, in Paris, France. Monzon by a TKO7, Jose could not answer the bell.
The big upset was Honeyghan-Curry...NOT Stracey-Napoles. Mantequilla was shot....as evidenced by his two gruelling battles with Armando Muniz. The Napoles that Stracey defeated was a charred crisp of a husk of the fighter he once was. IMO, Napoles' last hurrah was that 9th round tko of Hedgemon Lewis in Aug. of -74....and just for the record, the great Cuban master would have had both Muniz and Stracey for lunch and dinner just a few years earlier.
I totally agree, like you said a few years before the Stracey bout, Napoles would have destroyed both Muniz and Stracey
There actually isn't much between these two "major upsets", and they were both very much major upsets. Curry was around a 5-1 favorite and despite Napoles being past his best he was a major favorite and fighting at home. The odds would have been very similar between the two bouts. Basically nobody expected Stracey to win and Napoles was still on his winning ways having basically shut out Muniz the fight prior. Even on the way down Napoles was still a very tough ask. I'd shade it for Curry - Honeyghan but certainly not by much.
I think they were both huge upsets but Napoles was getting long in the tooth and had showed slippage whereas Curry was in his prime. So, I would say the Honeyghan upset of Curry was the more surprising, bigger upset.
As others have said, Curry was at the top of his game while Napoles was aging and he was turning into a bit of a diva. It was leaking out to the public that Napoles was drinking too much. He'd never been the hardest worker but by that point he was really slacking in the gym. That was still a brilliant win for Stracey, especially since he got off the deck to score the finish.
With hindsight it was clearly Honeyghan/Curry; but you would have got long odds on that with John H on the deck in the first round in Mexico City...
