The gap in natural talent between two fighters. Has there ever been a bigger gulf in an upset? Carlos Maussa over Vivian Harris was another where a relative brute beat someone exceptionally naturally gifted. Judah was faster than fast, with oodles of natural talent. His performance early against Floyd Mayweather shows you what Judah was capable of. Baldomir... well, he was iron chinned, scrappy, but slow of foot and certainly no marvel in the ring.
Interesting question. Could John David Jackson's loss against Jorge Fernando Castro in their first fight be considered? Castro served as a punchbag until landing that money shot from nowhere, albeit he proved he was one seriously tough hombre. How Jackson conspired to lose that one is beyond me.
That's a great shout out actually. The athleticism gap between Jackson and Castro must have been huge. It showed. Good post, thank you!
Baldomir wasn't a push over. He had a very good undefeated run from 99-06 against pretty good opposition, even giving Clottey a rough time and winning by DQ. His natural talent could be found in ability to take punches to the face and endless cardio. It's a shame he got outclassed by Floyd and Forrest instead of having potential classics with Mayorga and Margarito. Maussa was legitimately garbage. The hw division is a good starting point for these kinds of upsets. Think Briggs-Sedrick Fields.
What a glorius result. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for days. Judah was probably the most overconfident fighter based on confidence to ability ratio I ever saw. Yes Zab had natural athleticism but his fundamentals were lacking. And he was stubborn and just too egotistical. Baldimor chalked one up for the working man fighter.
Baldomir's win really wasn't luck. Matthysee had a similar fight with Zab and Baldomir outperformed Zab against their common oppponent, Clottey.
That was an awesome win and one that had me smiling for days. But Maussa vs Harris was the correct answer. Maussa was really really terrible.
