But beating them in, say, the third or fourth fight. Not many fights have gone past the stage of a being a trilogy in recent decades, so this might be a bit of a hard one. Has a fighter ever lost 2 or more times but finally said fighter?
Walcott v. Charles. Lost twice but given a third chance he won by KO. I daresay among the black fighters of the early 20th century who fought each other multiple times we might find instances where a guys goes 0-3 or 0-4 or 0-5 against another before registering a win. But I'm too lazy to go check at the moment.
Recently Daisuke Naito vs Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. Naito was KO'd in the first round in their first fight, lost a technical decision in the rematch, won a decision in the third fight and drew in the fourth fight. Wouldn't surprise me if they fought a fifth time since Wonjongkam is the "interim" title holder while Naito is the champion.
Harry Wills was knocked out a couple of times by Sam Langford, before old age eventually caught up with Langford and Wills started winning more regularly
Its supposedly on the cards Great...but knowing the WBC they will just let them both hold the title forever..Like they did when Pong was champ and Arce was the interim.
Sandy Ferguson fought Jack Johnson five times and lost five times. Jim Barry lost against Sam Langford a ridiculous number of times.