Most impressive arrival parties

Hearns destroying Cuevas. Instantly made Hearns THE fighter to watch.

 

Obvious: "We have a new era" Tyson over Berbick was about a champ that would unify all the belts. This win, no one questioned (IF) he could unify. After Berbick fell, we knew it was inevitable. My mom couldn't afford PPV, so I remember getting up early to go to the gas station on the way to school to see what the sports section in the newspaper stated: Tyson Won, then I saw the taped broadcast later.


Pacquiao over Ledwaba. Something about this win made commentators and fans who saw it reel time felt like--Man this dude don't seem like a one fight wonder. I GOT to see him fight AGAIN! Those who saw the spiked colored hair-Asian bruh that night for the 1st time, KNEW. He was something special.

 

Honeyghan over Curry had a big impact in the U.K.

 

Sanchez-Lopez was the first one I thought of. Nobody knew anything much about Sanchez but what was remarkable was that not only did he beat a dominant champion in Lopez but he also appeared from nowhere as a complete fighter who could box and punch whilst being only 21! Talk about ‘best-kept secret’!

The other one I think of is Pacquiao beating Barrera in 2003. Of course, Pacquiao was already a 2 division world champion so it wasn’t out of nowhere like with Sanchez but Barrera was the lineal featherweight champion and considered to be one of the best fighters in the game. Pacquiao had already made somewhat of a splash at jnr featherweight but that was only with hardcore fans and boxing followers. He really crossed over in this fight and became someone that everybody in boxing knew, the hottest young fighter in the game. Great win.

 

Battling Siki's win over Georges Carpentier apparently had a giant impact, with Siki emerging as a sort of 1920s Chris Eubank as far as I can tell, and he evidently came out of nowhere.

Nonito Donaire came out of nowhere to ice Vic Darchinyan in spectacular fashion. That fight netted Donaire Ring Magazine recognition for both the KO of the Year and for the Upset of the Year. Huge. And although Donaire was a decorated amateur, his best previous win was probably his decision over sub .500 journeyman Paulino Villalobos.

 

Good pick, he was crowned in that fight. What had me amped for him was that was the first fight Vic Darchinian brought his dad to LOL!

And Vic's dad is here tonight. Bad night to see sonny boy, And what made it even more of a deal, was showing how Sic-Vic beat up his brother a few fights before.

True. for me as stated above, I saw him take on ledwaba, had no clue who he was.

 

I think Pacquiao has three arrival parties.

Ledwaba made him known to the pure hardcore boxing fans.

Barrera I made him known to everyone in boxing.

Dela Hoya made him a superstar and known to the general public who knows nothing about boxing.

 

I was just thinking the same thing!

 

I'll argue that the Hearns and Tyson examples don't fit the OP's premise. Hearns was being groomed on national TV and being featured in the magazines. Tyson was in the mags and on national TV before he even turned pro.

Conversely, the aforementioned Sanchez and Nelson seemed to come out of nowhere. Honeyghan over Curry is a good shout, though he certainly didn't have the career Sanchez and Nelson had.

I'll add Larry Holmes against Earnie Shavers, first bout. Holmes was a highly rated contender, but he wasn't one earning a lot of respect or really getting anywhere until the Shavers bout.

To a lesser degree was Gerrie Coetzee's KO over Leon Spinks. We can look at Spinks now as a very flawed fighter. We can use hindsight and talk of his struggle against LeDoux and the argument that he lost the Ali rematch more than Ali won it. But Coetzee cam out of nowhere to utterly destroy a celebrated Olympic medalist and recent heavyweight champion. And while Coetzee didn't scale the heights of a Holmes or Sanchez or Nelson, he did have a respectable career as a top-10 contender and organizational champ over the next seven years.

 

James 'Bonecrusher' Smith only turned pro at 28 in 1981 and was still relatively unknown ( though I do remember him featuring in a Boxing Illustrated article on future heavyweights to watch out for) when he was chosen to go to London in 1984 and face the undefeated great British hope Frank Bruno who was 21-0 with 21ko's at the time. Seen as just another stepping stone for Bruno, Smith showed great resilience and strength in staying with Bruno who was well ahead on points going into the last round and then tagged the tiring Bruno with a big punch and then really followed up with a accumulation of shots that floored and finished off Frank for a big upset win. This win proved to be Smith's passport to the big time and led directly into a title shot against Larry Holmes in which Smith once again acquitted himself well before being stopped on cuts in the 12th round. Despite the loss, Smith managed to stay in the heavyweight spotlight for the next few years with some good wins as well as losses until he once again scored another big upset and won the WBA title against Tim Witherspoon at the end of 1986. His disappointing unification fight loss against Mike Tyson in his next fight was probably the end for Smith as a serious heavyweight force but it can be said that he really overachieved for a man of his limited ability and it all started with that breakthrough upset win against Bruno.

 

@Saintpat @sweetsci
On Tyson I stand corrected!

 

James Toney is definitely high up in this one.