Name ATG fighters who lost to jorneymen while being in their prime or near it

History is littered with journeymen beating top fighters who simply took his opponent for granted. Offhand I can think of:

Eddie Pace beating Curtis Cokes
LC Morgan stopping Jose Napoles
Everett 'Bigfoot' Martin beating Tim Witherspoon

And if you really want a kick, have a look at Johnny Risko's record. Man, the upsets he pulled.

 

Does Jose Napoles losing his title to Billy Backus count?

 

Muniz was one of the best 4 Bantams on the planet with chandler and Pintor being 2 of the 3 above him. Good fighter.

 

This is real life, people lose to people you don’t think they should sometimes it can be as little as an inch a heart beat a small delay in timing you’re not used to, a trick they learnt In sparring that had few applicable uses but that one defining moment... some fighters guards are prone to certain strikes so a lower class fighter with a high tier or awkward X punch may effect Z guard....

Then there’s the mental, sometimes spiritual side of fighting... the point is anyone with two hands and a heart beat can beat anyone even if the chances are one in a billion.

 

How about Duran's loss to Kirkland Laing?

 

This sums up my point exactly. Kirkland Laing was a two time British champion and an EBU champion. He wasn't an effing journeyman.

 

Sorry that last response was meant for the previous poster

 

John, the point about Muniz has always been a sore spot with me. When he got a hastily made non-title fight with Jeff Chandler, one has to realize despite a 35-3-3 record with good wins over Kiko Bejines, Jose Luis Soto, Freddie Jackson, Eddie Logan and Mario Chavez, that he wasn't even rated in the top 10 by the WBA. Yet, they had no problem rating as #1 and forcing a mandatory title fight for their boy from Panama Miguel Iriarte. Chandler himself stated how amazed he was at Iriarte because "he actually did not even know how to fight." I hope Muniz caused the WBA all kinds of embarrassment with his non-title win. Which, BTW, was the only reason he got his title shot with Chandler. I would like to say Muniz couldn't even buy a rating, but that would be counter to the WBA's methods, wouldn't it? If one ever talks corruption in the alphabet organizations, look no further than the Muniz/Chandler/Iriarte scenario.

 

I don't like Wladimir klitschko but he was far away from his prime against Puritty.

 

Yes, I misremembered when that loss occurred. Mea culpa above. Please find it in your heart to forgive.

 

Does not really fit the bill for me. First it was an SD, where I feel Chandler edged it, but a 5-4-1 result is fair, which all 3 judges had 2 for Muniz 1 for Chandler. Chandler had (I believe) less than a week to prepare for this fight as they were scrambling when Eddie Mustafa Muhammad came in overweight for his fight with Spinks. It became Chandler’s largest payday at that time so he naturally accepted. 10 rounder, SD I would put on par w/ Duran losing to DeJesus (no I am not comparing Chandler to Duran) (nor am I comparing Muniz to DeJesus, but he was above journeymen status for me). I also believe this was at SBW and Chandlers 2nd fight above bantam as he was considering moving up a division. Chandler put the matter to rest in the subsequent rematch where Chandler gave him a shot at his belt. Just my $0.02

 

Muniz was rated as the number three contender by Ring Magazine at the time of his first fight with Chandler.

 

Dropping a close, either-way decision above the best weight probably still counts if the other fighter were, in fact, a journeyman. But Muniz was considered a legit contender by many going into the fight.

 

George Foreman