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

Mike Tyson lost against Buster Douglas

 

Duran not only was past his prime, but above his best weight as well.

 

This^^
Also because a lot of journeymen actually have great attributes about them. Some have very fast hands, huge ko power, or other hidden skills. This can catch a prospect off guard since they are mentally going in the ring thinking he’s just steam rolling another journeymen.

 

Young, at that point, was no journeyman. In fact, he should've had wins over Lyle twice, Ali, Norton and Foreman himself in his two-year glory period.

 

Yoko Gushiken wasn't great fighter in terms of opposition, but I can't understand how he lost to Pedro Flores...

 

Jones Jr against Tarver has to be mentioned.

I mean Jones Jr was literally P4P number 1 when he got flattened. He was a huge favourite in the rematch and expected to dominate Tarver as he had already been back at the weight for the first fight.

I'm not saying Tarver beat a prime Jones before anyone gets all defensive. But Jones was only considered past his best because Tarver beat him and gave him hell first time round.

 

Junior Jones must be close to the criteria here, if we're talking about genuine journeymen / largely unknown names rather than just underdogs. Jones was being talked about as a potential great before losing to John Michael Johnson and Darryl Pinckney in quick succession. Okay, Johnson had some reasonable form against average opposition beforehand, but Pinckney was completely unheralded. Jones still had some defining moments ahead of him, too.

Keith Mullings beating Norris must be a contender as well, again if we're wanting to label guys as more or less unknowns rather than just underdogs. Granted, Norris was slipping past his prime (and was totally off his rocker) by 1997, but still not a result that anyone saw coming and Mullings had been in bad form beforehand, as well as never really winning any big fights of significance after that, either.

 

Vilomar Fernandez d. Alexis Arguello

 

Douglas was portrayed by the mainstream press as a journeyman, and of course he was a prohibitive underdog against Tyson, but he was rated by the mags as one of the ten best heavyweights in the world since early 1986 (before Tyson by several months). At some points as high as #5.

 

Tarver wouldn’t even be a journeyman if he still fought.

 

Kirkland Laing was a very talented boxer.Certainly not a journeyman

 

Nah, Tarver has aged incredibly well.