Underdogs that dominated their opponents...

Floyd Patterson bet on Cassius Clay over Sonny Liston when the fight
was first signed............17-1 odds.

 

Tyrone Crawley was intended as a sacrificial lamb for undefeated hometown amateur hero Robin Blake, but the Butterfly stood toe to toe with the three inch taller Rockin' Robin in front of the Texan's partisans in Levelland, and schooled him so decisively that they were utterly stunned into subdued silence. This may be my most favorite dominant upset decision win of the 1980s, and belongs on youtube. Howard Davis, Jr. was among the very impressed viewers of Crawley's ability to hit and not be hit, always exchanging punches on his own terms. His success at standing flat footed in mid ring while outscoring a much taller favorite who outreached him by so much was one of the damnedest things I saw during the decade.

 

Jem Mace (aged 39) was the underdog against Tom Allen, when they fought to decide who would be the first ever world champion!

John L Sullivan was the underdog against Pady Ryan in many quaters!

Obviously, nobody gave Corbett a chance against John L!

Jim Jeffries was the underdog against Bob Fitzsimmons in their first fight!

Jack Johnson was the underdog against Jim Jeffries!

 

I think that was where I got confused.

Thanks for clearing it up.

 

Khan - Prescott

 

Tyson V Williams/McBride - even though he was well and truly past it I think he was favorite in both these bouts

 

Yeah Old Tyson was an utterly shot-to-**** corpse with no stamina or motivation in those bouts, he didn't want to be there, he just needed to pay the IRS, but he was a strong favourite in both.

I still think he would've stopped Williams if it wasn't for the meniscus cartilage tear.

 

Calzahge V Lacy

Its already been mentioned but its worth elaborating on -

Joe was a big under dog going into this fight , many writers had Lacy winning by early KO such was the hype and fearsome rep that Jeff came to the UK with , I seem to remember only Barry Mcguigan out of the tv commentators had Joe to win and win comfortably as well .

Lacy was hailed as a new tyson - a new 'baddest man on the planet ' but of all the underdogs that dominated their opponents I cant think of one that gave such a one sided humiliating schooling such as the beating Lacy took - 1006 punches Joe landed on him and in almost every round he toyed with Lacy unmercifully .

For me its the most one sided beatdown of a betting favourite in boxing .

 

I hadn't heard anything about Lacy in the build-up to the bout, I've always been a heavyweight division fanboy, but they made him look like the most fearsome fighter in history with the promo packages. Robin Reid must've hit the deck about two hundred times in the highlights.

Although one correction - Joe landed 351 punches by official count.

If he'd landed 1006 punches, Lacy would be dead. I'm not even joking about that.

 

Benn did not dominate that fight, in fact he was very lucky to make it out of the first round.. The fight was a back and forth war, about as competetive as you can get.

 

Starling-Honeygunn

 

Edwin Rosario-Loreto Garza
Zale-Graziano (third fight).

 

That's a good 'un. Brown's slow but sure stylistic deterioration really showed its face in that fight. Still, even in hindsight, not one I could've called.