What is the best loss of all time?

Golota has built his whole "legacy" on loosing by DQ to Bowe.

 

Leonard TKO14 Hearns. It's no coincidence that Leonard had to retire over a detached retina afterward. It really showed that Hearns could get hurt, but recover to take over the fight, outboxing an ATG Welter for the second half of that fight even. I think it also proved that while his chin wasn't granite, that Hearns was indeed quite durable. Not many other fighters could fend off an amazing finisher like Leonard for two rounds then go on to sweep rounds against him, no less.

Hagler TKO3 Hearns. Hearns getting up at the count of 9 took tremendous heart. And if you believe the story about the leg massage along with him breaking his right hand in the first hand, it really shows how much he was willing to put on the line to win that fight. Also, taking Hagler's best for that frantic 3 rounds also goes on to show that the first big punch landed wasn't going to crack his chin, as many seem to believe.

Chavez-Taylor. While I think the stoppage was just, there's no denying that Taylor's legacy is pretty much dependent on those people who believe he deserved to win the fight and take Chavez's undefeated record. And of course he wasn't disgraced in the defeat anyway, as all will concede Taylor fought with everything to try to get that win.

 

I was a clear points win for Hagler,but Duran put up a hell of a fight.

 

Yeah. Ali and Frazier against each other. In 1971 and '75,respectively.

 

I disagree here. Hagler virtually threw that fight away in the first few rounds. Stalking Leonard,and fighting orthodox. He should have come out,all guns blazing,endeavouring to swarm all over a rusty Sugar Ray and not allow him to find a rhythm.

 

This is not to take anything away from Sugar Ray,who fought a very intelligent battle.

 

In terms of raising an anonymous actor to silver-screen immortality, Balboa's loss to Apollo Creed!

Upon seeing the thread title, I immediately recalled Meldrick Taylor. His loss has to be one of the very toughest ever in the pro ring: from being two seconds from glory --the scalp of the 68-0 Julio César Chávez-- to suddenly finding himself on the inexorable way down, down to losing his very health. Yet the reason was he was too much of a fighter to waltz to a decision. Respect.

The Master Joe Gans lost narrowly to larger Sam Langford --on his second straight day of fighting-- and forever placed his greatness in true perspective.

LaMotta's refusing to go down to Sugar Ray at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre cemented his legendary ability to take it like a man.

 

Contrary to popular belief i believe Tyson losing to Douglas, Holy and Lewis answered all his critics
he showed heart in all fights he lost, fighting until the very end, going out on his shield....but no according to some he was a quitter and a coward.....

 

Tommy was down for a full ten seconds, but he did beat the referee's count. (Aside from Zach Clayton's accelerated cadence in Kinshasa, I'm hard pressed to think of a major bout where the knockout was as brief as a precise ten seconds.) I do think Cuevas getting up against Hearns was more impressive, as those were two truly deadly right hands, and it looked like the referee might have let Pipino continue if his corner man hadn't run in to save him. (Cuevas also tried in vain to stop his corner from throwing in the towel against Duran, a gesture which tells me they should have allowed him to continue in that one.) Benvenuti also got up against Monzon. Nobody ever counted Nino out.

 

Nelson v Sanchez is an obvious one. Azumah gets massive credit for making it competitive despite his inexperience. That loss is no dent to him at all.

 

for me...archie moore losing to marciano...

 

Not so sure of this one. I've read some accounts that have it stated as being marginally close, others that had Langford basically dominating the fight from all angles. The majority of the scribes seemed to side more with the latter view, actually, from what I know.

Not to mention it was a 17 year old Langford in there with the best fighter in the world at the time. I'd say this would be better placed on a list of "Best wins" than "Best losses", really. Granted, Gans was not at his best for the fight, what with having fought the underrated great Dave Holly just the previous day, only to take the long train ride directly to the Langford fight. Supposedly some stomach issues hindered him, as well.

 

At the time, Leonard's loss to Duran was positive in that Leonard showed amazing grit that some didn't think he had.

 

Not as far as a scorecard goes, but from accounts I've read of the fight as a whole, sure. Here's a bit on it from Gans's book:


http://books.google.com/books?id=oD87K8sMcVUC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=gans+langford&source=bl&ots=huV2RfSvwf&sig=r-dEIxTZNEwYEP17hvwmYf2CTLg&hl=en&ei=mxk2TLimJYOClAf0u5XVBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CC4Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=gans%20langford&f=false

It would seem his stamina was greatly affected by a slew of factors, otherwise Langford may not have gotten away with the win at all.