What is the best loss of all time?

The source I just gave seemed to believe he won the early rounds quite handily before fading out and being out-pointed most of the rest of the way. Given his condition (certainly nowhere near his best) I'd think were the two to have had a rematch at some point in the near future (relative to that time period, of course) with Gans at full strength things could've been different. You never know. I think very highly of Gans, though.

 

Wow 3 pages long and no Robinson-Maxim....also:

Johnson-Willard
Norton-Ali
Norton-Holmes
Witherspoon-Holmes
Williams-Holmes
McClellan-Benn
Benn-Eubank 1
Moore-Charles 3
Hearns-Leonard 1
Castillo-Mayweather 1
Arguello-Pryor 1
Whitaker-Delahoya
Walcott-Louis 1
Young-Ali

 

remember reading about robinson v maxim...and everyone was talking about robinson collapsing from the heat, and maxim said "well, i didnt have any refrigerator in my corner"

mind you...that doesnt take away from the point that it was indeed an impressive losing effort..

 

Mancini's loss to Arguello

Vitali Klitschko's loss to Lewis

 

Howard Winstone's second loss at the hands of Vicente Saldivar where he came within a whisker of dethroning him, improved both their reputations greatly.

 

I had him up after 10, by about a point or so. Those last 5 rounds, however, make it a pretty damn long whisker. More like a big, fluffy tail. Winstone did show extraordinary courage and toughness to survive the beating he was given in the championship rounds, though, so I'd agree.

 

Barrera L12 Morales (2000) couldnt have worked out any better for MAB than if he had won the fight.... got the Hamed fight, won it, got a gift in the 2nd Morales fight on the strength of that loss in 2000 2 years later & remained a superstar right until the end of his career & it all really started with that loss to Morales.

 

Although it wasnt a loss im sure jeff fenech felt like he lost after the draw was given in his fight with nelson. He won that by at least 3 or 4 rounds in my book

 

not the best loss all time, but i believe paulie m loss to cotto really raised his stock and won him over a lot of fans, IMO!

 

You're a riot, Bill.

Barrera won the second fight legitimately on my scorecard.

 

Yeah I totally forgot that one - that has to be the best losing performance, by definition, since he was winning against a LHW champ and only got beat by the sun!

 

You know that same heat was over in Maxim's corner too.

 

Imagine a lightweight-version Floyd Mayweather going six rounds against tough welterweight Dave Holly for a newspaper win, then hopping on a 1903-era train for a 300-mile trip to fight none other than 20-year-old 140lb future heavyweight terror Sam Langford the very next day! Imagine he does as Monte Cox describes below:

"Consider Gans' fight with the great Sam Langford on Dec. 8, 1903. Langford was the most avoided fighter in boxing history. Sam was the larger of the two, a natural welterweight at the time. This fight was fought in Boston the day after Gans had fought a no decision bout with black welterweight Dave Holly in Philadelphia (Gans won the newspaper decision). This means that Gans had to travel by train up the eastern seaboard from Philly to Boston for a fight the very next day. Gans admitted that fighting two days in a row and making the trip had sapped his stamina. Nevertheless, Gans dominated early in the fight before fading from lag in the later rounds and losing a close decision. Fleischer penned, (1938, 164-165; 1939, 130), 'Gans opened up the first round with a triple left hook. As Sam drew back after the third blow, Gans quick as a flash, sprang forward and landed a terrific right to the jaw, and from that point until the fifth round, Langford seemed scared stiff and did his utmost to avoid infighting.'

The Boston Globe described events in the following manner, 'Langford was clever and the aggressor but he had a wholesome respect for the power behind Gans right glove. And Gans proved early in the bout that his good right hand was his stock in trade and ever after that Langford managed to keep his right hand in readiness to stop any lead at which the champion might make…both blocked so well and slipped rushes so dexterously and sparred so gingerly that the bout became monotonous', Dec 9 Globe. In other words it was a chess match. This fight is considered as the only fight the real Gans lost in a period of more than ten years. Considering it was his second fight within 24 hours in cities 300 miles apart and the quality of his opposition, Gans did very well indeed."

I'd say he'd have done himself pretty proud. But I see your point as well: defeating even a ragged Gans during his peak can only speak of Langford's all-time great quality.