Those moments when fighters had losses that shocked us.? Lennox Lewis losing to McCall and Rahman definitely fit in that category. Mike Tyson getting ktfo by Big Buster, the top of the list.
Terry Norris, rated as P4P top 3 by some, getting dropped by a jab and then flattened by Simon Brown. A totally unknown Jose Luis Lopez bouncing Eamon Loughran like a basketball live on ITV. An obvious mismatch in retrospect, but a major **** up by Barry Hearn in the pre-internet days.
Blimey that Norris Brown was a shocker. That's back when Terry was having that great run and looking good. Brown, I seem to remember he was seen as pretty much done by then? Yes, good ones.
Leon Spinks over Ali. Anyone following the sport had witnessed the favorable Ali scoring through the years. And here was a novice heavy barely hanging in with Scott Ledoux. No way in the world Ali trained/prepared much for the guy. Why would he? There was a lot of backlash at the time for the selection of Leon Spinks as a title challenger considering the top 10 available heavies on the scene. Butt Spinks showed in the first round he was ready to fight and give it is all. And he did something we seldom see---taking advantage of an opportunity or silver platter. And for 15 rounds even. Incredible effort and terrific pre fight preperations. And those occassional Ali shoeshining flurries had zero effect. And surprisingly very few clean Ali punches were being landed and I had never thought much of Leon defensively but his defense was tight. When Muhammad did land a right hand, it did nothing. I can remember thinking after 3 or 4 rounds that Leon was fighting at way too high of a pace. He was barely a 10 round fighter. No experience let alone in there with a Muhammad Ali for 15 rounds. But he sure did keep up that high pace and Ali was in no shape to go tit for tat in there so he'd just cover up. But Ali had shown lots of wear and tear in that horrible Evangelista bout, but Spinks came in with far less experience and somehow kept his foot on the gas pedal all night. When it got time for the decision to be announced, I thought here we go again and Ali keeps the title on a draw or crap decision. Nice to see Spinks with his arm raised in a bout I though he won by a landslide.
