When all time greats get upset, the aftermath

When an all time great gets beaten by a lesser fighter, there is always a rush to rationalise the fact retrospectively.

In an attempt to square the circle, people try to find every ounce of greatness in the fighter that pulled the upset, and even try to rationalise them beating other all time greats.

This is a mistake because upsets happen for a reason, and the reason is usually specific to the loosing fighter whether stylistic psychological or personal.

The first thing you have to do to assess the upset, is to remove it from the winning fighters record, and do they still look like an all time great beater?

 

Lets look at some key upsets with the benefit of hindsight. In no case can we evaluate the winner based on the fight in question, otherwise the logic becomes circular.

Johnson Hart – Hart was a very highly rated contender of the period, and he later went on to win the heavyweight title. Furthermore the loss was close and controversial, and took part at a stage of Johnson’s career where he was highly active.

Conclusion - Not as damaging as it might appear.


Baer Braddock – Braddock was a very inconsistent fighter with a lot of losses, but he had won an elimination tournament to secure his shot at the title, which included wins over top contenders such as Lewis and Lasky. On top of that the loss was close, and Baer was hampered by hand injuries.

Conclusion – Not as damaging as it might appear.


Louis Schmeling I – Schmeling was a former world champion, who was regularly beating ranked contenders over a period of several years. He was coming off a brutal destruction of the highly rates Steve Hamas. In addition some argument might be made for mitigation based on Louis’s relative youth and inexperience.

Conclusion - Not as damaging as it might appear.


Tyson Douglas – Douglas was a #7 ranked contender, who was coming off a win over Oliver McCall. In all he was a fighter who generally lost when he stepped up in competition, and didn’t really do much to suggest that he should have been a threat either before the upset or after it.

Conclusion – Pretty damaging.


Lewis Rahman – Rahman was a very inconsistent fighter, but he was clearly a top contender over a number of years, including where the upset took place. It also has to be noted that he went on to win the WBC title later in his career, while himself past his prime.

Conclusion - Not as damaging as it might appear.


Wlad Sanders – Sanders is a fighter who really only has one good win on his resume. I personally consider the Brewster loss to be a lot less damaging, since Brewster did build a decent resume outside of his win over Wlad.

Conclusion - Pretty damaging.

 

The fact that it was considered an upset in itself makes it damaging.

What I am asking is how damaging these losses are.

How good are the opponents outside of these wins.