Which boxer got three or more title tries in one weight and lost before winning it (or never winning

Stribling at LHW. He went 2-1 in his 3 shots but one win was a NWS and the other had the ref change his mind after the fight and rule it a draw. Imagine thinking you're the champ and getting it taken away. Then his HW title got retconned by everyones favorite alphabet body the WBA.

To top off his misfortune he died right after that.

 

Oba Carr is the first guy that comes to mind. He was a really good fighter that would have been a world champion in most eras. Unfortunately for him, he had to fight Tito, Oscar and Ike for the welterweight title.

 

Torres fought frequently in Mexico, Japan and Korea as well as making appearances in the U.S., Panama and Chile.

But somehow never fought in Germany.

 

Jameel McCline fought for the WBO belt vs Wlad, the IBF belt vs Byrd, the WBC Interim vs Peter, and the WBA belt vs Valuev.

Lost them all.

Axel Shulz fought for the IBF belt three fights in a row against three different guys - Foreman, Botha and Moorer - and lost all three.

 

Rocky Juarez at 130 pounds.

 

Of course, Jersey Joe Walcott lost twice to Louis and twice to Charles before winning the title in his fifth attempt.

 

Golota lost to Lewis, Byrd, Ruiz an Brewster an the weird thing about all those title losses was that each was for 4 different versions of the heavyweight title

 

Leonel Hernandez from the friendly WBA confines of Venezuela received 4 shots at jr. lightweight (Escalera, Serrano twice and Uehara) without winning. He even received a shot at Arguello at featherweight.

 

Here's another crazy one for you. Man, this dude had a lock on title shots. Manuel Medina won a version (WBA, WBC, IBF or WBO) of the featherweight title 5 times. He also had 5 unsuccessful shots at 126 and 1 at 130. This guy had the keys to the vault.