Which Heavyweight had the worst resume prior to getting a title shot?

Although Peter Rademacher was a very good amateur, giving a debuting fighter a title shot is generally a bad idea. I don't know if any other champion in the history of the game ( other than Patterson ), has done this. Rademacher's resume was not bad, the trouble is, he simply had no resume...

 

Well how about a guy with 7 pro fights?? Thats just as bad I suppose.

 

Alfredo Evangelista

 

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. Rademacher had no professional resume at all.

 

Man , i was gunna make a funny post about Pete Rademacher!!! You stole my thunder!!!!

 

Lee Oma? defintley not him, oma was old soft and past his prime and didnt deserve a shot at charles crown but he still had a MUCH MORE IMPRESSIVE resume........Nick Barone and freddie beshore!!! Too bad charles fought 5 out of his 8 title defenses against C level IBC controlled ham and eggers instead of young dangerous studs like layne, C henry, B Baker, R Lastarza, Marciano or Gene Tiger Jones.


Seriousely the None of those guys are even close to the worst. Guys like Johnny Allen, and members of Tommy Burns title reign were by far the worst.

 

Having 7 pro fights is better than absolutly nothing at all. Not to mention, Leon at least defeated a fighter who was 27-0, plus drew with a rated Scott Ledoux before getting a title shot. Rademacher had nothing going in against Floyd Patterson. I find this fight rather disgraceful myself. With hundreds, even thousands of pro fighters out there, he gives a title shot to a man who had never before stepped in a professional ring. You want to hear the worst part about it? In only the second round of pro boxing that this guy had ever fought in, he floored the champ!!! I have always thought of Patterson as an all time great and perhaps he truly is, but recently I have deeply reconsidered his resume and legacy....Floyd was a weak champion by a lot of standards.

 

Well, if we're gonna go by shear numbers, then I think we need to look at Jack Roper. This was a fighter who had 41 career losses, but managed to get a shot at Joe Louis's title. I do not think that he was the absolute worst contender in history, and he did in fact manage to win a few fights against some top raters, but holy Christ........41 losses......atsch

 

Leon Spinks...what a joke...he was 6-0-1 coming into Ali, but those fights were against nobodies...only a fringe contender named Alfio Righetti keeps his pre-Ali resume from looking like 100% pure bull****. His one round KO to Gerrie Coetzee right after the Ali rematch just gave further prove how unworthy that short-lived champ was.

 

I still don't think that Spinks was the worst persay. As I have already pointed out, Floyd Patterson gave a title shot to a debuting fighter. Sure he won the olympic gold, but so did Spinks, therefore his title shot can't be justified by virtue of his amatuer accomplishments alone. While Spinks had no business in there with the champ, he at least beat 27-0 Righetti, drew with ranked contender Ledoux, and easily dusted a respectable journeyman in Agosto. Also, Leon had gone the 10 round distance at least twice. This is a hell of a lot more seasoning than a fighter who had never even walked into a pro ring.

 

Jack Roper was not even close to as bad as some of tommy burns title victims. roper damm near knocked louis down with a left hook, he could punch