Wins that did more for a fighters legacy than winning a title ever did?

Arturo Gatti vs Mickey Ward ...for both fighters

 

Relative novice and later starter Joe Goddard twice flooring prime Peter Jackson in a draw.

 

Was Chris Byrd's win over David Tua for the main IBF belt or some minor secondary belt? I feel like that would be a major win that would fit into this category assuming we are not counting minor belts as world titles.

 

Jack Dempsey's win over Fred Fulton.

 

He's a certainly a shining light Goo. Another good one is Charley Burley, who never fought for a title let alone won one and it's the baseline of his story. He has plenty of top-shelf wins we can pick out, and the sum of it's parts (career) is huge as well. An ATG fighter with no title shot. Harry Wills is another who never received a shot and is heavily known for that, and obviously he had the wins to cause the outcry.

 

Perhaps Norton/Holmes

 

Those are excellent mentions too

 

Then we have to factor Langford

 

Absolutely. Another crownless king

 

Sharkey beating Wills, Godfrey, Loughran or Carnera is infinitely more impressive than getting belted around the ring for fifteen rounds by Schmeling and ending up with the championship.

 

Tunney besting Greb arguably does more for his resume than beating Dempsey

 

How about a loss? Troy Dorsey vs Jorge Paez.

 

De Jesus over Duran.

 

Foreman v Lyle. For both fighters and for different reasons.

 

Say what you will about the version of Joe Louis that Rocky Marciano beat, but my Grandfather, who saw the fight, always said that fight cemented Rocky Marciano in many minds as a future great Heavyweight Champion. He called it a passing of the torch, in a more meaningful way than the previous Ezzard Charles decision win over Louis.

He also said more than a few tears were shed that night (including some from Rocky). It was a legacy builder, and an emotional ending to a great career.