Fighters who had an unexpected good run

[Kilburn]

Not sure why I'm making a topic of this but here goes. I'm looking for examples of fighters who suddenly put together a string of good performances against the odds, or just had a partiularly good year or whatever.

One guy that comes straight to mind is Julius Francis. 1999 - what a blinder. First he defeats the young unbeaten puncher Pele Reid in 3 rounds when most felt it was destiny for Reid blitz his way to the British title. Then he takes another unbeaten scalp in Danny Williams - again as the underdog and gets the Lonsdale for keeps. Later on in the year he gets a solid revenge win over old foe Scott Welch.

As if all that wasn't enough he starts the year 2000 with a £350,000 payday against Mike Tyson - and he didn't even get bashed up.

What a bloody productive 12 months that was.

[adamiw]

steve robinson when he won the WBO title...big upset and then he defended it several times before meeting Naz.

[bennie]

Good thread. Jim Watt overcame several cut eye defeats to put together a terrific run that culminated in a solid reign as WBC lightweight champion. I believe this month is the 25th anniversary of him winning the WBC title aganst the rugged Colombian Alfredo Pitalua in Glasgow.

[MightyWarrior]

Alan Minter had a patchy start to his career, losing four times in his first two years as a pro. He got back on track with a decent winning run, before losing twice more ( probably on cuts? ) then finaly reeled of eight wins on his way to the world title.

The best overseas role model has to be Freddie Pendleton: seventeen losses before he finaly hit form and won the world lightweight title.

[stujones]

The 2nd coming of Johnny Nelson was pretty remarkable considering he was placed in the scrap heap.

Michael Sprott is not exactly on a winning run as such but is up turn in form since the first Williams fight is excellent.

Another of the world scene - Cruz Carbajal.

[REAL_DEAL]

maybe witter, has to step up

[PompeyScot]

If I remember right there was a fighter a few years back called Alex Romeo (?) who lost a lot more than he won and then, all of a sudden, went on a winning streak of about 10 fights and then retired!!

[bennie]

Jimmy Vincent deserves a mention. I believe he once went 10 fights without a win before turning his career around.
There was also a craggy Mexican in the 80's, whose name escapes me now, who got his arse kicked by several leading fighters (many of them in the first round!) but suddenly found a vein of form and went all the way to a crack at WBC super-featherweight champion, the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez.

[Gingoi]

Charles Shepherd had a good mid-career run I seem to remember.

An alternative view to that are fighters who have reached a level and then fallen off the radar. I was thinking of Mark Prince and Jason Matthews who both lost WBO titles shots and vanished!

[tonyevs]

Buck Smith

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

Craggy Mexican must've been Refugio Rojas, but I think he was more of a hot-and-cold fighter. He had his 1st quality wins (Johnny Aba) years before Chavez-fight and while he was on 1-year and 4-fight winning run when meeting Chavez that wasn't really something that special compared to his long-term form as a fringe contender.

<p>Rene Jacquot on the other hand achieved a minor miracle in 2½-year section from start of 1987 to summer 1989, during which a former 7-7-1 fighter 1st won French title over former conqueror Yvon Segor, then wrester Euro title, made a slew of successful defences and finally captured a WBC title with a shock win of admittedly shot Donald Curry.

[Deserter]

Freddie Pendleton was 32-17-4 when he won the IBF lightweight title against Tracey Spann. Defended it as well, so he gets my vote on this one.

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

It doesn't matter a diddly if Pendleton had 17 losses before his title win. The point here was fighters who had one spectacular string of victories and achievements in otherwise mediocre career. Just like afore-mentioned Refugio Rojas, Pendleton was also hot-and cold fighter who not only lost a lot of early-career fights but also suffered several surprise defeats after reaching the contender-status.

It can be argued that his best run of quality results came 1987-1988 when he 1st drew with Livingstone Bramble and then stopped Ronald Haynes, Elvis Perez, Steve Larrimore, Sammy Fuentes, Livingstone Bramble (rematch) and Razor Addo in consecutive bouts. That string brought him to upper echelon of contenders and eventually led to very spirited challenge against Pernell Whitaker and subsequent IBF title victory. IF the Whitaker-loss would be the only blackmark in that run, it could easily be counted as a string of good results. Alas, no one can count those achievements as a "String" when there is a dismal stoppage loss to then quite shopworn John Montes.

Pendleton proved his world-class quality minimum of 6½ years and 4 losses before he became champion by knocking out Roger Mayweather and drawing with Frankie Randall in USBA title fight. It was his occasional OFF-nights which made him wait so long for title rather than one solid string of wins bringing him one.

[Deserter]

It doesn't matter a diddly if Pendleton had 17 losses before his title win. The point here was fighters who had one spectacular string of victories and achievements in otherwise mediocre career. Just like afore-mentioned Refugio Rojas, Pendleton was also hot-and cold fighter who not only lost a lot of early-career fights but also suffered several surprise defeats after reaching the contender-status.

It can be argued that his best run of quality results came 1987-1988 when he 1st drew with Livingstone Bramble and then stopped Ronald Haynes, Elvis Perez, Steve Larrimore, Sammy Fuentes, Livingstone Bramble (rematch) and Razor Addo in consecutive bouts. That string brought him to upper echelon of contenders and eventually led to very spirited challenge against Pernell Whitaker and subsequent IBF title victory. IF the Whitaker-loss would be the only blackmark in that run, it could easily be counted as a string of good results. Alas, no one can count those achievements as a "String" when there is a dismal stoppage loss to then quite shopworn John Montes.

Pendleton proved his world-class quality minimum of 6½ years and 4 losses before he became champion by knocking out Roger Mayweather and drawing with Frankie Randall in USBA title fight. It was his occasional OFF-nights which made him wait so long for title rather than one solid string of wins bringing him one.

Well, if you're really going to be that pedantic! I'd still argue that post-Whittaker Pendleton's record stood at 24-16-3, and at that point not many people would have laid money on him going on a run of 12 straight wins including winning the world title. Impressive enough for me.
If you want to deconstruct on that level then Kilburn's own initial thread could be pulled apart - does only three wins constitute a string, especially against the likes of a barely motivated, half-retired Scott Welch?

[adamiw]

Kirino Garcia lost his first 18 fights, but then didn't lose for another 17. His overall record right now is 35-23-2

http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=003890

[batopiraton]

Carbajal with 11 losses , and he is a world champion

Jorge Paez, former champion , 14 losses, 38 yars old , 18 straight winning fights , and world ranked