One of the most puffed up Heavyweight records ever?

[Kurgen22]

I has thought that Peter McNeely had set the gold standard for padding his record to get a name, then I found a gem from the past.
LaMar Clark fought from 1958 to 1961. His Most famous oponent was Muhammed Ali, who stopped in the 2nd round in what was Ali's 6th pro fight. It was also Clark's last fight.
Clark had compiled a record of 43-3-0 with an astonishing 42 Knockouts. It was a impressive record on paper, however ony 4 of his opponents had winning records, and three of those had knocked him out. The 4th one was Tony Burton, the actor of "Rocky" fame who recenty passed away. Clark stopped Burton, who had a 4-2-1 record, in 4 rounds.
Of Clark's 42 other fights he had 37 that had never won a SINGLE fight. 27 of his opponents were making their pro debut. Of those 27, 25 never fought again. The other two's only fights were, you guessed it, rematches against Clark.
His opponents combined records (at the time the fought him) was 33-62-7.
He was the Peter McNeely of his time, just more blatant.
Anyone else have more examples like this?

[Controversial]

Yeah Clark is well known for this, he did hold the record for having the most consecutive KOs in boxing, maybe he still holds it

[Tuan_Jim]

Brian Nielen's record is pure larceny. And everytime he fought an ex-champ they were 40 and lost in a peculiar fashion.

[scartissue]

If you get a chance check out the record of Don Steele. Another fighter on the barnstorming circuit. What was ironic, he lost his unbeaten record (41-0) to the aforementioned Brian Nielsen who was 38-0 at the time. Spectators must have thought they would be witnessing another Ali-Frazier fight.

[Kurgen22]

If you get a chance check out the record of Don Steele. Another fighter on the barnstorming circuit. What was ironic, he lost his unbeaten record (41-0) to the aforementioned Brian Nielsen who was 38-0 at the time. Spectators must have thought they would be witnessing another Ali-Frazier fight.

Nielson. while not a world beater fought live opponents and had some talent,out his 67 fights only 4 had losing records. Steele was along the lines of Clarke, at the time of his fight with Nielson only 2 of his 38 opponents had winning records, and they both had under 10 fights. After the Nielson fight he only beat one other fighter with a winning record.

[Tuan_Jim]

What live opponent did Brian Nielsen fight other than Mike Tyson, a payday his whole record seemed to have been built to cash in on?

[Ambling Alp II]

He feasted on a lot of guys way past their best.
It's funny, there were several guys around this time who fought frequently, and fought most weak competition. Don Steele was mentioned. (Saw him against a past it Ray Mercer and he couldn't fight at all.) Dick Ryan was another. Jeremy Williams as well. They won a lot of fights and have good win/loss records. None have any real quality wins.

I guess there is nothing wrong with them making a living doing that. People just have to realize that they have to look at the competition when they are evaluating someone.

[scartissue]

Cue in Claude 'Humphrey' McBride and Butterbean to that barnstorming tour of fat records/no depth/lose when they step up circuit.

[Bodyshot3]

Super Brian definitely got the rub of the green....lots of ageing names who wanted a decent pay cheque and were prepared to travel all the way to the Bank of Demark to collect it.

Seem to recall a rueful Holmes pocketing the cash but also being deeply annoyed by the passing of time and the lessening of what he could do in the ring....pretty much said if I can do this to this guy now, imagine what I could have done to him anywhere in or around my prime.

Is Joe Messi worth a shout? I always wanted to see whether he was Prada or Primark....I have inkling I know the answer.

[Kurgen22]

Is Joe Messi worth a shout? I always wanted to see whether he was Prada or Primark....I have inkling I know the answer.

Baby Joe definately has a lot of cannon fodder mixed in, but he did beat some guys that were on the fringe. Bert Cooper, Jose Luis Gonzalez, Monte Barret, Davaryl Wiliamson, David Izon, and Vasilly Jirov.

[Booram Chiddy]

Vaughn Bean had a really inflated record but as he showed in the Moorer and Holyfield fights he could actually fight a bit.
http://boxrec.com/boxer/4777

[Booram Chiddy]

Have you ever looked at the final years of Randall Cobb's career?

http://boxrec.com/boxer/2540

[Kurgen22]

Have you ever looked at the final years of Randall Cobb's career?

http://boxrec.com/boxer/2540

Tex was quite the Character, He was one tough SOB for sure. No doubt he, his opponents and the promoters cashed in on his fame as an actor more than his boxing prowess.

[Bodyshot3]

Baby Joe definately has a lot of cannon fodder mixed in, but he did beat some guys that were on the fringe. Bert Cooper, Jose Luis Gonzalez, Monte Barret, Davaryl Wiliamson, David Izon, and Vasilly Jirov.

Cheers Kurgen22......it is certainly a pity we never saw Messi really have that quality, world-class championship fight.

Would have loved to have seen what he could have actually done; because he took risks, threw with intent and tried to make things happen.

The small-ish, 'come at you' heavyweights are always fun to watch...they have to put in all on the line and risk destruction in the process.

Personally speaking, I though Baby Joe would have come up a bit short but would have given a good account of himself.

Beating Jirov deserves a nod...that guy was made of Titanium.

[Tuan_Jim]

Mesi came up short versus Monte Barrett and was lucky to escape with the decision. We found Mesi's level before he suffered his unfortunate injuries versus Jirov. Cooper, Gonzalez and Izon were corpses when Mesi clubbed them.

[tagjohnson]

Jimmy Clark and to a certain extent Greg Page. Among the little guys, Sean O'Grady.

[Ambling Alp II]

Greg Page? He fought a lot of good fighters.

[Crease]

Greg Page? He fought a lot of good fighters.

Agreed Page held a credible World title. And we do have to recognise that he did face good opposition.

This thread is for non-entities Like Nielsen & Clark - fighters who never made "the step up".

[Crease]

Speaking of which, Hughie Fury Is amassing quite the record crushing low-class talent.
He will be a certainty for this thread in the years to come if he keeps on this track.

[Tuan_Jim]

Jimmy Clark and to a certain extent Greg Page. Among the little guys, Sean O'Grady.

Greg Page is an obscene suggestion. His competition was as tough as it gets.

[tagjohnson]

I recognize Page had a good first half of a career but look at latter half of Greg Page's career. He went like two years once without fighting anyone with a winning record and once fought three winless fighters in a row.

[Ambling Alp II]

Those are fights when he was in his late 30s and way past it. He did more than enough earlier in his career. Other guys mentioned here hardly ever fought anyone good at all. Their career records are puffed up. The overall career record of Greg Page is not puffed up.

[tagjohnson]

Hey Alp, it's been a while. Hope this finds you well. My apologies but someone can be good and still have fought a lot of stiffs. And Greg (God rest his soul) certainly did that. From 96-97 he went 14-0, seven of those wins were against winless fighters (three were making their debut) and don't even get me started about his very early career. BTW what do you think about my mention of Jimmy Clark and Sean O'Grady among the little guys?

[Tuan_Jim]

Hey Alp, it's been a while. Hope this finds you well. My apologies but someone can be good and still have fought a lot of stiffs. And Greg (God rest his soul) certainly did that. From 96-97 he went 14-0, seven of those wins were against winless fighters (three were making their debut) and don't even get me started about his very early career. BTW what do you think about my mention of Jimmy Clark and Sean O'Grady among the little guys?

What's your point? Page was a totally shot fighter making a comeback for money. He could fight as many stiffs as he liked to pad his record at 40, in his career proper he was an actual heavyweight champ & boxed Coetzee, Witherspoon, Snipes, Berbick, Tillis, Tubbs, Bonecrusher, Douglas, Broad, Norris, Ruddock, Bey, Young, Ward, Evangelista, Chaplin twice, Ledoux etc etc. Lunacy to throw him in with the puffed record brigade.

[actjac]

David "Nino" Rodriguez ....still active....He started 36-0 with 34 knockouts and was on his way to a title shot until running into the dual buzzsaws of Darrell Wilson and Raymond Ocheing in back to back KO losses.