Who got the most undeserving shot at the HW Championship?

[APerno]

Zanon: one of those guys who can beat anybody except the names we recognize. Guess that is a fair shot; he was at least a European contender.

You never know what a non-American record means, you can get lucky like Norton and get Zanon or you can get unlucky like Benvenuti and get Monzon. But you have to give them a shot.

Digressing: I suspect the only foreign records that we can expect to hold up regularly would be those out of the United Kingdom; with most of the rest of the world you never know what you're looking at. In some cases the competition is wanting (Tijuana Taxi-drivers) and with others they're just plain crooked. (In a different thread someone mentioned Carlos Monzon's 'draws' - they do look suspicious.)

[tagjohnson]

He was also ahead of Jerry Quarry before getting KO'd. The bottom line being that he got KO'd by the only two decent fighters ever ever faced before getting his shot at Holmes.

[Ambling Alp II]

I pretty much agree with that. He didn't do enough to get a title shot. However, there have been guys who have done less and got a title shot as well.

[gp.]

Not a chance of that -- if he dug up a couple of challengers like Herbie Hide fought before he took on Klitschko... They're still Title Fights and good MONEY!

Ali and Louis could fight bums and get good money for it because people were paying to see Ali or Louis. Martin couldn't fight a bum and get paid for it, because nobody knew who he was. Herbie Hide was pretty well-known in the UK. but even so the fights you refer to were undercard fights - the WBO was not highly regarded at the time. One of them was on the undercard to Eubank and Hamed, so it was just a filler.

Give me a name. Who do you think Martin could have fought, been guaranteed to beat, and still sold tickets for?

Robert Helenius.. Tom Schwarz.. and Gary Cornish.. I would hype the great looking records... 1 undefeated guy and 2 guys with 1 loss... They're all great big, very tall, personable, and they speak English.. Plus they don't look or sound anything like Chris Arreola or Artur Szpilka.

There are two types of people in this world. Those who know Gary Cornish is shite, and those who have never heard of him. Neither group would pay to see him fight Charles Martin; and anyone who knows him and saw him being given a world title shot would be lying on their backs helpless with laughter and thus unable to buy a ticket.

Helenius has a decent enough record to challenge for a title but Martin would by no means be certain of beating him.

I've never heard of Tom Schwarz. I presume you just searched through the Boxrec rankings for a likely looking record. To him everything applies; he is miles from deserving it; nobody would pay to see it and I doubt Martin would be confident of beating him.