Best Boxers With A Losing Record.

[keithmoonhangover]

I thought this would be easy, but first thoughts all had winning records.. Pendleton, Saad and Leon Spinks.

I'll start us off with Mark Wills. Competitive against some contenders and two wins over Greg Page.

Any lineal world champions? I'll take anything.... A WBO?

[scartissue]

Two that always come to mind are Teddy Red Top Davis and Tommy Tibbs. Don't know their stories, whether they weren't serious or they were taking fights on short notice, but Davis eventually beat guys like Paddy DeMarco, Percy Bassett, Georgie Araujo, Charley Riley and went 15 rounds with Sandy Saddler for the featherweight title. He ended up with a record of 71-75, Tommy Tibbs was another. I think I saw his record as 60-77. He beat Willie Pep, Lauro Salas, Harold Gomes, Johnny Bizarro and Paul Armstead among others.

[Noxy]

Buck Smith, I still remember when he chinned Laing. I couldn’t believe it

[scartissue]

Buck Smith, I still remember when he chinned Laing. I couldn’t believe it

I believe Keith is looking for losing records.

[Noxy]

Buck Smith, I still remember when he chinned Laing. I couldn’t believe it

I believe Keith is looking for losing records.

Indeed, sorry about that. I just looked up his record.

[ron4972]

I remember a heavyweight from the 1970s named Bob Stallings. He had a 50/50 record at best. But he beat Earnie Shavers and Mac Foster. Allegedly Stallings lost a close, tough decision against Ron Lyle.

For a while International/World Boxing had Stallings in their top 10 ratings.

[ron4972]

Another guy who comes to mind is light-heavyweight Tom Bethea, who was ranked by everyone for several years in the mid-1970s. Bethea had a 22-14-3 record when, as top three worldwide contender, he dropped a decision to Mike Quarry. That was in 1976, and it marked the end of Bethea's run at the top of rankings.

During his prime, Bethea scored TKO wins over Nino Benvenuti and Avenemar Peralta. Bethea also beat Lonnie Bennett, Tom Bogs, Domenico Adinolfi, Mark Rowe, Angel Oquendo, and Johnny Frankham. Interestingly, Bethea lost to Carlos Monzon only by split decision in a Buenos Aires tiff.

Why Bethea had such a spotty won-lost record is beyond me. The guy was clearly far better than his numbers indicate.

[APerno]

Another guy who comes to mind is light-heavyweight Tom Bethea, who was ranked by everyone for several years in the mid-1970s. Bethea had a 22-14-3 record when, as top three worldwide contender, he dropped a decision to Mike Quarry. That was in 1976, and it marked the end of Bethea's run at the top of rankings.

During his prime, Bethea scored TKO wins over Nino Benvenuti and Avenemar Peralta. Bethea also beat Lonnie Bennett, Tom Bogs, Domenico Adinolfi, Mark Rowe, Angel Oquendo, and Johnny Frankham. Interestingly, Bethea lost to Carlos Monzon only by split decision in a Buenos Aires tiff.

Why Bethea had such a spotty won-lost record is beyond me. The guy was clearly far better than his numbers indicate.

I can't speak to the rest of his record but with the Benvenuti fight, it was a ten round non-title fight in which Benvenuti was, (who at this point in his career was regularly showing up unprepared for fights,) was not ready and Benvenuti RTD (quit) after looking quite bad. This earned Bethea a title shot. But in the rematch, with Benvenuti prepared, Bethea looked ordinary and was stopped.

[Boxing Writer]

Francisco Quiroz won WBA light flyweight title and defended it once. He retired with 11-15-1 (5 KOs) record.

[keithmoonhangover]

Francisco Quiroz won WBA light flyweight title and defended it once. He retired with 11-15-1 (5 KOs) record.

Very good call sir.

[gilgamesh]

Two that always come to mind are Teddy Red Top Davis and Tommy Tibbs. Don't know their stories, whether they weren't serious or they were taking fights on short notice, but Davis eventually beat guys like Paddy DeMarco, Percy Bassett, Georgie Araujo, Charley Riley and went 15 rounds with Sandy Saddler for the featherweight title. He ended up with a record of 71-75, Tommy Tibbs was another. I think I saw his record as 60-77. He beat Willie Pep, Lauro Salas, Harold Gomes, Johnny Bizarro and Paul Armstead among others.

Very good call on these guys. At the very least to have beaten the guys they did, they were certainly better than their records would've suggested you'd have to think.

Don't know if it was the Politics of the game or what that lead to them having such mediocre records. Could've been just that this was the nature of the beast at the time. Everybody was kinda thrown to the wolves in those days, and nobody was coddled.

[gilgamesh]

Francisco Quiroz won WBA light flyweight title and defended it once. He retired with 11-15-1 (5 KOs) record.

Very good call sir.

I second that

[HomicideHenry]

Depends on the circumstances... I've seen guys with horrible records ice someone with great records...

Dee Collier had a record of 13-9-0 (8), and when he was 7-4-0 as a pro he knocked out TEX COBB in one round.

Or 3-4-0 Shawn McLean knocking out Faruq Saleem ( 38-0-0, 32 kayos).

Or how about Mitch Rose (1-7-1) knocking out Eric Butterbean Esch when he was undefeated at 15-0-0.

Even a blind squirrel will find a nut occasionally, as the saying goes. As for men with incredible skills despite their record... Very difficult to say... Some guys lost purposely, only to cash in on long shot wins like Reggie Strickland would do.

I'd argue that Kingfish Levinsky, 74-35-7, who fought from Middleweight to Heavyweight is a contender for that. Any guy who was a part-time fighter and full-time fish peddler, who could make Jack Dempsey look like crap and hold wins over Jimmy Slattery, Tommy Loughran, Paulino Uzcudun, Tuffy Griffiths, Jack Sharkey, and go a combined THIRTY ROUNDS will Max Baer... Surely has to be the greatest journeyman.

[bwu]

Pedro Feliciano finished 7-10. During his career he knocked out Louis Curtis for the USBA Flyweight title, went the distance with Michael Carbajal and had Dave McAuley on the deck before dropping a decision to him for the IBF Flyweight championship.

[scorpio83]

What about Everett "Big Foot" Martin anyone?

[keithmoonhangover]

Even a blind squirrel will find a nut occasionally, as the saying goes.

Mrs Hangover says that to me when I'm under the cover.

[Syntax Error]

Darnell Boone - I'm cheating slightly because he's won 24 & lost 24 too, but he's had 4 other fights he hasn't won either.

Has a TKO victory over Adonis Stevenson, despite his jouneyman record.

[HomicideHenry]

Peter Buckley.... 256 losses in 300 fights....

Been in the ring with the likes of Duke McKenzie, Naseem Hamed, Acelino Freitas, Jason Cook, Paul Ingle, Patrick Mullings, Dean Pithie, Jason Booth, Michael Brodie, Scott Harrison, Michael Gomez, Johnny Bredahl, Gavin Rees, John Murray, Bradley Pryce, Derry Mathews, Lee Meager, Dave Stewart, Gary Woolcombe, Lee Selby and Kell Brook (among others).

He was only stopped 10 times. Quite impressive if you think about it.