The Least Deserving World Title Challengers

[keithmoonhangover]

I don't think anyone can beat Vaughan Bean. When he got his shot at Michael Moorer, the combined records of his opponents were 112 wins and 249 losses. Five fights later, he got another shot at Evander Holyfield despite his best win being Kimmuel Odum, who hadn't won in 13 contests.

[oogiebe]

Joe "King" Roman.

[keithmoonhangover]

Joe "King" Roman.

Try again sir.

[Controversial]

Jesse Ferguson and Dokes were pretty lame defences for Bowe

Pete Rademacher getting a title shot on his pro debut

Some of the euro heavyweights like Coopman, Tangsted

[oogiebe]

Joe "King" Roman.

Try again sir.

Doesn't get worse than him.

[Nile4000]

Scott Frank,people, Scott Frank.

[keithmoonhangover]

Try again sir.

Doesn't get worse than him.

Look at his record of his opponents and look at Bean's. There is no comparison. Bean never beat anyone that had even beat a fringe contender, let alone was one themselves.

[margaret thatcher]

Vaughn Bean would've totally clowned Raz Cojanu. Raz actually lost his pro debut to an obese journeyman, got nearly stopped by a Kiwi nobody, scraped by with MDs and SDs vs journeymen, then got flattened by D+/C- level US circuit guy in 2 rounds leading up to his shot. Raz is a guy who was barely getting by, or not getting by at all vs total low level garbage.

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

This was not about "the worst" heavyweight title challengers, but the "least deserving".

That is an important distinction there.

And yes - Vaughn Bean must be clearly and undisputably the least deserving ever. His best victim over whole career was Maurice Harris and he beat Harris way before Harris became relevant.

Now, Joe "King" Roman, Scott Frank, Jean-Pierre Coopman, Jürgen Blin, Richard Dunn, Steffen Tangstad, Ron Stander, Terry Daniels and several others may have been (and were) much worse heavyweights than Bean...

But all of them had vastly superior credentials as listed below :

Joe "King" Roman - Pre-title shot victories over Jack O'Halloran (2x), Chuck Wepner, Manuel Ramos, Jose Manuel Urtain, Terry Daniels
Scott Frank - Pre-title shot victories over Chuck Wepner, Guy Casale, Ron Stander, Mark "White Lightning" Lee + a draw with Renaldo Snipes
J-P Coopman - well, these are REALLY thin credentials, but at least he had beaten undefeated German champ Bernd August and Terry Daniels. He had also met (& lost decisions) to credible Harald Skog & Rudi Lubbers. Awful but not as awful as Bean.
Jürgen Blin - a lot of goodish names on his record, but mostly resulting defeats. Had beaten Gerhard Zech, Ray Patterson, Billy Joiner, Ivan Prebeg, Giulio Rinaldi.
Richard Dunn - Not much here either, but at least wins over Bunny Johnson (2x), Danny McAlinden, Tiger Roy Williams
Steffen Tangstad - Wins over Joe Bugner, Lucien Rodriguez, Alfredo Evangelista were all over very old versions of those guys, but wins nevertheless. Also a very credible draw with young James "Buster" Douglas.
Ron Stander - had beaten Earnie Shavers (although pretty meaningless at the time), Thad Spencer, Jack O'Halloran & Manuel Ramos
Terry Daniels -wins over Leroy Caldwell, Amos Lincoln, Manuel Ramos, Ted Gullick. Gone full distance with Floyd Patterson & Tony Doyle.

Yes, all of these were horrible challengers. And yes - Vaughn Bean would have probably beaten most or all of them in a contest between prime versions. Bean wasn't all that bad, actually.

But as far as credentials go, all of these except Coopman beat Bean by a country mile. Even Coopman edges by with a narrow margin.

[margaret thatcher]

Nah, either way guys like Timmy Tomashek or Raz Cojanu takes it over Vaughn

Or, I mean, Radamacher hadn't even a pro fight...

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

I thought we talked about world title challengers?

Tim Tomashek and Razvan Cojanu have featured in some kind of a title fight, but neither can be seriously called a world title fight - barely a fight for a version of a world title.

Pete Rademacher's credentials as an Olympic champion were more than quite a few non-entities had in am and pro combined.

P.S. I agree that Tomashek & Cojanu had even less credentials - I just didn't count then as world title challengers in the 1st place.

[margaret thatcher]

They were, they are in the lead

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

They were, they are in the lead

Old-timers like myself make a difference between WORLD CHAMPIONS and BOGUS TITLE CLAIMANTS.

Everybody I mentioned (including Bean) met a WORLD CHAMPION.

Tim Tomashek & Razvan Cojanu only met WBO champions. Morrison nor Parker has never been World Champions, though.

But yeah, credentials-wise we are in agreement.

[scartissue]

I don't know if this is confined to heavies, but here are a few:

Heavy - Dave Zyglewicz
Middle - Morrade Hakar or Tony Fisher
Welter - Pablo Baez or Mimoun Mohouter
Lt. Fly - Rafael Lovera (fought for the title in his first pro bout and then never fought again)

[dr_devious]

Jürgen Blin - a lot of goodish names on his record, but mostly resulting defeats. Had beaten Gerhard Zech, Ray Patterson, Billy Joiner, Ivan Prebeg, Giulio Rinaldi.

Jurgen Blin never fought for a world title

[keithmoonhangover]

Mickey Cantwell managed to get two WBO title shots, an IBF and a WBU, despite his best win being a British title win over Keith Knox.

https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/7144

[margaret thatcher]

Mickey Cantwell managed to get two WBO title shots, an IBF and a WBU, despite his best win being a British title win over Keith Knox.

https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/7144

117.5 to 117 win in that fight too, kinda a strange score

[tiny_acres]

I don't know if this is confined to heavies, but here are a few:

Heavy - Dave Zyglewicz

Great call on Dave . He had no business in there with Frazier

[Controversial]

Lt. Fly - Rafael Lovera (fought for the title in his first pro bout and then never fought again)

Yes that was a weird one, apparently it was claimed he had a 20-1-1 record going into that fight but he was unknown.

[Controversial]

Owen Beck. He got beat in two title eliminators but still got a shot a Valuev for the WBA title. He beat no one of note.

[Ambling Alp II]

I guess technically, if we are going by least "deserving" than it would have to be someone that never had won even one fight, like Rademacher and a few others.

There have been many guys who were worse fighters, some have been named. Joe Louis made title defenses against fighters of wide ranging abilities, some were awful. And of course there have been many in the last 20 years or so as well.

[Bodyshot3]

Juan Carlos Gimenez from Paraguay figures heavily in this...… it was just about ok he got a crack at Eubank in 1992 (who barely had to break sweat to beat him) but when Benn was served-up Gimenez a full two years later I really groaned.

The guy challenging Nigel had by that point lost to Eubank and Galvano in title shots...….as well as Roldan and Duran and there were two unsuccessful tilts at the South American light heavyweight title.

But lo and behold Gimenez is back in the UK once again for world title shot number four in 1998 against Calzaghe.......a full four years after barely making Benn blink and is presented as a tough hombre who might be a problem.

That fourth crack seemed utterly absurd, cynical and wholly underserved......the third seemed unjustified.
More of a case of Gimenez being cheap, sturdy enough to do some rounds and ever-available

[Woldemar]

Alex Liepai

[Controversial]

Juan Carlos Gimenez from Paraguay figures heavily in this...… it was just about ok he got a crack at Eubank in 1992 (who barely had to break sweat to beat him) but when Benn was served-up Gimenez a full two years later I really groaned.

The guy challenging Nigel had by that point lost to Eubank and Galvano in title shots...….as well as Roldan and Duran and there were two unsuccessful tilts at the South American light heavyweight title.

But lo and behold Gimenez is back in the UK once again for world title shot number four in 1998 against Calzaghe.......a full four years after barely making Benn blink and is presented as a tough hombre who might be a problem.

That fourth crack seemed utterly absurd, cynical and wholly underserved......the third seemed unjustified.
More of a case of Gimenez being cheap, sturdy enough to do some rounds and ever-available

Just proves how corrupt boxing can be

[sweetsci]

George Foreman didn't help the "lineal" cause by defending against Crawford Grimsley.