Ugliest world title fight you have watched?

[RScarf1]

Bit of an obscure one but back in the day (June 2003) when I was working night shift, one of the domestic channel, 4 or 5, showed ESPN2 fights on a day delay.

The opening fight on a Joe Mesi undercard was between Ross 'The Boss' Thompson, who had once fought Fernando Vargas for the 154-pound title, against journeyman Sam Reese at light-heavyweight.

It was only six rounds but has stuck with me ever since as the sloppiest, shitfest of a fight I've ever had the misfortune to witness. All at 3am as well.

Sam Reese had a tendency to always try to stink out the joint as I recall. He was one of those journeymen that primarily just fought to survive. That usually doesn't make for a riveting contest.

I was at Reese's last fight in his career. I guess because it was an IBA light heavyweight tournament and there was more at stake that he was very motivated. He lost an eight round unanimous decision to Berry Butler, but it was a great fight. The other fight in the tournament was Danny Santiago winning an eight round unanimous decision over Marlon Hayes which was on the same fight card. The winners (Butler and Santiago) were supposed to fight at a future event for the IBA title, but the tournament was cancelled, so it never happened.

[steve689]

Bit of an obscure one but back in the day (June 2003) when I was working night shift, one of the domestic channel, 4 or 5, showed ESPN2 fights on a day delay.

The opening fight on a Joe Mesi undercard was between Ross 'The Boss' Thompson, who had once fought Fernando Vargas for the 154-pound title, against journeyman Sam Reese at light-heavyweight.

It was only six rounds but has stuck with me ever since as the sloppiest, shitfest of a fight I've ever had the misfortune to witness. All at 3am as well.

Sam Reese had a tendency to always try to stink out the joint as I recall. He was one of those journeymen that primarily just fought to survive. That usually doesn't make for a riveting contest.

Good shout! My story wasn't totally relevant as the thread was regarding world title fights but the point still stands on the terrible Reese

[steve689]

Bit of an obscure one but back in the day (June 2003) when I was working night shift, one of the domestic channel, 4 or 5, showed ESPN2 fights on a day delay.

The opening fight on a Joe Mesi undercard was between Ross 'The Boss' Thompson, who had once fought Fernando Vargas for the 154-pound title, against journeyman Sam Reese at light-heavyweight.

It was only six rounds but has stuck with me ever since as the sloppiest, shitfest of a fight I've ever had the misfortune to witness. All at 3am as well.

Sam Reese had a tendency to always try to stink out the joint as I recall. He was one of those journeymen that primarily just fought to survive. That usually doesn't make for a riveting contest.

I was at Reese's last fight in his career. I guess because it was an IBA light heavyweight tournament and there was more at stake that he was very motivated. He lost an eight round unanimous decision to Berry Butler, but it was a great fight. The other fight in the tournament was Danny Santiago winning an eight round unanimous decision over Marlon Hayes which was on the same fight card. The winners (Butler and Santiago) were supposed to fight at a future event for the IBA title, but the tournament was cancelled, so it never happened.

Danny Santiago, there's a name from the past. Think he got dragged out as a WBO defence for Zsolt Erdei at one point.

[RScarf1]

Danny Santiago, there's a name from the past. Think he got dragged out as a WBO defence for Zsolt Erdei at one point.

Erdei had some title defenses against boxers who were not world-class. After Santiago won against Marlon Hayes in Florida, he got a title shot against Erdei. Santiago was rated about No. 75 by BoxRec at light heavyweight at the time. Erdei won by TKO in the eighth round. George Blades also received a title shot against Erdei after fighting in Florida. Blades had a similar BoxRec rating to Santiago. Blades lost to Erdei by TKO in the eleventh round, but I believe the fight was prematurely stopped by the referee.

[daparg]

Fres Oquendo vs. Ruslan Chagaev, Jul 2014.

[giacomino]

Danny Santiago, there's a name from the past. Think he got dragged out as a WBO defence for Zsolt Erdei at one point.

Erdei had some title defenses against boxers who were not world-class. After Santiago won against Marlon Hayes in Florida, he got a title shot against Erdei. Santiago was rated about No. 75 by BoxRec at light heavyweight at the time. Erdei won by TKO in the eighth round. George Blades also received a title shot against Erdei after fighting in Florida. Blades had a similar BoxRec rating to Santiago. Blades lost to Erdei by TKO in the eleventh round, but I believe the fight was prematurely stopped by the referee.

Santiago was a classic guy brought in to be KO’d, After getting stopped by Erdei, he got KO’d by Tarver. Which, of course, earned him yet another title shot vs Beibut “The Fraud” Shumenov

[Loki]

Vitali v Lennox was pretty awful to watch if I remember rightly....not watched it since it happened though

That was a classic. Yes, it was rough but some great action.

Fury v Wlad and Lewis v Akinwande plus any Oklie fight was ugly.

[bigbaddaddydanny]

Fair point, Ottke vs Reid was unbelievable with that ref. No way was Reid going to win that fight. If he’d knocked him out, he would have been disqualified.

That fight was disgusting because of Ottke and the referee. Also Ottke vs Larsen was ugly and boring. Both counterboxing throwing just a couple of punches each round. Ottke backpedalled the last round because he had been told that the judges would give him the win.

[adobson15]

Okolie vs CBS, very very ugly fight (as per usual with Okolie).

[joshj909]

Okolie Vs Askin.

Okolie had three points deducted for using his and also holding (X2). No exciting moments. No action at all.

Edit: didn't see "world title" in the question.

[Syntax Error]

Okolie is just awful to watch.

You know boxing is broken when someone like that has been a 'world champion'.

[IRL25]

Joe Calzaghe v Sakio Bika was a scrappy one I seem to recall, and was a long old 36 minutes that night