In September of 1915, leading heavyweight contender Jim Coffey, almost sure to get a crack at Jess Willard's title, signed to fight Frank Moran and got knocked out. Coffey was never in the picture again. How many other contenders have done something similar?
Cap
Oh Why Did He Take That Fight?
Re: Oh Why Did He Take That Fight?
Steve Hearon was WBC No. 1 light-welterweight in 1983 and guaranteed a shot at champ Bruce Curry - a man he had previously stopped. But he took on a then unknown Lupe Aquino and got busted up and stopped.Cap wrote:In September of 1915, leading heavyweight contender Jim Coffey, almost sure to get a crack at Jess Willard's title, signed to fight Frank Moran and got knocked out. Coffey was never in the picture again. How many other contenders have done something similar?
Cap
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tagjohnson
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 281
- Joined: 14 Jul 2005, 09:56
Frank Fletcher
Frank "The Animal" Fletcher one of my alltime favorites, who never had a boring fight, was half a step away from a shot at Hagler when he took a fight with Wilfred Sycpion, got jabbed silly and lost his shot. Instead of trying to work his way back into contention with good but not dangerous opponents he kept taking fights against dangerous contenders like Juan Domnigo Roldan and Curtis Parker and kept getting knocked out. I think including the Sycpion fight he lost 4 or 5 of his last 6 fights. While we're at it why did Leon Spinks fight Gerrie Coetzee and what was Ken Norton thinking about fighting Earnie Shavers?
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HomicideHenry
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 18722
- Joined: 08 Sep 2005, 00:43
Bob Satterfield took on Ezzard Charles and had he not have, he probably would have gotten the shot at Marciano...because Charles took him out of the picture.
That or Tommy Gomez, had he not taken on Walcott and some others, he probably would have gotten a shot, though he would have gotten kayoed and fell off the radar in either rate.
That or Tommy Gomez, had he not taken on Walcott and some others, he probably would have gotten a shot, though he would have gotten kayoed and fell off the radar in either rate.
Re: Frank Fletcher
The scariest thing about going to a Fletcher fight was his mom. She could do more damage to those sitting around her that weren't cheering her son on than Frank could do to his opponent in the ring.tagjohnson wrote:Frank "The Animal" Fletcher one of my alltime favorites, who never had a boring fight, was half a step away from a shot at Hagler when he took a fight with Wilfred Sycpion, got jabbed silly and lost his shot. Instead of trying to work his way back into contention with good but not dangerous opponents he kept taking fights against dangerous contenders like Juan Domnigo Roldan and Curtis Parker and kept getting knocked out. I think including the Sycpion fight he lost 4 or 5 of his last 6 fights. While we're at it why did Leon Spinks fight Gerrie Coetzee and what was Ken Norton thinking about fighting Earnie Shavers?
Charlie Scott was the number one contender for Don Jordan's welterweight title and had a good chance to KO Jordan.
As a tune-up he fought nobody Benny Kid Paret and got clobbered and knocked flat on his back in the final round.
Paret never looked as good again. That night he was a great fighter, with blazing speed, boxing ability, a punch---everything.
Of course no tape of that fight is available.
As a tune-up he fought nobody Benny Kid Paret and got clobbered and knocked flat on his back in the final round.
Paret never looked as good again. That night he was a great fighter, with blazing speed, boxing ability, a punch---everything.
Of course no tape of that fight is available.
Leave it to sicko Hexagon to come up with that.Decagon wrote:Paret was a good fighter. Here's his knockout loss against Gene Fullmer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr3e1uz5Wnk
He did have a tendency to get tied up against the ropes, and Fullmer took advantage of this. Look at how just a half minute before the stoppage, he lands a series of eight or ten hard shots. If Fullmer hadn't been the tough son-of-a-bitch he was, he wouldn't have been able to get the knockout in that round.
That is one thing I will never watch again after seeing it happen when it did.
Hexagon has obviously never been hit in the head.
re
"Bombardier" Billy Wells...he had a big following in the UK and was being maneuvered to the top, but foolishly took on Al Palzer in New York and the brittleness of his chin was rather quickly discovered.
Wells had the offensive tools, without a doubt, but he lacked the killer instinct and durability to be a serious contender for the heavyweight crown, but he was one of the longest reigning British heavyweight champions in history and held that honor until Henry Cooper beat it!
Other than Al Palzer I guess I could name around six others that Wells should never have fought!
His bouts were certainly exciting though as one way, or the other...someone was getting knocked out!!!
Wells had the offensive tools, without a doubt, but he lacked the killer instinct and durability to be a serious contender for the heavyweight crown, but he was one of the longest reigning British heavyweight champions in history and held that honor until Henry Cooper beat it!
Other than Al Palzer I guess I could name around six others that Wells should never have fought!
His bouts were certainly exciting though as one way, or the other...someone was getting knocked out!!!
Re: Frank Fletcher
Norton & Spinks were fighting in eliminators. Spinks was just the semifinals. But not like they took the fights for no reason.tagjohnson wrote:Frank "The Animal" Fletcher one of my alltime favorites, who never had a boring fight, was half a step away from a shot at Hagler when he took a fight with Wilfred Sycpion, got jabbed silly and lost his shot. Instead of trying to work his way back into contention with good but not dangerous opponents he kept taking fights against dangerous contenders like Juan Domnigo Roldan and Curtis Parker and kept getting knocked out. I think including the Sycpion fight he lost 4 or 5 of his last 6 fights. While we're at it why did Leon Spinks fight Gerrie Coetzee and what was Ken Norton thinking about fighting Earnie Shavers?
Morrison/Bentt cost him a few bucks.
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tagjohnson
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 281
- Joined: 14 Jul 2005, 09:56
Markl
I would respectfully disagree with you. If Norton had simply continued to fight against respectable competition he would have gotten a rematch with Holmes in very short order. After all he had lost a great and close fight defending his title. Fighting Shavers was nuts under any circumstances. Spinks wasn't going to get a rematch with Ali due to his retirement but fighting an up and coming power puncher like Coetzee in his first fight after losing to Ali makes no sense.
I really can't follow your"logic" here. I don't believe the intention of the thread is who could have ducked and dodged their way to an eventual title shot.
These guys fought in eliminators. That's what men do. They just lost. None of these fights were taken as tuneups.
Both of their next fights would have been title shots. I bet either of them would take those fights again 100 times over.
These guys fought in eliminators. That's what men do. They just lost. None of these fights were taken as tuneups.
Both of their next fights would have been title shots. I bet either of them would take those fights again 100 times over.