Most 'accomplished' title-fight losers

[DrDuke]

Kenny Norton: V. Holmes. V. Ali III.

He was robbed horribly against Ali in that 3rd bout.

I had it 10 rounds to 5 for Norton.

Right, the fight was an obvious robbery.

[scartissue]

Ruben Navarro (3 title shots)

Lost to Rene Barrientos over 15 for the vacant jr. lightweight title in Manila. Navarro swore he won 13 out of 15. As he moved up to lightweight he got a title fight with Ken Buchanan on 72 hours notice when Mando Ramos pulled out of the title fight. Navarro performed admirably over 15 and lost on points. Third title shot he was stopped by Rodolfo Gonzalez in 9.

Navarro deserved his title shots with wins over Hiroshi Kobayashi (reigning champ, non-title), Raul Rojas, Jimmy Robertson, Arturo Lomeli, Frankie Crawford, Ray Adigun and a draw with Yoshiaki Numata (reigning champ, non-title).

[Ambling Alp II]

If it was anyone but Ali, nobody would say it was a robbery. There were several very close rounds in the fight. Norton did not clearly win enough rounds for it to be a robbery.
I had Holmes winning by point . All three judges had it even going into the last round. I had Holmes up by two. Norton had a great 15th round, but Holmes came on at the end of the round and the judges fell for it.
The Norton-Young fight was a defacto title fight. (Had Young won, he would have been awarded the WBC title.) This was a great fight which nobody ever talks about. I thought Young deserved the decision.

[Onetimeonly]

I agree on young winning.