BoxRec

Sometimes we look at a fight and think 'god, why are they doing that?' It can be either overmatching a young prospect against a veteran, or over promoting one of your guys into getting a title shot that could cause them harm!

What is the worst you have seen?

I will start. When David Walker was put in against Roman Karmazin the alarm bells went off. David had been going life and death against sub-British title level fighters. Karmazing had been destroying Michael Rask(who had gone to war with Mahmadou Thiam) This fight really worried me(despite Elliot Worzel and Spud tellin me David had a great chance)

In the end Karmazin went soft on his foe, making him look daft but letting him bail out. No harm done...thanks Roman!

Any more?

That Batista(sp.) fella who some were going on about as one for the future who got blitzed by Ponce De Leon was pretty bad.

banjo wrote:That Batista(sp.) fella who some were going on about as one for the future who got blitzed by Ponce De Leon was pretty bad.

Cracker! Ray Bautista!! Letting him get smashed by Ponce at that point was incredibly poor!

Yes he got smashed for sure, shipped alot of shots straight down the middle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqp9RTKKoUg

pele reid vs orlin norris - WTF was all this about?

amir khan vs breidis prescott - u don't put a prospect in with an unknown fighter who can punch.

joe calzaghe vs tocker pudwill -

herbie hide vs damon reid -

Terry Downes V Dick Tiger

Question by reporter to Downes afterwards "Terry, who would you like to fight next"?

Answer by Downes, "The bastard who made that match"

It wasn't a horrific match....... just a real real tough one.

Larry Holmes V Muhammad Ali

Some were blind to the obvious..... matchmaker included.

A recent domestic one.

Thaxton vs Glover - Thaxton vs Murray was going to be made. Then Mick Hennessy decided to put Thaxton, coming off a loss, in against Glover, a fighter two divisions above him who was on a winning streak against decent opposition. Stupid fight, it ruined Thaxton vs Murray.

Freddie Mills V Jack Scott (Twice the same night..... two first round knockouts)

Freddie Mills V Joe Baksi

Howard Eastman v Gary Beardsley was shocking

metchampion wrote:Larry Holmes V Muhammad Ali

Some were blind to the obvious..... matchmaker included.

yeah good one.

awful matchmaking.

can understand why ali took the 8m dollars though.

huge money even today.

Juan Manuel Marquez v Chris John was a bad, bad move by Marquez's management since he got paid eight pounds fifty, some leftover Pesatas from his manager's holiday to the Costa Del Sol in 1987, and a sachet of tomato ketchup.

Frank Bruno v Chuck Gardner
Shane Mosley v Adrian Stone
Fights involving Britons against Mexicans in the late seventies at the Royal Albert Hall. I remember Jimmy Flint beating some Mexican guy once in a round who was a shocker.

Pavlik v Lockett.
I know it was a mandatory but everyone knew Pavlik was gonna smash him to pieces.
Goldenboy's matchmaking of their prospects is horrible. They feed them journeymen then throw them in with quality guys. Batista as mentioned, Ortiz with Maidana, Jesus Rojas with Jose Angel Beranza.

hitman_hatton1 wrote:pele reid vs orlin norris - WTF was all this about?

amir khan vs breidis prescott - u don't put a prospect in with an unknown fighter who can punch.

joe calzaghe vs tocker pudwill -

herbie hide vs damon reid -

Good choices

hitman_hatton1 wrote:pele reid vs orlin norris - WTF was all this about?

amir khan vs breidis prescott - u don't put a prospect in with an unknown fighter who can punch.

joe calzaghe vs tocker pudwill -

herbie hide vs damon reid -

Compelete farce - what made it funnier was Reid was mouthing off before that fight what he was going to do to Hide

Pavlik / Lockett

Cotto / Jennings

Calzaghe / Manfredo

Worst ever

Enzo Maccarinelli V Bobby gunn

SHOCKER!!!!!! and for a World title

Reid v Trinidad, I know Reid was a proven amateur but he had what 18 fights?

spud made a show of himself when karmazine destroyed walker with ease.

we also had muppets on the forum saying lockett had a great chance to beat pavlik. needless to say they disappeared when lockett showed he was happy to take his knee and get out of the fight.

recently some muppets thought jamie moore could beat paul williams and argued as such. thankfully that match was never made.

samuel kebede vs scott harrison was painful in the extreme.

junior witter vs lucky sambo was a ridiculous match. sambo was extraordinarily poor. no point.

maloney made a fool out of boxing fans recently with the lithuanians. not to mention edwards vs ahmad as a friday fight night headliner. do we look like mugs frank?

i could go on.

standing8 wrote:Worst ever

Enzo Maccarinelli V Bobby gunn

SHOCKER!!!!!! and for a World title

You're right it was a diabolical match but we all knew about the WBO belt and the fact Gunn was sanctioned to fight for their supposed world belt was farcical. That was not a world title fight and the only thing that linked it to such was the bauble, which Enzo had inherited.

Maybe not the worst pieces of match-making as some of the below deserved a pay day and their moment in the limelight.



Fernando Vargas v Howard Clarke
Muhammad Ali v Richard Dunn
Joe Louis v Tony Galento

dbf wrote:Reid v Trinidad, I know Reid was a proven amateur but he had what 18 fights?

Less than that, I think it was 14.

The only thing I'd say about the David Walker / Roman Karmazin fight is that it was a career best pay day for Dave. It was a shot at the European title and David could punch a bit, no one gave him much chance but Robert McCracken wasn't going to let him get hurt. I've got a lot of time for David who is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and as game as they come but he very nearly lost to Spencer Fearon for the Southern Area title and I think Spencer took that at late notice. If you're managing / promoting David and you can get him the European title fight then you've got to offer it to him. David didn't have anything to lose, he was in the Sun every day for a week as they were sponsoring the show and he dropped back down a level afterwards.

I think a bad bit of matchmaking is when you're taking a big risk with nothing to gain - if you're not getting paid well, risking your title or fighting someone dangerous who no one knows about anyway.

standing8 wrote:Worst ever

Enzo Maccarinelli V Bobby gunn

SHOCKER!!!!!! and for a World title

Did Bobby Gunn gain credibility before he got a second World title fight against IBF and Ring champion Tomasz Adamek?

Or was that also considered an awful piece of match-making?