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Name the fighter you think has been the most unlucky in his career. I don't mean injuries, deaths or personal tragedies I mean career wise? On the end of the most controversial decisions, title shots that never materialised or just dodged by the best?

Controversial wrote:Name the fighter you think has been the most unlucky in his career. I don't mean injuries, deaths or personal tragedies I mean career wise? On the end of the most controversial decisions, title shots that never materialised or just dodged by the best?

Billy Graham
"The Uncrowned Champion".

so many and too many to list

But not neccesarily the unluckiest or anywhere near it but I often think beating SRL and hagler was well within Tommys grasp but he lost. Imagine if out of is losses he had won that first SRL fight or the hagler fight how much higher in our all time great lists he would be?

I would disagree about Graham, since the 3rd Gavilan bout which is widely derided as a robbery I think was a fair verdict.

The fact that a fighter as great as Burley never got a title shot is pretty unlucky.

I think Norton was unlucky in that he did get completely robbed in the 3rd bout vs Ali, finally gets his title anyway, and then has to defend against none other than a peaking Larry Holmes. At the same time, Norton did get many big fight opportunities and TV exposure . . I definitely wouldn't call him the most unlucky.

Maybe Mike McCallum. He had Hagler, Hearns, Leonard and Duran ahead of him no matter what he did. Whether he could beat any or all of them didn't matter as he was always standing behind them and none particularly wanted to fight him because of risk V reward

Jesse Burnett, terrible management, terrible decisions against him. He was a great talent.

dempseyfire wrote:I would disagree about Graham, since the 3rd Gavilan bout which is widely derided as a robbery I think was a fair verdict.

The fact that a fighter as great as Burley never got a title shot is pretty unlucky.

I think Norton was unlucky in that he did get completely robbed in the 3rd bout vs Ali, finally gets his title anyway, and then has to defend against none other than a peaking Larry Holmes. At the same time, Norton did get many big fight opportunities and TV exposure . . I definitely wouldn't call him the most unlucky.

I was also thinking about Billys fights with Giardello and Basilio.
But in fairness,it is a good while before my time so much of what I go by is what Ive read.

Meldrick Taylor has to be up there!

Expug wrote:

dempseyfire wrote:I would disagree about Graham, since the 3rd Gavilan bout which is widely derided as a robbery I think was a fair verdict.

The fact that a fighter as great as Burley never got a title shot is pretty unlucky.

I think Norton was unlucky in that he did get completely robbed in the 3rd bout vs Ali, finally gets his title anyway, and then has to defend against none other than a peaking Larry Holmes. At the same time, Norton did get many big fight opportunities and TV exposure . . I definitely wouldn't call him the most unlucky.

I was also thinking about Billys fights with Giardello and Basilio.
But in fairness,it is a good while before my time so much of what I go by is what Ive read.

Didn't the fight with Giardello get changed to a Graham W after the fight?

dempseyfire wrote:I would disagree about Graham, since the 3rd Gavilan bout which is widely derided as a robbery I think was a fair verdict.

The fact that a fighter as great as Burley never got a title shot is pretty unlucky.

I think Norton was unlucky in that he did get completely robbed in the 3rd bout vs Ali, finally gets his title anyway, and then has to defend against none other than a peaking Larry Holmes. At the same time, Norton did get many big fight opportunities and TV exposure . . I definitely wouldn't call him the most unlucky.

Norton was pretty lucky imo. The guy was not that good. And despite whether some think he won the third ali fight he was literally handed his title based on a gift secision over young and failed to successfully defend it. Not many fighters can boast of being a champ without ever having actually won a championship.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Jesse Burnett, terrible management, terrible decisions against him. He was a great talent.

Agreed.

dempseyfire wrote:

Expug wrote:

dempseyfire wrote:I would disagree about Graham, since the 3rd Gavilan bout which is widely derided as a robbery I think was a fair verdict.

The fact that a fighter as great as Burley never got a title shot is pretty unlucky.

I think Norton was unlucky in that he did get completely robbed in the 3rd bout vs Ali, finally gets his title anyway, and then has to defend against none other than a peaking Larry Holmes. At the same time, Norton did get many big fight opportunities and TV exposure . . I definitely wouldn't call him the most unlucky.

I was also thinking about Billys fights with Giardello and Basilio.
But in fairness,it is a good while before my time so much of what I go by is what Ive read.

Didn't the fight with Giardello get changed to a Graham W after the fight?

It did, but Joey sued and the reversal was reversed and Joey got the dec.

Zarate & Andries were both a little unfortunate. Not sure that they qualify as the unluckiest ever though.

Thomas Molinares was another.

Rocky Balboa wrote:Meldrick Taylor has to be up there!

Beat me to it.

"Barry McGuigan" somehow comes to mind immedietely as well imo.
Was on quite a role and then was forced to defend his title with a 102 degree fever against Steve Cruz. Battled gamely of course but obviously was seriously physically depleted going into that one. Was never the same after that bout. Then his dad passed away,who was quite a provider source of inner strength with his "Danny Boy" pre-fight singing. Then soon after,his house caught on fire and all his trophies were destroyed. I remember feeling, How unlucky can one get !?

I think Taylor was the architect of his own doom/fate. He had incredibly fast hands and was a good boxer, yet chose to be a typical "Philly" fighter rather than boxing to his natural talents.

How about Ernie Schaaf? He beat Baer,Braddock, Loughran,Uzcudun, Stribling, and the great Galento and never got a title shot. (They all did.)
Then he was tragically killed. He has seemed to be almost forgotton.

It got to be Mitsunori Seki... A Japanese challenger and contender that fought a record 5 times for a world title and never won. That got to be very frustrating when you have so many world title try opportunities

Sam Langford.

A great fighter in the wrong era.

Denied his chance to become even greater simply because of the colour of his skin.

klompton wrote:

dempseyfire wrote:I would disagree about Graham, since the 3rd Gavilan bout which is widely derided as a robbery I think was a fair verdict.

The fact that a fighter as great as Burley never got a title shot is pretty unlucky.

I think Norton was unlucky in that he did get completely robbed in the 3rd bout vs Ali, finally gets his title anyway, and then has to defend against none other than a peaking Larry Holmes. At the same time, Norton did get many big fight opportunities and TV exposure . . I definitely wouldn't call him the most unlucky.

Norton was pretty lucky imo. The guy was not that good. And despite whether some think he won the third ali fight he was literally handed his title based on a gift secision over young and failed to successfully defend it. Not many fighters can boast of being a champ without ever having actually won a championship.

Man, I HATE having to defend Norton regarding his winning the title in the manner that he did, but I do every chance I get & have done so ever since 1978 when he officially received the WBC belt & recognition.
What occurred was that rather than getting a much deserved automatic fourth fight with Ali after their highly controversial rubber match in September of '76, the WBC insisted upon an eliminator between Norton & the then unbeaten, highly regarded Duane Bobick because, at that time, the 'BC refused to sanction automatic rematches. So, Norton destroyed Bobick in less than a minute at MSG in May of '77. Making Norton the undisputed #1 contender. To meet Ali for the title ASAP.
However, Ali being Ali, he was granted two voluntary title defenses that year. A "gimme" against the undeserving Alfredo Evangelista ( who'd lost his previous bout via L8 to Lorenzo Zanon ) & an admittedly ( VERY ) tough one vs Earnie Shavers the following September. Setting up what was supposed to be Ali - Norton IV in early '78. But, Ali & his promoter Bob Arum petitioned for yet another voluntary defense to be allowed against the Olympic Gold Medalist & then 5-0 as a pro Leon Spinks.
Meanwhile rather than sit idle & simply wait for Ali, Norton took a tune up against Italy's Lorenzo Zanon & KO'd him in 5 rounds. Setting up the November bout with Jimmy Young. Who'd followed up his own VERY controversial loss to Ali in '76 with a victory streak that included a second win over Ron Lyle & a huge upset over George Foreman.
So, with Ali busy making bouts with suspect challengers like Evangelista & Spinks rather than fulfilling his mandatory vs Norton, the WBC declared that rather than the Norton - Young fight just being a 12 round final eliminator, it would be changed to a 15 round fight. One that would be recognized as a championship fight retroactively should Ali not sign to meet the winner immediately after the Spinks contest.
One that needed it's own bit of rescheduling after Spinks failed to score a victory in his October '77 bout with veteran, fringe contender Scott Ledoux. A fight that was made to get Leon some rounds under his belt & a catapult into the top ten to solidify the Ali fight. Unfortunately, Ledoux had other ideas & gave Spinks an absolute war in taking him to a draw. Which necessitated Arum making a quick turnaround bout for Leon vs the ( over ) rated Italian Alfio Righetti in November. In which Leon got his W10 & the go ahead for his title shot.
So, Norton & Young engage in a very close, very spirited 15 round mini-classic with Norton getting the nod & becoming the winner of the Ali/Spinks ABSOLUTE mandatory. Which was SUPPOSED to be Ali of course, but Leon & history had other ideas...
Leon was mandated to give Norton first shot at his belt, but Arum insisted on an Ali rematch instead. Giving the WBC no other recourse but to declare the Norton - Young fight an official title fight after the fact like they said they would & give their title recognition to Ken Norton.

I would be with you, but the whole premise comes off of Norton getting robbed in the third fight with Ali and I thought Young beat Norton.

David Bey is my choice for unluckiest fighter ever. Bey beat Greg Page to be No1 contender for Gerry Coetzee WBA Heavyweight Title, however Bey was talked out of fighting Coetzee for the title by Don King and Bill Cosby due to the Apathied policy in South Africa. So Greg Page got the fight and KOd Coetzee and won the title.

Bey probably would have lost but he would have got a decent payday. Though King oprobably would have deducted a fair sum out of it.

Nothing to do with luck they probably just didn't want it enough.