BoxRec

I've always had a fascination for heavyweight journeymen. The type of men who frequently fought the best but invariably came up short. Familiar names who litter the records of "name" fighters. Most of them lose to all the "names" that they fight but some, occasionally pull the rare upset.
The men of whom I speak are the likes of Charlie Polite, Walter Santemore, Leroy Caldwell, "Cookie" Wallace, Charlie "Emperor" Harris, Everett "Bigfoot" Martin, Mike "The Bounty" Hunter, Billy Daniels, George "Scrapiron" Johnson, Harold Carter, Pedro Agosto, Harold Sconiers, Jason Gavern & so on.
Some were once prospects & even contenders before sliding into the role of journeymen & opponent status. Some even had shots at the world heavyweight championship like Terry Daniels, Ron Stander & Jose "King" Roman. Some were even world champions in lighter weight classes before fading into opponents like JB Williamson, Ricky Parkey, Iran Barkley & Ozzie Ocasio & sadly, some were even heavyweight champions like Leon Spinks who eventually lost to a fighter making his pro debut before ending his career barely above .500.

Do any of you have any favorite heavyweights who lost as many or more than they won? If so who?

'Smokin' Bert Cooper for me.

I always liked James Tillis, he'd fight anyone. I linked up with him on FB and messaged him a few years back, got a reply too. Sound bloke.

I love a heavyweight journeyman as much as the next man. Jesse Ferguson was always a favourite, though he was a fringe contender for much of his career. I used to like watching Bobby Crabtree, he was real balls to the wall, though usually it was his balls nailed to the wall. Also:
Jody Ballard
Jaws Ocasio (late career)
Bigfoot Martin
Julius Francis
Leroy Caldwell
Bob Stallings
Michael Sprott

Controversial wrote: ↑21 May 2018, 04:28 'Smokin' Bert Cooper for me.

He was tough indeed. Gave a fight to Mercer, troubled Holyfield, brawled with Moorer. Those fights were fun to watch.

A current one that I like is Epifanio Mendoza. One minute he's an undefeated Middleweight with a 16(16)-0 record after kayoing Toks Olajide in 1 round then fast forward 16 years & he's a Heavyweight journeyman who's fought everyone who's anyone from 168 up to Heavyweight.

Some of the names mentioned are men who fought for world titles, or were contenders who faded. Difficult to consider them journeymen proper.

Garing Lane is one who was always just a journeyman, but could handle himself against the best, go the distance and, in the early days, score several upsets. And he did it all with a roly poly 300lb physique!

Not to mention Levi Billups, Mark Wills, Mike 'the Giant' White, Dee Collier, Larry Alexander and Lionel Washington.

Mark Wills was genuinely dangerous but I'm not sure ever got a full camp until his rematch with Greg Page--and after he blasted Page he was gone for 2 years and when he returned looked totally shot! Don't think he ever won another fight. Such a shame, because he was very handy for a while.

Stan Ward anyone?

Tuan_Jim wrote: ↑21 May 2018, 12:48 Not to mention Levi Billups, Mark Wills, Mike 'the Giant' White, Dee Collier, Larry Alexander and Lionel Washington.

Mark Wills was genuinely dangerous but I'm not sure ever got a full camp until his rematch with Greg Page--and after he blasted Page he was gone for 2 years and when he returned looked totally shot! Don't think he ever won another fight. Such a shame, because he was very handy for a while.

Stan Ward anyone?

Some good names there Jim. Stan Ward was a handy fighter. Mark Wills ko of Page in the rematch was spectacular. I raise you Mike Jameson.

Some of the names here were contenders, but yeah there is a lot of overlap.

Jerry "wimpy" Halstead
Rodney Bobick
Jody Ballard
Marion Wilson
Franco Thomas
Roy "cookie" Wallace
Charlie Polite
George "scrapiron" Johnson
Jerry Judge
Stamford Harris
Rufus Brazil
Bob Stallings
Larry Alexander
Reiner Hartmann
Rochell Norris
Tom "the bomb" Prater
Louis Acosta

George (Scrap Iron) Johnson,have a look at who he fought

Ross Puritty and Marion Wilson

Mike Murray from Manchester had one hell of a hard 42 fight career and probably 90 percent of his fights were against favoured hometown fighters who were on the up or in contention for a title.

Scott Welch (twice) Hide, Mavrovic, John Ruiz, Danny Williams, Krasniqi, Nelson, Dunstan, Matt Ellis and Hoffman etc.

But he burst a few bubbles and upset some applecarts as well......Kevin McBride, Markus Bott, Derek Williams were all beaten.

Rockytony67 wrote: ↑21 May 2018, 13:29 George (Scrap Iron) Johnson,have a look at who he fought

If you look at who he didn't fight, it would be a shorter list.

From my favourite era :

Chuck Wiggins
Sully Montgomery
KO Christner
Big Boy Petersen
Bearcat Wright
Johnny Risko
Unknown Winston

Dwain Bonds.

Tuan_Jim wrote: ↑21 May 2018, 12:48 Not to mention Levi Billups, Mark Wills, Mike 'the Giant' White, Dee Collier, Larry Alexander and Lionel Washington.

Mark Wills was genuinely dangerous but I'm not sure ever got a full camp until his rematch with Greg Page--and after he blasted Page he was gone for 2 years and when he returned looked totally shot! Don't think he ever won another fight. Such a shame, because he was very handy for a while.

Stan Ward anyone?

I'd actually consider Ward to be more of a contender than a journeyman but yeah, I've always considered him to be very interesting. He was an interesting case in that he wasn't a big-time star amateur star ( his claims to fame is a Simon Pure victory over Scott Ledoux & a loss to Larry Holmes ) but after only two pro bouts he was put into a bout with a young 14 - 0 prospect in Johnny Boudreaux & held him to an 8 round draw. Then, just one fight later he held fringe contender Pat Duncan to a D10. After which he took a 4 - 0 - 2 record in against former #1 contender Mac Foster & beat him over 10 rounds. Then he knocked out former top contender Jeff "Candyslim" Merritt in just 3 rounds. Becoming a top ten contender after just 8 pro fights.
The first time that I actually got to see him fight was when he met Ron Lyle & he dropped a very narrow 10 round split decision that I thought he did enough to win. Which dropped him to 8 - 1 - 2. He rebounded from that by beating a young Mike Weaver over 12 for the California state heavyweight title but then was upset by Texan Randy Stephens via L10 which cost him a shot at Ken Norton.
From there he became a bit more of a hit & miss fighter winning a couple but then losing before he gained too much momentum that might have earned him a title shot. But, he only lost to best such as Weaver ( in a pair of rematches ), Greg Page & Gerrie Coetzee.

My all-time favorite is two-time Canadian champ Ken Lakusta, who was 22-23-1 between 1979-94. He fought everywhere from Jakarta to Ecuador, Holland to Florida, against the likes of George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Razor Ruddock, Michael Dokes, Frank Bruno, Trevor Berbick, and David Tua. Always in shape and always entertaining, Kenny was also a sparring partner for Gerry Cooney, Pinklon Thomas and Mike Tyson. In 1986 his first of two Canadian title fights against 1984 Olympic silver medalist Willie de Wit set an all-time record for an all-Canadian bout, drawing a crowd of 14,750 and a gate of just under $1 million at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta.

Boxing Writer wrote: ↑21 May 2018, 14:15 Ross Puritty and Marion Wilson

Another couple of excellent examples of the ubiquitous heavyweight journeymen who could also occasionally rise to the occasion & become spoilers.
Do you remember the card featuring both Tommy Morrison & Ray Mercer against these career journeymen? If I remember correctly it was supposed to have served as a couple of safe tune-ups for the heavily favored "The Duke" & "Merciless" for their scheduled bouts in China later that year vs Herbie Hide & Frank Bruno ( a card that would fall apart & be canceled at the last minute ) but which very nearly derailed both men when they had to struggle to salvage draws.
Morrison won the majority of his bout's rounds by outworking Purrity over the course of their 10 rounder but had to pick himself up off the canvas twice to do so & settle for a draw. While Mercer was thoroughly outboxed & outhustled by Mo Wilson over ten rounds & somehow came away with a draw as well.

Speaking of Mo Wilson, he had to have had one of boxing's great chins. He fought a who's who of the heavyweight division & I don't believe he was ever knocked down. Putting him in elite company alongside George Chuvalo & Oliver McCall.

And, while on the subject of heavyweights named Mo, Mo Harris was another fav journeyman of mine who flirted with the top 20 for a bit with some decent upset victories but returned to his journeyman ways later on in his career. His best wins came over Siarhei Liakhovich, Jimmy Thunder & Jeremy Williams. He also very nearly beat Larry Holmes in MSG but for three judges who voted dubiously. And his bout with Derrick Jefferson was a classic.

sweetviolenturge wrote: ↑22 May 2018, 01:16And, while on the subject of heavyweights named Mo, Mo Harris was another fav journeyman of mine who flirted with the top 20 for a bit with some decent upset victories but returned to his journeyman ways later on in his career. His best wins came over Siarhei Liakhovich, Jimmy Thunder & Jeremy Williams. He also very nearly beat Larry Holmes in MSG but for three judges who voted dubiously. And his bout with Derrick Jefferson was a classic.

He also won the Thunderbox tournament, beating Gerald Nobles, Israel Garcia and Tony Thompson on the same night.

Bob Stallings deserves a mention.

Oh, he has been mentioned.

sweetviolenturge wrote: ↑22 May 2018, 01:16 Speaking of Mo Wilson, he had to have had one of boxing's great chins. He fought a who's who of the heavyweight division & I don't believe he was ever knocked down. Putting him in elite company alongside George Chuvalo & Oliver McCall.

And, while on the subject of heavyweights named Mo, Mo Harris was another fav journeyman of mine who flirted with the top 20 for a bit with some decent upset victories but returned to his journeyman ways later on in his career. His best wins came over Siarhei Liakhovich, Jimmy Thunder & Jeremy Williams. He also very nearly beat Larry Holmes in MSG but for three judges who voted dubiously. And his bout with Derrick Jefferson was a classic.

Oh, I forgot Harris! He IS definitely my #1 heavyweight journeyman from the pure excitement standpoint. He could score an huge upset (including some big KOs) and often was knocked out cold himself. His fight against Derrick Jefferson was pure classic.

sweetviolenturge wrote: ↑22 May 2018, 01:16 Speaking of Mo Wilson, he had to have had one of boxing's great chins. He fought a who's who of the heavyweight division & I don't believe he was ever knocked down. Putting him in elite company alongside George Chuvalo & Oliver McCall.

And, while on the subject of heavyweights named Mo, Mo Harris was another fav journeyman of mine who flirted with the top 20 for a bit with some decent upset victories but returned to his journeyman ways later on in his career. His best wins came over Siarhei Liakhovich, Jimmy Thunder & Jeremy Williams. He also very nearly beat Larry Holmes in MSG but for three judges who voted dubiously. And his bout with Derrick Jefferson was a classic.

Marion Wilson's chin is a bit of a myth. He was down at least a couple of times, certainly versus Terrence Lewis and Jimmy Thunder. He generally mauled, spoiled and buried his chin on his opponent's shoulder to protect it. He isn't the Chuvalo-chin people think, just a cunning survivor who fought ugly.

Totally agree with you on Stan Ward, what a record!