BoxRec

Name fighters that for some reason were given a world title shot when they had no reason to be get one. I'm sure there are a few.

I'll start with 40 year old Richard Frazier who was 18-3-1 when he got a shot at the WBC LHW title against Roy Jones Jr as Frazier was the mandatory challenger and somehow ranked number 1 and 3 by the WBC and WBA

Jones easily handled Frazier, dropped him in the first and stopped him in the second, I think Frazier landed about 4 punches.

Johnny Paycheck got bombed out of there by Joe Louis. I don’t think he had any business being in there with him. This is a good topic. I’ll think of some more I’m sure.

Manuel Ortiz had some pretty soft title defenses.

Caveman Lee. Hagler destroyed him.
Scott Frank. He earned a shot after a draw with Snipes. He was far from a worthy contender.
Alfredo Evangelista. Loses to Zanon and then gets Ali... Then pulls off a few worthless wins and gets a shot at Holmes.
Scott Ledoux. This guy lost every meaningful fight before and after his shot at Holmes.

There are so many worthless fighters that got a shot

Tons of fighters, but most recently Kambosos, who barely won a round in his last three fights against live opposition but got another title shot anyway. Probably at least one in five title fights these days involve an opponent who did nothing to “earn” the title shot.

Eddie Croft has to be up there, having been KO’d in his three previous fights and not having been in the ring for three years when Erik Morales pummeled him in a featherweight title fight in 2003.

Yes, the Croft example is just insane.

Abdi Pohan. Indonesian fighter. Won his first three fights against guys with combined records of 18-13. Gets a minimum weight title shot and loses by decision. Next fight, he gets another title shot, gets almost shutout for seven rounds and KO’d. That earns him another title shot, which he loses by decision. The winner or that bout, Thongchai Utaida, also defended against another Indonesia fighter coming off four consecutive losses

One of my personal favorites was Indonesian fighter Angky Angkotta, who got a shot at a vacant jr. Bantamweight belt vs Jorge Acre. He had been shut out in his only meaningful fight but was on a six-fight win streak against fighters with combined records of 29-40. Acre is shutting him out before an accidental head butt sends it to the cards. The next year the same WBO puts Acre in against Angkotta for a vacant bantamweight belt. Acre, who is a tremendously fun fighter to watch, becomes a four-division beltholder, two of them vacant belts against the same guy. Angkotta finished with a 28-15 career record

giacomino wrote: ↑21 Jun 2025, 10:33
Eddie Croft has to be up there, having been KO’d in his three previous fights and not having been in the ring for three years when Erik Morales pummeled him in a featherweight title fight in 2003.

Yeah I don't think he was even ranked, how he got picked for a title shot is bizarre. He had lost 5 of his previous 6 fights and that one win was a SD over 8 rounds against a fighter with a 7-8 record.

that will be hard to top. Guess there are countless others who should not have got one. It is funny how a mediocre fighter who got a title shot will often get remembered than a good fighter who never got one.

Anyway, a couple of others - Terry Daniels vs Frazier, Pete Rademacher vs Patterson .