BoxRec

Name some.

This one usually " springs" to mind for a lot of people !
-1993-

at least a lot of people got a good laugh watching that one tho !

Terry Daniels was a fairly weak title challenger. Tommy Burns had some incredibly unworthy title challengers, he crammed a lot in before he fought Jack Johnson.

Joe Louis had some really weak opponents. One in particular named Jack Roper was an especially unworthy challenger based on his record.

Ali-Coopman.

Coopman was bad, but there have been worse. Tomasek as mentioned might be the answer. A club fighter who didn't even know that he was going to be fighting until they pulled him out of the crowd. Pete Radamcher has to be mentioned.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 20:08 Coopman was bad, but there have been worse. Tomasek as mentioned might be the answer. A club fighter who didn't even know that he was going to be fighting until they pulled him out of the crowd. Pete Radamcher has to be mentioned.

That's a fun story and I get that it has become the popular "truth", but Tomashek knew a couple of days in advance that he could be fighting Morrison. Arum suspected that Williams would be a no-show and had brought Tomashek in as a backup.

I specifically remember watching this fight. The announcers at least made it look like Tomasek had no idea that he would be fighting that night. Even if that wasn't true, only a couple days' notice is nowhere near enough time. Probably most importantly, he was a club fighter, nowhere remotely close to being a worthy opponent.

Dave Zyglewicz

Johnny Paychek had a rough go against Joe Louis.
I really don’t think that fight was very competitive.

If you count George's wins after the Schulz bout as defenses of the Lineal Heavyweight title then Crawford Grimsley was a pretty damn sorry challenger.

Same for Tyson Fury against Sefer Seferi

prewarboxing wrote: ↑15 May 2026, 16:46 Dave Zyglewicz

Ziggy was a weak challenger. But he went out trying I'll give him that.
Dave was a member of the Hell's Angels and an interesting guy. His wife Fran was one of the sweetest genuine funny people I ever met.
Dave was a character who I really liked. Just not a worthy challenger

In remember reading in an ali biography that coopman was getting his ass kicked by a fat retired mw in sparring so the camp had to close his training sessions under the guise that he was "workingnon a secret punch" o beat ali

Probably not worst of all, but Klitschko - Mormeck was disgusting AF at the time

- Obviously Ali's first Leon defense.

It's hard to believe that fans and boxing kept him propped up so many years of consecutive beatings...R.I.P...

As an 'exhibition" it would have been acceptable-but a "Title" fight ?

It would have been bad enough to have watched this on "free" TV 'Live" (ABC)
but in those days if you wanted to watch it(Live), you had to go drive all the way out to the city
and watch it on closed-circuit at the cinema or arena (and pay to get in of course)
But if you waited a week then you could watch it on "free" tv(but you had to listen to Hoard Cossell,
so it wasn't so 'free" to watch after all)

Spinks v Tangstad

nobleart1978 wrote: ↑16 May 2026, 13:06 Spinks v Tangstad

but Michael Spinks had said that Tangstad had given him a rough fight tho.
( that's what someone on here wrote anyway)

Caractacus wrote: ↑16 May 2026, 14:28

nobleart1978 wrote: ↑16 May 2026, 13:06 Spinks v Tangstad

but Michael Spinks had said that Tangstad had given him a rough fight tho.
( that's what someone on here wrote anyway)

Not sure why anyone would say he gave him a tough fight. Tangstad wasn't very good, though there have been worse.

Al McCoy and Frddie Beshore lost 3 out of their last 4 before getting battered by Joe Louis and Ezzard Charles respectively. Also, Patterson's defense against Tom McNeely was no great shakes when Liston, Folley, Machen and Williams was standing in the way. McNeely's best wins were over Kitione Lave, George Logan and Willi Besmanoff at the time. This was dire.

Bowe vs Dokes and Ferguson were bloody awful.

The odds were '10 to 1" for the challenger in this title fight.
(Bad- but somewhat entertaining)
-1961-

The Full fight ?- what was with all the 'jump cuts" in the film then ?
the fight was stopped at 2 minutes and 29 seconds TKO in the first round
-1939-

Larry Holmes vs Marvis Frazier. It cannot be worse than that. Frazier wasn't ready. He just got a shot at the title because of his father's name and reputation. Nothing else. I blame Smokin' Joe for letting his son Marvis go to fight an experienced all-time great champion. It was a total mismatch!

It definitely turned out to be a mismatch in the ring, but it wasn't that bad of a mismatch on paper. Marvis was an unbeaten Pro with some decent wins, and had been a decorated Amateur in his own right.

I don't think anybody really thought he could beat Larry, but I doubt many would've been predicted a 1st round demolition job. Larry wasn't really known for that sorta thing. It just be that way sometimes. That's what makes Boxing what it is. Anything can happen on any given night.