BoxRec

It's the ultimate indignity. You train for a few months and get stopped in a round. But some boxers dust themselves off and have a great career.

Following the Liston losses, Patterson was a contender for the next nine years, beating Machen, Chuvalo, Cooper and Bonavena.

Not in the same league, but John Ruiz had a solid career after the Tua loss.

Any other good examples?

Amir Khan must be right up there.

Not a great career but Jaidon Codrington did well to get back in contention after going viral for a first round KO loss. That must have been tough to deal with.

Chalky Wright was knocked out in the 1st round with the help of a headbutt from the hard-hitting Eddie Shea.

Archie Moore also was knocked out in the 1st round by Leonard Morrow before winning the LH title.

Emile Griffith has gotta be in the conversation.
Stopped by hurricane Carter in one. Went on from there.

Juan Manuel Marquez lost his 1st fight via 1st round Disqualification I think.

Not exactly embarrassing as it was likely corrupt if anything, but obviously he had a tremendous career following that little bump in the road.

An undefeated Roger Mayweather suffering a first round one-punch KO to Rocky Lockridge.

Interesting topic.
Patterson and Griffith were the ones I thought of first.
There have been some other interesting one mentioned as well.
A few more:

Early in his career, Jack Dempsey got stopped in the first round by Fireman Flynn.
A year later, he knocked Flynn out in the first round.
Dempsey went on to beat Gunboat Smith, Billy Miske, Fred Fulton, Carl Morris, and Bill Brennan before he ever got a title shot.

As a light heavyweight, Max Schmeling got ko'd in the first round by Gypsey Daniels. After that, he went on to score wins over Johnny Risko, Paulino Uzcudun, Jack Sharkey, Young Stribling, and course Joe Louis.

Maybe the most interesting:

Bob Montgomery got ko'd in the first round by Al "Bummy" Davis. In his very next fight just a month later, Montgomery beat Beau Jack to win a version of the lightweight title!

After getting KO'd in 1 round by Jimmy McLarnin in 1933, Young Corbett III still had left in him, a decision win over Mickey Walker, a 5th rd stoppage of Gus Lesnevich, and decision wins over Billy Conn and Fred Apostoli, and several wins over other decent fighters.

Thats another good one.

Earnie Shavers springs to my mind. Stopped in one round by Jerry Quarry in 1973 then went on to box for the World heavyweight title twice and also demolish Ken Norton in one round. Ended up living in Liverpool!

Miles Templeton

Pone Kingpetch losing his second reign as World Flyweight Champion with a first round knockout loss to Hiroyuki Ebihara and Kingpetch would regain his World Flyweight Title by taking at split decision over 15 rounds against Hiroyuki Ebihara in their rematch to win his third and final reign as World Flyweight Champion.

That's another good one! Interesting that he beat the guy who had knocked him out in the first round earlier.

prewarboxing wrote: ↑16 Oct 2026, 07:16 Earnie Shavers springs to my mind. Stopped in one round by Jerry Quarry in 1973 then went on to box for the World heavyweight title twice and also demolish Ken Norton in one round. Ended up living in Liverpool!

Miles Templeton

Almost anything could happen in an Earnie Shavers fight!

Peter Maher got starched by Bob Fitz but went on to defeat Choynski, Ruhlin, Slavin, Goddard, Klondike, Kennedy, O'Donnell etc.

Peter Maher!
The guy fought constantly, often against top competition. Won some and lost some. Kind of a forgotten figure.

From more recent ones, James Kirkland was KOd in first round by light punching Nobuhiro Ishida. He was something like 20-1 favorite then if i remember. After that, he got back on track with 5 stoppage wins, including KO wins against Alfredo Angulo and undefeated contender Glen Tapia and got a fight with Canelo Alvarez.

Tony Sibson iced In one by Lottie Mwale in a shocker, came back to have a terrific career: British and European champ and top middleweight contender. Unlucky enough like everyone else at the time to bump into the marvellous one.

The recently departed Tony Mundine was iced in one round by the past prime former World Welterweight Champion "El Feo" Luis Rodriguez, then Mundine would beat Denny Moyer, Emile Griffith, Bunny Sterling, Bunny Johnson and Mustafa Wasajja just to name several while he won the Australian Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight titles and he also won the Commonwealth Middleweight and Light Heavyweight titles.

Trevor Berbick ko’d in 1 by bernado mercado early in his career Before going onto to win the heavyweight title

Joey Maxim was knocked out in one by Hatchetman Shppard in '43. Maxim came back to win a one-sided decision in a rematch three weeks later. Ultimately, he went on to capture the light-heavyweight championship, defend it, challenge for the heavyweight title and beat fighters like Freddie Mills, Floyd Patterson, Jersey Joe Walcott and Sugar Ray Robinson.

Got to go with my second favorite fighter of all-time regarding this topic.

The great Floyd Patterson! Yes, a sound argument can also be made for Emile Griffith, but since Floyd came back from consecutive first round knockouts, I will give the nod to him.

Floyd arguably got the best of the younger, stronger Jerry Quarry twice. I think Floyd got robbed in their second fight.

One of his most impressive fights in his career post-Liston was his September 20, 1966 fourth round knockout of Henry Cooper. He was so impressive with his probing, on his toes, and then cat quick attack when the opportunity presented itself. I loved the peek a boo style. He destroyed Cooper. Poor 'Enery never knew what hit him.

Great unanimous decision victories over younger, stronger fighters in the person of George Chuvalo and Oscar Bonavena also come to mind.

And speaking of robberies, I will never forget September 14, 1968 and Floyd's fight to win a piece of the heavyweight title against Jimmy Ellis. I watched that fight live and stomped out my parent's house in anger when the decision was announced. That was a big-time screw job, to my way of thinking.

Rest in peace, Floyd and Emile.