BoxRec

Here's a few to get the topic going. Henry Armstrong 1-3, Billy Conn 8-6, Mike Weaver 6-6, Pipino Cuevas 7-5, Joe Brown 7-5-2, Steve Robinson 9-8-1.

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I could think of at the moment.

Not an elite fighter, but Kirino Garcia who had held a few regional titles and fought some decent fighters, was 0-18 at one time

..check out benny leonard....three kobys in his first couple of years.

Mike Weaver
Freddie Pendleton

How about Rafael Marquez...talk about in over your head...his first bout was against the very seasoned world champ Victor Rabanales, but Marquez still managed to last 8 rounds in the bout.

Hopkins lost his first fight as well.

Arguello didn't start off so well if I recall.

Two great fighters i dont hear mentioned as much started their careers alot less than spectacularly. Gabriel "flash" Eldore and Manuel Ortiz.

Eldore had 17 losses before winning the JrWelter world championship. He held the title for the next seven years and defended it 10 times against good compeitition.
Ortiz lost 11 fights beofre winning the bantam weight title that he would go on to defend 19 times over two reigns. In defense of his bad start however, Ortiz starting fighting top ten contenders in his first year as a pro.

Kelvin Seabrooks (former IBF Bantamweight CHampion) was something like 9-9 at one time, and was 15-14 when he fought for the title.

MIke Weaver started off 0-2, both knockout losses, I believe.

Alexis Arguello was knocked out in his pro debut
Ricardo Mayorga was knocked out in his pro debut

Buster Drayton (remember him?) had 8 or 9 losses, most of them before he reached the world class level.

Saoul Mamby had a lot of losses even before winning the WBC Super Lightweight Title.

And Cuevas had either six or seven losses when he won the title at age 18. Hard to expect more from a 14-15 year old.

Carlos Monzon was 16-3 at one point. Sure it's not horrible but if I saw that record on a fighter today I don't think he'd be capable of reaching the greatness of Monzon. Juan Manuel Marquez also lost his pro debut. Who'd have thought that both he and his brothers would grow up to be champions. There are a few other fighters who had unimpressive starts that are doing well right now although I wouldn't call them top fighters yet. Gamaliel Diaz and Humberto Soto.

Dick Tigers early years as a professional were less than impressive and things seemed to get even worse for him when he first moved to the UK to continue his career and lost his first four fights.

Bruno Arcari lost in his first pro bout; Saoul Mamby lost 12 before win the WBC superlightweight title (one of them for the same title); Alfonso Frazier lost by K.O. three of 16 previously his world consagration; Susumu Hanagata was the super champion of the perseverings, winning a WBA "world" title in his fifth attempt, and after a total of 14 losts and 7 draws; Juan José Guzmán had 36 fights until he fought for the WBA Junior Flyweight title (when he win), with 12 lost, 23 wins and one draw: in his first 9 fights, lost 4 and drew 1, his debut was a draw and his second fight a lost! But, please, we must to remind Fritzie Zivic, who had 24 lost and 6 draws before to capture the undisputed World Welterweight Title by K.O. in 12, from... Henry Armstrong! And Henry Armstrong was a perfect fighter... It is incredible... Between 1935 and 1936, Zivic lost 8 fights consecutives...
There are good examples in boxing of this champions of amazement!

gaetan hart lost a bunch of fights.Later fought Pryor for title.

-billy conn is a big one, i believe he lost 7 of his first 15 fights

- jersey joe walcott is a defintite big one, wasnt even close to ranked fighter in his twenties losing to guys who had .500 records, so he retires for 4 years then comes back and well you know the rest.

-jimmy young and mike weaver are obvious choices


- another one is manuel ortiz, who lost a lot in his early career before he won the title, i believe over 10 times.

Yes, Manuel Ortiz lost quite a number of fights before he
became a champion, but look at the opponents in those
defeats. They include Pablo Dano, David Kui Kong Young,
Small Montana, Jackie Jurich, Lou Salica, and Tony Olivera,
a virtual who's who in the bantamweight and flyweight
divisions. Ortiz also lost to two capable southpaws, Benny
Goldberg (three times) and Pancho Leyvas. The fact is
that Ortiz and so many other top pre-1950s future champs
were matched with formidable fighters before getting title
shots. At the same time, so many of the current fighters
were matched with very soft opposition before becoming
champions.


- Chuck Johnston

Heavyweight Lionel Butler was 6-10-1 (2) and then reeled of 16-0 (16) before fighting Lennox Lewis

..if gaetan hart hadn't lost those early fights he wouldn't have gotten a shot at.....no.....dammit...no.....i'm not going to finish it....too close to new year's resolutions!!!