BoxRec

One thing that makes sports intriuging is it's unpredictability, the unexpected. This is espescially true in boxing where one punch can turn a fight around and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. So I have listed some of the most shocking fights I could think of. Feel free to ad some of you're own. It could be a big upset, an early knockout, or just something that happend in the ring that was downright strange.


Buster Dougles's knockout of Tyson. That is an obvious one.

Here is one that flies in a little more under the radar. Freddie Pendleton with a record of 13 and 14 with a knockout of former champion Rodger Mayweather.

James "Bonecrusher" Smith with a first round knockout of Tim Witherspoon. Witherspoon was a likley choice as the air apparent to Larry Holme's crown. He looked like he was getting it together but that all changed in less than three minutes as he went down in one to The Bonecrusher.

John "The Beast" Muguibi's knockout of Curtis Parker. It was not so much that it was an early knockout but the way that it happend that was shocking. The Beast hit Parker with some massive shots knocking him out of the ring in one of the most spectacular knockouts ever.

The Joe Louis Billy Conn fight. Undersized Billy Conn looked like victry was his as he led late in the fight. The shocking part here is the way he came out and traded with Louis like it was him who was behind and needed the knockout. The fight hung in the balance as the two traded bombs. Finally Conn succumed to a fierce barrage by The Brown Bomber in one of the most corageous efforts of all time.

Patterson Liston 2. Patterson looked to come back and maybe fight a differrent type of fight in his rematch against Liston, but he fared no better the second time around and suffered the dubious distinction of being the only fighter in a heaveyweight championship to fall in the first round to twice to the same man.

Iran Barkley's Third round knockout of Heavily favored Thomas Hearns.

Archie Moore in his championship fight with Yyvonne Durrelle. Moore was dropped three times in the opening round. On the third one he was hit so hard he looked like he had been shot. Remarkably he staggered to his feet barley beating the count and just as remarkably finished the round which I think had a little over a minute to go. Survived another knockdwon later in the fight only to come back to take Durrelle out in one of the greatest fights ever.

Romon Ranquello's knockout of Mike Rossman. Rossman was only one fight removed from his championship victory over Victor Galindez. After losing the title back to Galindez he figured a tune up win over journyman Ramon Ranquello would help to put him back in the picture. Ranquello was a fighter so slow he would have trouble hitting a floating iceburg. He was the type of fighter who would make guys like Murry Sutherland look like Archie Moore. But a listless Rossmen withered under Ranquellos slow moving attack in really a fight their was no excuse for losing.

Earnie Shavers knockout of ken Norton. Norton looked like he had plenty left after giving Larry Holmes the fight of his life just a few months earlier but against Shavers a fighter nowhere near the caliber of Holmes he looked shot. That is one I will never figure out.

Loyd Honeygan's knockout of Donald Curry. Some people were making a case for Curry as the number one pound for pound fighter in the world. Honeygan changed that with a sixth round stoppage.

George Foreman's second round knockout of Joe Frazier was not only the most stunning moment in boxing for me but maybe in all of sports. I think it was to Howard Cosell also.

THE most bizarre fight I have ever seen was the rematch between Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall. McCall had a nervous break down and started bawling like a big ass baby in the middle of the fight and the referee had to call it off.

McCall looked so dominant the first time they fought, and the second time he just was a human punching bag screaming out for his mommy. It was absoloutely bizarre.

IrishRufusMurphy wrote:THE most bizarre fight I have ever seen was the rematch between Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall. McCall had a nervous break down and started bawling like a big ass baby in the middle of the fight and the referee had to call it off.

McCall looked so dominant the first time they fought, and the second time he just was a human punching bag screaming out for his mommy. It was absoloutely bizarre.

Nice call on the Lewis McCall fight although I cut McCall a bit more slack for his nervous breakdown. Mental illness is a serious and devestating condition that has brought physically and mentally strong people to their knees. Abraham Lincoln one of the most mentally tough and intelligent people throughout history suffered a similar breakdown. Those kinds of breakdowns are more common than one would think. Sometimes they can be tragic.

kick asner wrote: It could be a big upset, an early knockout, or just something that happend in the ring that was downright strange.

Lewis-McCall II (mentioned above)
Tyson-Holyfield II (the bite)
Bowe-Holyfield II (the fan man)

Leonard - Duran II shocked me.
I never thought Duran would spit the bit.

Robbie Peden v Nate Campbell I.

Just in case you haven't seen it, Campbell was about to finish off Peden who was out on his feet, when he dropped his hands and stared at Peden, for a second. That's all the time Peden needed to knock him out with a left hook.

John Wesley Meekins v Mohommed Kawoya

Meekins has Kawoya defenseless on the ropes in the 4th, and the referee steps in and stops it. Just as he does the defenseless Kawoya throughs a last chance punch that knocks out Meekins.

Leroy Murphy v Chisanda Mutti

Same ending as Rocky II, only it's the 12th round.

I remember the Murphy - Mutti fight Seamus. Good call.
That ending was dramatic no doubt.
I used to see Leroy in the Fuller Park gym all the time.
He should have accomplished alot more . You should have seen him between fights though.
He allowed himself to get way overweight. He didnt train real hard.

I see Murphy's former trainer at my healthclub on occasion. He fought as an amateur, but then bulked up and turned powerlifter. Now in his 50's he plays in racquetball tournaments.

Decagon wrote:Gainer-Norwood. Paul Sita grabbed Norwood by both arms, and Gainer punched Norwood in the nuts as hard as he could. Sita then proceeded to count Norwood out as if Gainer had punched him in the chin. It was like watching Lucha Libre on a Saturday afternoon.

Sounds like the only thing missing was "The Sheik" throwing fire into the face.

for those of us in the New England forests the Gamache Gatti affair was a shocker. AS was the "Nazarov" moment.

kick asner wrote:
Archie Moore in his championship fight with Yyvonne Durrelle. Moore was dropped three times in the opening round. On the third one he was hit so hard he looked like he had been shot. Remarkably he staggered to his feet barley beating the count and just as remarkably finished the round which I think had a little over a minute to go. Survived another knockdwon later in the fight only to come back to take Durrelle out in one of the greatest fights ever.

.

if anyone knows where I can see this whole fight Id be in your debts. Ive only ever seen the first round.

sockdollanger wrote:

kick asner wrote:
Archie Moore in his championship fight with Yyvonne Durrelle. Moore was dropped three times in the opening round. On the third one he was hit so hard he looked like he had been shot. Remarkably he staggered to his feet barley beating the count and just as remarkably finished the round which I think had a little over a minute to go. Survived another knockdwon later in the fight only to come back to take Durrelle out in one of the greatest fights ever.

.

if anyone knows where I can see this whole fight Id be in your debts. Ive only ever seen the first round.

I've seen it twice on ESPN Classic Fights. The show that Al Bernstein host. Now I'm thinking that is something different than Classic Fights. Now I'm sure of it. Actually the show with Bernstein is better. They did'nt show it in it's entirety but they showed all of the best rounds.

Should have just renamed him "Lasarus" after that fight.

Its funny when Im watching the fights with my 8 year old son and Augustus is fighting he always asks me "Dad " what is that guy Augustus doing? Is that boxing ? Is he allowed to dance like that?
I really dont know how to answer his questions about old Emanuel.
how can you describe it . Sometimes effective though.

its a style like any other and he only uses it when he knows he is safe. Suprisingly he hits while on the wrong foot and hits hard and accurate.

Was there a fighter very recently that was KO'd in one round that was sort of emulating that style and looking pretty promising and his opponent lowered the boom on him? Televised on ESPN this month I think

Honestly, I support the "dramatic" fighters and I also figure they got it comin when things go wrong. I really enjoyed both watching Hamed's antics during his career and I was just as happy when Barrera "upstaged" him with his straight ahead style.

If your going to showboat you have to be able to "chew gum AND walk" at the same time. So more power to you if you can add a twist or something unusual to the mix but you need to deliver the goods as well. I like Toney for that reason...what a great combination of "attitude and talent". But Father Time bides his time and will extract his due sooner or later and this moment is always more embarassing for the loud and eccetric fighter than it is for say...the Floyd Patterson's or Archie Moore's of the world. Humility has a very very long shelf life. Egomania tends to always be called on the carpet by the gods at some point on the calandar.

Anybody remember Ray "Windmill" White ? He retired in 74, and while he had some talent, he really got into the showboating, taunting etc. One time he dropped his guard and dared Jesse Burnett to try and land a punch. Burnett did, and White went down for the count.

Seamus wrote:Anybody remember Ray "Windmill" White ? He retired in 74, and while he had some talent, he really got into the showboating, taunting etc. One time he dropped his guard and dared Jesse Burnett to try and land a punch. Burnett did, and White went down for the count.

Speaking of Ray White, can anyone figure out why he is listed at cruiserweight? I figured that maybe his last fight was over 175 lbs and that was why, but nope.

Over to Record Queries I go!

Decagon wrote:If you average his weights, it comes to above 175.

Is that how it works? He fought at heavyweight in the 60s and moved the light heavyweight in the 70s. It doesn't make sense because the cruiserweight division wasn't even around.

There was that fight where one guy was pummeling his opponent on the ropes landing flush combinations just about to end the fight...then the guy who was about to go down, his mom came sprinting into the ring taking off her shoe and tried to beat the other guy down. That was ridiculous.

Bowe vs Golota I. The guy winning the fight, loses both, but not due to a KO. Dude gets clonked on the head with a cell phone, he turns around and whacks the guy, all fvcking hell breaks loose in the ring, Lou Duva has a heart attack, people in the stands attempt to reenact the LA Riots....good times.

An outclassed Mike Weaver catching and knocking out Big John Tate in the 15th round was a shocker.

Terry Norris KO'ing John Mugabi inside a round was an unbelievable result at the time - more so seeing as TN was coming in off a bad KO at the hands of J Jackson.

expug wrote:Its funny when Im watching the fights with my 8 year old son and Augustus is fighting he always asks me "Dad " what is that guy Augustus doing? Is that boxing ? Is he allowed to dance like that?
I really dont know how to answer his questions about old Emanuel.
how can you describe it . Sometimes effective though.

I like to refer to Augustus' herky-jerky act as "the boxing marionette." Maybe you and your son could get some wood and string and try to construct the perfect Augustus, I'm sure that would help him understand. If you use the kind of glue with all the danger messages instead of the Elmer's (and make sure to do it in a closet with no ventilation), that would serve the dual purpose of giving you an idea of just what goes inside ol' Augustus' head.

The man's got serious skills, but as others have noted, his head isn't quite screwed on completely straight, and you just never know exactly what you're gonna see come fight time - but you know it's gonna be entertaining.

Eric the Viking wrote:

expug wrote:Its funny when Im watching the fights with my 8 year old son and Augustus is fighting he always asks me "Dad " what is that guy Augustus doing? Is that boxing ? Is he allowed to dance like that?
I really dont know how to answer his questions about old Emanuel.
how can you describe it . Sometimes effective though.

I like to refer to Augustus' herky-jerky act as "the boxing marionette." Maybe you and your son could get some wood and string and try to construct the perfect Augustus, I'm sure that would help him understand. If you use the kind of glue with all the danger messages instead of the Elmer's (and make sure to do it in a closet with no ventilation), that would serve the dual purpose of giving you an idea of just what goes inside ol' Augustus' head.

The man's got serious skills, but as others have noted, his head isn't quite screwed on completely straight, and you just never know exactly what you're gonna see come fight time - but you know it's gonna be entertaining.

Funny thing is he didn't do his act too much in his best fight vs Ward...probably because those two didn't stop punching the entire fight. Had to be 4 of 5 rounds they both landed 50 punches.

IrishRufusMurphy wrote:
McCall looked so dominant the first time they fought

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