BoxRec

After the upset of Pacman over De la Hoya, and Skelton's win lately, it got me thinking of some of my favourite and worst upsets involving British fighters when they were odds on or odds against. heres a couple of the top of my head.

1 of my Favourites - Danny Williams over Tyson

Worst - Hasim Rahman over Lennox

whats yours guys ?

Barkley vs Hearns and Douglas vs Tyson are my favourite upsets
Leonard vs Hagler my least favourite

Khan was certainly a big favourite over Prescott

Favourite - Honeyghan v Curry

Least - Leonard v Duran II

I'm still trying to think of my favourite, I guess it'll be Benn v McClellan.

worst - definitely Naz v Barrera

I mean favourite as in glad they won, and worst as in gutted they were beaten, I know Khan was a massive favourite but were many people that gutted when he lost ?

what were the odds on Hatton beating Tyzsu ?

also looking back now i can't believe Calzaghe was the underdog against Lacy. my mate gave me 3-1 on a JC win that night.

another personal favourite for me was Rendall Munroe vs Kiko Martinez (he collects my mums bin).

I loved the upset run when the British superfeather title can back into existence.

from 1986 till 1992 each person held the title and was supposed to be the favourite in the 1st defense, but lost.
it became a bit of a jinx.

some of the upsets included .Daho Ko'd Cowell, Harvard losing to Doherty, Pritchard 1 punch finish of Hugh Forde, Sugar Gibiliru TKO of Robert Dickie

I was shocked when Karmazin got walloped, but the one that stuck in mind was Lewis/Rahman. Although the biggest one ever must be Douglas/Tyson. I can't see how anybody would've predicted the end result that night in Japan.

mark thompson wrote: Worst - Hasim Rahman over Lennox

Good call that - can remember watching that fight - I think it was with Rhino - and we knew Lennox had been partying or certainly not living the life - Remember speaking to someone when I was driving Frank Maloney - normally Frank is buzzing about a show or a fight and this time he wasn't - even though I thought there could be an upset - when it happened I was truly stunned!!!

Lloyd Honeyghan v Don Curry

must be near the top.....

Internationally - Evander Holy vs Riddick Bowe 2 was spectacular...as was Holy over Tyson 1

Honeyghan V Curry
McClennan V Benn

Honeygun v Curry for me, stuff dreams are made of, South London kid v p4p the best in the world, had no respect for reputation, placed a large bet on himself and called Curry a caaaant in the pre fight press conference, one of the fights that really made me want to become a fighter

Coco wrote:placed a large bet on himself and called Curry a caaaant in the pre fight press conference

Really?

Good lad

banjo wrote:

Coco wrote:placed a large bet on himself and called Curry a caaaant in the pre fight press conference

Really?

Good lad

Yeah the press conference was a real spectacle, Lloyd got right upset at not being taken seriously and right flared up, and got really long odds for his bet

Old bones Ian wrote:I loved the upset run when the British superfeather title can back into existence.

from 1986 till 1992 each person held the title and was supposed to be the favourite in the 1st defense, but lost.
it became a bit of a jinx.

some of the upsets included .Daho Ko'd Cowell, Harvard losing to Doherty, Pritchard 1 punch finish of Hugh Forde, Sugar Gibiliru TKO of Robert Dickie

That "jinx" was a fun little episode with some very unlikely champs emerging. Can you remember who broke it?

Best has to be Honeygan against Curry

The worst has to be Steve Cruz beating Barry Mcquigan

Mark, Tszyu was a small favourite (about 4/7) pre-fight. Honeyghan, according to Mickey Duff's excellent book 20 and Out, was about 7/1 in the Vegas sportsbooks. Duff backed Honeyghan, but when Honeyghan came to back himself, he found that the price had shortened a little beforehand as do most of the underdogs out there. When honeyghan won the fight, Duff split the extra winnings between them

Other British odds that may raise an eyebrow - Joe Calzaghe (11/10) was underdog against Lacy- Ensley Bingham was 5/6 to beat Winky Wright - Alan Minter was favourite to beat Marvin Hagler!

I also never thought Kevin McBribe could, in a 100 years, ever beat Tyson....even if Tyson had one arm tied behind his back.....and one leg up his arse. Just the least likely result.

oliverfennell wrote:

Old bones Ian wrote:I loved the upset run when the British superfeather title can back into existence.

from 1986 till 1992 each person held the title and was supposed to be the favourite in the 1st defense, but lost.
it became a bit of a jinx.

some of the upsets included .Daho Ko'd Cowell, Harvard losing to Doherty, Pritchard 1 punch finish of Hugh Forde, Sugar Gibiliru TKO of Robert Dickie

That "jinx" was a fun little episode with some very unlikely champs emerging. Can you remember who broke it?

Neil Haddock I think. He made one defence before getting beaten by Floyd Havard (remember him? - cracking fighter!)

Holy beating Tyson was my favourite, closely followed by Benn beating McLellan (with the obvious caveat).

Was gutted when Naz lost to Barrera. Was disappointed to see Pavlik schooled by Hopkins (although not surprised) given the need for exciting young talent these days.

TerribleTerry wrote:

oliverfennell wrote:

Old bones Ian wrote:I loved the upset run when the British superfeather title can back into existence.

from 1986 till 1992 each person held the title and was supposed to be the favourite in the 1st defense, but lost.
it became a bit of a jinx.

some of the upsets included .Daho Ko'd Cowell, Harvard losing to Doherty, Pritchard 1 punch finish of Hugh Forde, Sugar Gibiliru TKO of Robert Dickie

That "jinx" was a fun little episode with some very unlikely champs emerging. Can you remember who broke it?

Neil Haddock I think. He made one defence before getting beaten by Floyd Havard (remember him? - cracking fighter!)

Yeah thats def right, and Floyd denied him winning the belt outright in Cardiff. Floyd could really fight and is a good bloke too.
He had signed again with FW and got given an easy one at short notice for the WBO, he didn't take it because Floyd wanted more notice, Barry Jones took it instead and FW never put Floyd on again

For me i think Calzaghe beating Lacy, in the comprehensive manner he did. Probably the best performance i've ever seen in the flesh, against a man earmarked for greatness.

Fave's: Eddie Sanchez v JC Candelo (little known upset, after Joachim Alicine failed a medical Sanchez took the fight 24 hours before and lost 8 pounds in an hour to make weight and pulled of a 12 round points win)

Corrie Sanders v Wlad Klitschko

Holyfield v Tyson

Worst ones: Jones v Tarver 2

Khan v Prescott

E wrote:I also never thought Kevin McBribe could, in a 100 years, ever beat Tyson....even if Tyson had one arm tied behind his back.....and one leg up his arse. Just the least likely result.

Totally agree. Even before the fight I said it would be an upset if it lasted more than a round.

TerribleTerry wrote:

oliverfennell wrote:

Old bones Ian wrote:I loved the upset run when the British superfeather title can back into existence.

from 1986 till 1992 each person held the title and was supposed to be the favourite in the 1st defense, but lost.
it became a bit of a jinx.

some of the upsets included .Daho Ko'd Cowell, Harvard losing to Doherty, Pritchard 1 punch finish of Hugh Forde, Sugar Gibiliru TKO of Robert Dickie

That "jinx" was a fun little episode with some very unlikely champs emerging. Can you remember who broke it?

Neil Haddock I think. He made one defence before getting beaten by Floyd Havard (remember him? - cracking fighter!)

Havard was a good little fighter, wasn't he. And largly forgotten - anyone know what he's up to now?

And Hugh Forde could have done more, I feel.