When have you feared for a fighter and they have surprised you!

Morning everyone,

Hope you all have long weekends off work to look forward too! I have a nice half day to negotiate today so aim to be on the golf course by 2pm....

Anyway, thought I’d chuck this thread out there to you fine folk.....

When have you feared for a fighter going in to a bout only to see them pull of a victory against all odds? Perhaps one of your favourite fighters being matched up with someone you feel is a class above skill wise or matched against a power puncher who you fear will dismantle them. But, then against your better judgement (and to your delight) they have pulled of a startling performance to claim the victory.

Froch is prominent on the boards at the moment for good reason after his weekend exploits, perhaps he would be an example for some. Not in terms that people expected him to suffe a beating at the hands of Bute, but many felt he would be outclassed in a similar vein to the Ward fight but Carl surprised a hell a lot of people.

One example for me would be Lewis vs Ruddock, I remember watching that as a youngster and I generally feared for Lewis going in to that fight. I had witnessed Ruddock go hammer and nail with Tyson twice in which he showed great heart and thought he would be too much for Lennox. Needless to say I was left stunned in how clinical and dominant Lewis was that night, will always stick with me the mixture of relief and elation after the bout.

Would be good to read some other examples......

Feared for Mike Tyson when he married Robin Givens.....feared he'd be broke and divorced within two/three years...

I was right about the divorce but wrong about being broke as his management team managed to freeze his assets!!!

Broke came later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Benn vs McClellan, i though that Benn was a lamb to the slaughter.

I thought Manny would be too small for De La Hoya and could get a pasting right up until I saw De La Hoya looking like a corpse on his way to the ring.

Morales v Maidana. Was genuinely concerned he may get seriously damaged in there. I was off my sofa jumping up and down everytime Morales turned him and fired a combo down the pipe. For how shot MOrales is, that was his last "glory in defeat" fight

Seanusarrilius wrote:Morales v Maidana. Was genuinely concerned he may get seriously damaged in there. I was off my sofa jumping up and down everytime Morales turned him and fired a combo down the pipe. For how shot MOrales is, that was his last "glory in defeat" fight

Good shout. I don't think anyone gave him a prayer and everyone would have wanted him to win.

Froch vs Abraham is another one for me. I really did think Froch would be to easy to hit and when Abraham can hit someone they dont stay upright, he just has immense power. Froch boxed his ears off to my suprise that night.

Yep, everyone thought AA was going to KO Froch. Truth be told. Froch surprised a lot of people that night

Watson v Benn. I had seen Mike train and even then I thought he had no chance. Little did I realise that skill and intelligence would overcome brawn in such a manner.

Leonard when he fought Hagler due to Leonards inactivity thought Hagler would give him a beating, Morales-Maidana is a great shout.

Last Saturday. Carl Froch; I was delighted for him!

I feared for Bruno when he fought Tyson, but that was entirely justified, as it turned out

George Foreman V Michael Moorer,

I thought Big George was going to get a beating and for 9 rounds he sort of did but when he threw that knock out shot I was jumping round like a mad man. Came as quite a shock but a bit different to the others above.

I feared the conceited, overrated ragamuffin wally called Honeyghan would get a shell shocked Starling (just been laid out by Molinares)...

But thankfully he got the spanking of his life!!!

Enjoyed his fight with Breland but not as much..........

I wasn't around to fear for him but Ali v foreman, press thought he was gonna get pummelled.

Kirkland v Angulo, after ishida ko'd him in one round, going up against a big puncher I thought he would get destroyed!

I didn't give Ricky burns much chance against Martinez when they fought.

Mosley against Margarito, turned out to be quite the opposite.

Khan vs Maidana, Morales vs Maidana, Froch vs Abraham to a lesser extent, JMM vs Pac III. Now I just fear for anyone who's not a Top Rank fighter but whose opponent is.

I certainly feared for Pat Cowdell when he squared up to Azumah Nelson back in 1985.
Those fears weren't misplaced as Nelson rendered Cowdell practically unconscious with the first half-decent punch that he landed.

Paul Ingle vs Junior Jones!!!

After beating a prime Barrera twice, and forgetting about about his two subsequent losses I thought Junior Jones would murder Paul Ingle.

I was wrong

Calzaghe Lacy had an element of fear.

I'd not seen much of Lacy and was being fed all the "mini Tyson" stuff, plus the guy looked an absolute Ox compared to Joe.

How that one turned out.

Micky ward before the first Gatti fight

Ward was 35+ I think, on the back of many many wars and I thought that a brawler would pay into gatti's hands. I thought gatti was stronger, tougher fresher and hit harder. I really though ward would be knocked out but once again showed his toughness and chin to get the win

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Micky ward before the first Gatti fight

Ward was 35+ I think, on the back of many many wars and I thought that a brawler would pay into gatti's hands. I thought gatti was stronger, tougher fresher and hit harder. I really though ward would be knocked out but once again showed his toughness and chin to get the win

What a chin man, Ward was built to last.

Seanusarrilius wrote:Yep, everyone thought AA was going to KO Froch. Truth be told. Froch surprised a lot of people that night

I thought Froch Would outbox abraham the way he did, won money on it - Was not shocked at all, still don't see why people thought abraham was that good, personally feel the dirrel fight exposed all of his weaknesses

Morales vs Maidana - thought it would be competetive for first 4 by morales holding and making it ugly, then after that Maidana's power and size takes over a destroys morales and stops him around 8, what was more shocking to me was the way morales went about winning his rounds, not like Hopkins does, he did like a warrior

Holyfield against Tyson the first time around. I thought Holyfield was nuts to take on the fight and would wind up in hospital! Nobody gave him a prayer!

I remember how terrified Frank Bruno looked when he was had to fight Tyson and thinking "uh oh".

Good call that, Gordy, Having seen Holy look awful against Czyz, but knowing how big his heart was I really thought he was going to get hurt. Benn V McClellan also made me nervous beforehand- I just had a horrible feeling that someone was going to get seriously hurt, annd it turned out tyhat way.

As a huge fan, I was really concerned for Juan Manuel Marquez in the third Pacquiao fight.

After seeing Manny dominate Cotto, Marquez get floored by Katsidis and move up weight again after the Mayweather fight I thought he was going in there to be KO'd once and for all.

Everything was against him in that fight but he came out and suprised me and despite the "loss" proved to everyone why and how he will always have Pacquiao's number.

Another for me was Calzaghe against Lacy.

I was reading the Ring, Boxingscene and speaking to a few American friends, checked out the videos and thought Calzaghe was going in for a whooping against a young, hungry and powerful puncher... Only pride was telling me that Calzaghe would win that fight. I shouldn't have doubted Joe at all!

What I find interesting is the amount of people that thought both Calzaghe & Froch would lose to Lacy & Abraham. I watched a couple of Lacy's fights beforehand & thought he was awful, same with Abraham although he had shown power at a higher level than Lacy but at a weight below. For me it was going to be points wins for both but I didn't think they'd be so one sided.

Agree with what most are saying about the first Tyson vs Holyfield, I just couldn't see anyway for Holy to see the final bell.

I wouldn't call it fearing for a fighter but I though barrera would be hurt seriously by hamed

Barrera was one of my favourite fighters but I thought he would fight aggressively vs hamed and walk onto a bomb and despite barrera's chin i thought hamed had the power to hurt him

Barrera showed how technically brilliant a fighter he was

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:I wouldn't call it fearing for a fighter but I though barrera would be hurt seriously by hamed

Barrera was one of my favourite fighters but I thought he would fight aggressively vs hamed and walk onto a bomb and despite barrera's chin i thought hamed had the power to hurt him

Barrera showed how technically brilliant a fighter he was

Yeah me too. It's good to be wrong sometimes