10 Worst Title mismatches of the last 30 years!!

These are paper mismatches that were even worse on the night..

Orlando Canizales vs Jimmy Navarro......Lasted 90 seconds and Jimmy was down three times.....He lasted 30 seconds longer than my brother and I thought he would!! kudos to Jimmy..

Matthew Hilton v Jack Callaghan - we'd never heard of Jack...and we saw why...

Kelly pavlik v Gary Lockett - WBO number 1......poor poor ranking abnormality..

Mike Tyson v Bruce Seldon - Seldon had been trashed by Bowe in one round..Unfortunately beat a half dead Tucker..

Iran Barkley v Darren Van Horn - Paper champion gets hammered...

Alfredo Layne v Brian Mitchell - Worst champion I've ever seen........was Alfredo..

Larry Holmes v Marvis Frazier - Chucked in at the deep end against a top 5 heavy...

Mark Breland v Seung hoon lee -Not sure his real name but that's close enough.....Given a WBA shot for some reason and banged out in 60 seconds.

Wlad Klitscho v Jean marc Mormeck.....250 pounder against a blown up useless 40 year old Cruiser...Sad and tragic!!

Danny Green v paul Briggs - say no more....

Maybe I've missed some better ones...

Calzaghe Manfredo and about ten other of his opponents

I thought it was Wlad who fought mormeck

Wlad/Vitali...........all the same to me..

But thanks for the correction..

Khan vs Salita, I'll always remember Salita saying Khan was chinny because he had a pointy chin

I can't remember if Paul Lloyd's 'fight' against Barrera was for the Mexican's old WBO Super-Bantamweight title, but if it was, then that was the worst title mismatch I've seen by a mile. Lloyd was in way over his head and his corner pulled him out after the first round, in which he took more punishment than most fighters could ever be unfortunate to take over a full twelve!

Floyd against Gatti was horrendous, but primarily for the reason that it was actually a PPV event.

Burns against Cook, as Cook clearly just wasn't fit for purpose. A bit of an embarrassment al round, that one.

Same bloke, two different fights, I'm afraid.

Paul "Livewire" Lloyd v Tim Austin

And especially, Paul "Livewire" Lloyd v Marco Antonio Barrera. I honestly defy you to find a round as one-sided as the one which constituted this fight. Far worse, far more uncomfortable to watch, far more dominant than any early single shot KO, in my opinion.

We are as one, Chris! It was awful to watch - I felt rather grubby for a while after that.

Was Cotto vs Jennings for a world title?

Good call, Hampo. Hagler v Caveman Lee was both short and embarrassing, from memory.

Remember as part of some WBC thing Morales was pitched in against some guy called Eddie Croft if memory serves, lasted all of two rounds and that is with Morales pacing himself.

captain carrantuohil wrote:We are as one, Chris! It was awful to watch - I felt rather grubby for a while after that.

Tell me about it, captain. The definition of someone being 'outclassed', that one.

Shah, that's a good call on Calzaghe-Manfredo Jr, but there was an even bigger and more embarrassing mismatch for a world title on the undercard - I'll wait until Jeff gets here and allow him to end the suspense, as I know it still bugs him to this day that he shelled out his hard-earned dough to be in attendance for it!

Ah good old Macarinelli vs Gunn, genuinely says everything you need to know about a card when of the top three fights on the bill Amir Khan vs Steffy Bull is the most competitive.

Tommy Morrison vs Tim "Doughboy" Tomashek anyone?

Tomashek pulled from the crowd when the original opponent (Mike Williams, the guy who played Union Cane in Rocky 5 if I recall) withdrew last minute.

Tyson vs McNeeley, also.

Canelo vs Lopez at 154

Haye vs Harrison

Chavez vs haugen was quite embarrassing to watch, could have been over within 10 seconds if JCC didn't want to prolong the agony.

No shout for Haye v Audley?

Tyson/McNeeley wasn't for a title...it was a comeback fight.

Prescott vs Khan?

No?

But seriously...........Vitali Klitschko vs Adamek.

Wow what a beating.

What about Danny Williams against Vitali?

Took one hell of a shellacking. But to his credit he didn't quit. Sadly he still won't quit...

hampo171 wrote:Khan vs Salita, I'll always remember Salita saying Khan was chinny because he had a pointy chin

That was so funny, Salita spent the entire time talking about how the shape of Khans chin made it weak and then he got himself sparked in 1 round

Herbie Hide's WBO Heavyweight title defence against Damon Reed was disgraceful, from what I remember. I haven't seen his other successful title defence against Willi Fischer, but I'm told that it was just as bad.

Froch vs Bute

I have to go with Calzaghe vs Manfredo. A waste of everyone's time

Paul Lloyd is getting some hammer on here!!

Good thing he used to it!!

Lewis v Botha
Holmes v Zanon
Frazier V Foster

I think Patterson vs any of the top fighters he fought even Liston. They should have handed over the belt. Very decent of Patterson to force the fight but a genuine mismatch

Don't mention Floyd Patterson....

Calzaghe v Tucker Pudwill.

Patterson-London, Ali-London, Ali-Dunn, Frazier-Stander, Frazier-Daniels, Foreman-Roman. Even in the greatest heavyweight era, a lot of rubbishy mismatches caught the eye.

Patterson sure does get a raw deal for losing to Liston, had the judges done their jobs properly he would have regained a portion of the title against Ellis, should also have got the nod over Quarry.

Patterson also gets dog's abuse from all and sundry, and rightly so, for some of his fights before losing his title to Liston. Being used as a fungo ball by Johansson is a bit careless, to say the least, and even Rademacher was able to bowl him over. Paradoxically, he was a much better fighter post 62, not least because he was prepared to fight just about everyone.

Deserves credit for fighting Liston...

Didn't have to...

captain carrantuohil wrote:Patterson also gets dogs abuse from all and sundry, and rightly so, for some of his fights before losing his title to Liston. Being used as a fungo ball by Johansson is a bit careless, to say the least, and even Rademacher was able to bowl him over. Paradoxically, he was a much better fighter post 62, not least because he was prepared to fight just about everyone.

Agreed. He was a better fighter at 62 when retired.

Deserves credit, Truss? He ran and ran for three years, only fighting Liston when public opprobrium became too great for him to avoid Sonny. Kennedy shamed Floyd into giving Liston his turn.

It's the way you tell 'em.

I read that Cus didn't want him near Liston for obvious reasons but it was Floyd's insistence in fighting Listn that the fight happened. He was braver than most.

As I say, Floyd only insisted when it became clear that nobody was going to tolerate any opponent other than Liston. Granted, d'Amato would have been happy for Patterson to have put up with the catcalls and never fought him, but it's slightly too much to credit Floyd with great courage for finally caving in to reality. He then took his licks, slipped out in disguise, and came back a completely different fighter, and a properly brave one.

You don't like Floyd, Captain??

He ducked Ken buchanan Truss you are never going to get an objective view from the captain. You should rely on Az in this instance.

Think he was a massive talent, who could have reigned at light-heavy as long as he wanted. His courage in what we could call the second half of his career was beyond doubt and he was a fine man in almost every way. No, I like him, but I think it is to rewrite history to claim that he courageously advanced into the mouth of the cannon with Liston or that his reign as champion was anything other than an entirely safety first one.

All true, Shah.

I think I'll duck out of this thread!

Some good bad fights listed gents.

Sometimes it's about timing. McClellan Mugabi sounds like a firecracker on paper.. It might well have been a few years earlier - as it was, one of the most sickening beatings I can remember.snd a complete mismatch. To be fair, Norris did a similar job on Mugabi a year or too earlier, but Mugabi didn't look quite as beaten before he got in the ring for that one.

Some exciting bangers around at light middle/middle at that time.

Holmes / Ali

I have a nasty feeling Broner v Rees could make this list if the article was written in the future.

Speaking of heavyweights I always thought Bob Foster's venture into the land of the big boys was as disastrous as they come for such a fine Light Heavyweight.

Mismatches in Frazier ripped him apart and Ali laughed when Bob landed his best shots before lambasting him into the canvass. I think Foster also lost to a number of average heavyweights like Zara Folley and the like. Awful transition from light heavy to heavyweight.

True enough super, if ever a guy found his weight ceiling it was bob. Actually, of all his forays it was the Ali fight that was the least catastrophic, I thought. He marked the great man up quite badly and made a bit of a nuisance of himself... Until Ali finally landed!

Only an interim world title fight but Willie "Big Bang" Casey Vs Rigondeaux was the biggest mismatch I've watched in recent times.

Casey was on a winning streak but taking on Rigondeaux in his 12th pro fight was fool hardy. I felt a bit sorry for him in how easily he was knocked to the canvas 3 times in the first round.

I just thought I would resurrect this thread and give you Adrian Stone against Shane Mosley. Absolutely outclassed; it was man (with heavy hands) versus boy.

Stone should never have been in the same ring. It wasn't in any way fair...

Hagler-Sibson

Winky Wright vs Adrian Dodson & vs Steve Foster. Warren using his influence with the WBO there. Also he got Ensley bingham a shot but at least he saw heard the final bell. I don't think any of those 3 derserved a shot.

EdWoodjr wrote:Hagler-Sibson

Bit harsh ed, sibson was definitely outclassed but worth his shot against a hagler at his very best. I'd suggest simpson did better than many hagler victims at that time... especially caveman lee, mentioned earlier... and that hamsho getting a second shot at him, and getting truly tonked, was worse.

All said, sibson did take a beating!