Underwhelming Title Changes

[mikeeod]

One of the oldest adages in the sport of boxing is that a challenger must take the championship away from the champion. Unfortunately, however, this isn't always the case and fans are left with feelings of regret and frustration after underwhelming title changes. My top 4 worst/most underwhelming title changes are:

1. Bernard Hopkins vs. Jermaine Taylor: BHOP was making his record 21st defense of the unified title but had started to slow down and show "slippage" while Taylor was the heir apparent to the crown and the HBO favorite/future Golden Boy. Bernard was economical during the first half, which meant he threw minimal punches while attempting to focus mostly on defense with the hope that Taylor, like all of Hop's previous opponents, would burn out in the late rounds. Jermaine fought well early, mostly through sheer aggression, prior to becoming exhausted and struggling late in the fight. whether you feel that Taylor deserved the disputed decision or not (I didn't), you have to admit that this was a pathetic way for a great, proud, and historical champion like BHOP to lose his coveted middleweight crown.

2. Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard: Like Hopkins, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was a dominant and proud champion who took great pride in his championship and in ruling his division. Hagler also had a great disdain for Leonard, who he perceived as having been given fame and fortune easily while Hagler had to fight and scrap for every cent he had. This fight was much better than Hop vs. Taylor, with much more sustained action, but did follow a similar theme: Hagler giving away the first four rounds before coming on late to batter an exhausted Leonard. Leonard stuck to a strategy of focusing his efforts on the final 30 seconds of each round, with the hope of "stealing" these rounds from the judges. I can see a case for some fans feeling this was a great changing of the guard/championships due to Leonard being such a large underdog as well as its historical value. As entertaining as the fight was and despite its historical value, Marvelous Marvin Hagler deserved to have the title beaten away from him (if he was to lose it), not have his top rival/enemy "steal" his prized title by working the crowd and judges.

3. Oliver McCall vs. Frank Bruno: Historically a great fight since big Frank FINALLY won his championship, but one of the worst heavyweight fights ever in terms of sustained action in the ring. Bruno started very quickly but, as usually happened with Bruno, he tired out by the mid rounds and went into defense/survival mode. Luckily for Bruno, McCall was equally pathetic, refusing to throw any punches until the 9th round, and never mounting a committed or consistent attack against an extremely vulnerable opponent.

4. Michael Moorer vs. Evander Holyfield: Evander was coming off of his title winning performance in the Bowe rematch and was known as boxing's "Holy Warrior". Moorer, meanwhile, was an undefeated southpaw who had a vicious punch and a reputation for being the meanest fighter in business, albeit a vulnerable one who had a less than reliable chin (as shown in his fight vs. Bert Cooper). This fight started out well, with Evander coming out fast and scoring an early knockdown while Moorer attempted to fight a tactical fight behind a sharp right jab. Things changed dramatically in the mid rounds when, depending on who you believe, Evander had a heart issue or reaction to preflight medication. The fight turned out to be extremely dull with an obviously distraught Evander unable to mount sustained attacks and a reluctant Moorer doing the bare minimum to win a majority decision.

Anyone have additional fights I missed?

[Master]

Very poor unification fights and performances I have seen were Benn v Eubank 2, Tito v Oscar and Frampton v Quigg.

[mikeeod]

Very poor unification fights and performances I have seen were Benn v Eubank 2, Tito v Oscar and Frampton v Quigg.

I will have to watch Benn vs Eubank 2 again. I remember both fights being great, although the first one was difficult to equal or beat. 9 rounds of Oscar vs Tito was a clinic. The last few rounds did suck though.

[p4pking]

I don't think I agree with those at all! What's underwhelming is when guys vacate or are stripped for no reason, then the title is decided between two guys who haven't done anything much. These days it's refreshing just to see a legit lineal title fight period, though I assume you were limiting it to them anyways.
I rooted for Hopkins at the time, and was probably among the people saying he should have kept his tile(was so long ago now and I hadn't been into boxing long) but if you watch it back, there is literally no way to score it for him without cheer leading, he mounted virtually no offence in 7 or 8 rounds, and never knocked Taylor down or sustained enough to have any of the late rounds 10-8.

You can certainly score the fight for Hagler, but similarily to the last fight in some ways, he gave most of the first half away and it wasn't a robbery, plus it was entertaining and a good story. Holyfield vs Moorer isn't far off either, whatever you thought of either guys overall performance, it picked up late and became a good fight, and again no robbery! Bruno McCall I'm not sure I've ever watched all the way through, but it's the one I can agree with, as I don't think anyone considered them the best two HW's going in the first place, neither would have beaten Holyfield or Bowe at the time for instance.

One that stands out for me is Briggs over George Foreman, although Axel Schulz did deserve to beat Foreman a while earlier, it was technically for the lineal championship and was a bad fight and decision imo.

[Spicoli]

As someone who came late to it what about a Spinks-Holmes? Was Spinks really believable at heavyweight then gets stripped for going for the money with Cooney. He and Holmes looking to make history on either end first time around.

Chavez-Randall 2 had to be as underwhelming a title "win" as there ever was. Randall was absolutely screwed.

[Kirkland Laing]

Last Saturday night took some beating.

[Spicoli]

Last Saturday night took some beating.

Come on Kirkland. You have to give credit for impeccable defense

oh great. Hbo is now replaying it.

[Kirkland Laing]

Last Saturday night took some beating.

Come on Kirkland. You have to give credit for impeccable defense

oh great. Hbo is now replaying it.

I have a feeling the same thing is going to happen in the rematch except without the knockdown.

[TitoFan]

One of the oldest adages in the sport of boxing is that a challenger must take the championship away from the champion. Unfortunately, however, this isn't always the case and fans are left with feelings of regret and frustration after underwhelming title changes. My top 4 worst/most underwhelming title changes are:

1. Bernard Hopkins vs. Jermaine Taylor: BHOP was making his record 21st defense of the unified title but had started to slow down and show "slippage" while Taylor was the heir apparent to the crown and the HBO favorite/future Golden Boy. Bernard was economical during the first half, which meant he threw minimal punches while attempting to focus mostly on defense with the hope that Taylor, like all of Hop's previous opponents, would burn out in the late rounds. Jermaine fought well early, mostly through sheer aggression, prior to becoming exhausted and struggling late in the fight. whether you feel that Taylor deserved the disputed decision or not (I didn't), you have to admit that this was a pathetic way for a great, proud, and historical champion like BHOP to lose his coveted middleweight crown.

2. Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard: Like Hopkins, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was a dominant and proud champion who took great pride in his championship and in ruling his division. Hagler also had a great disdain for Leonard, who he perceived as having been given fame and fortune easily while Hagler had to fight and scrap for every cent he had. This fight was much better than Hop vs. Taylor, with much more sustained action, but did follow a similar theme: Hagler giving away the first four rounds before coming on late to batter an exhausted Leonard. Leonard stuck to a strategy of focusing his efforts on the final 30 seconds of each round, with the hope of "stealing" these rounds from the judges. I can see a case for some fans feeling this was a great changing of the guard/championships due to Leonard being such a large underdog as well as its historical value. As entertaining as the fight was and despite its historical value, Marvelous Marvin Hagler deserved to have the title beaten away from him (if he was to lose it), not have his top rival/enemy "steal" his prized title by working the crowd and judges.

3. Oliver McCall vs. Frank Bruno: Historically a great fight since big Frank FINALLY won his championship, but one of the worst heavyweight fights ever in terms of sustained action in the ring. Bruno started very quickly but, as usually happened with Bruno, he tired out by the mid rounds and went into defense/survival mode. Luckily for Bruno, McCall was equally pathetic, refusing to throw any punches until the 9th round, and never mounting a committed or consistent attack against an extremely vulnerable opponent.

4. Michael Moorer vs. Evander Holyfield: Evander was coming off of his title winning performance in the Bowe rematch and was known as boxing's "Holy Warrior". Moorer, meanwhile, was an undefeated southpaw who had a vicious punch and a reputation for being the meanest fighter in business, albeit a vulnerable one who had a less than reliable chin (as shown in his fight vs. Bert Cooper). This fight started out well, with Evander coming out fast and scoring an early knockdown while Moorer attempted to fight a tactical fight behind a sharp right jab. Things changed dramatically in the mid rounds when, depending on who you believe, Evander had a heart issue or reaction to preflight medication. The fight turned out to be extremely dull with an obviously distraught Evander unable to mount sustained attacks and a reluctant Moorer doing the bare minimum to win a majority decision.

Anyone have additional fights I missed?

# 5 would obviously be Kovalev-Ward, IMO.