As you know both Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye suffered a pretty big loss early into their career against opponents they were expected to bury. But which one was more significant? I'll break it down:
Ross Puritty and Carl Thompson had 38 fights when they faced their respective opponents. They both won by TKO following Haye and Klitschko's meltdowns after running out of gas. Here are the differences:
Ross Puritty - 24-13-1 at the time. Significant results were a draw with Tommy Morrison and losses to Corrie Sanders, Hasim Rahman, Chris Byrd and Kirk Johnson. He had fought once for a world title, the WBU version of the trinket and lost a decision. Going into the fight with Klitschko, Puritty had lost three of his last five. Puritty won a late stoppage victory after Klitschko appeared unable to defend himself.
Carl Thompson - 32 - 6 - 0. Significant results include back to back wins over Chris Eubank, a TKO loss to Ralf Rocchigiani in his first bid for a world title followed by a split decision win in the rematch to clinch the WBO cruiserweight belt. Following his KO loss to Ezra Sellers Thompson was on a four fight winning streak when he faced the Hayemaker. Thompson beat Haye after his corner threw in the towel in the fifth round.
Both Haye and Klitschko were relatively green leading into their fights and this contributed to their losses without a doubt.
Haye had been an active professional for a little over a year and had just 10 fights, none of which were scheduled for more than 10 rounds. He had won the vacant British title, knocking out Tony Dowling, and had stopped all ten of his victims prior to fighting Thompson.
Klitschko had been active for two years with a total of 24 fights under his belt. 23 of these wins were inside the distance with 22 stoppages and a disqualification. During this time Wladimir won the vacant WBC international title and had defended it twice with some five non-title bouts in between.
In both cases it is obvious that the superior talent lost due to inexperience in the face of veteran opposition. But which loss was more significant?
I added my vote, I think that Wlad's loss was more significant. Haye's loss seemed to be a case of stepping up too much too soon whereas Wlad's really came from nowhere. I know you can't judge fighters on records alone but I tried not to and looked at exactly what each guy did with their records. By the time Wladimir tackled Puritty he was already quite an experienced fighter while Haye was still really a novice.
When looking at Wlad's record in more detail I found it interesting that he had a few non-title bouts in between defenses of his WBC international title. It's an old school way of doing things but it makes me wonder if Wlad's management were expecting him to struggle very soon and were trying to give him more experience.
The Sanders loss in particular since he was so thoroughly dominated, but the Brewster loss really took it over the top although Wlad was winning all but 1 minute of that fight.
Thompson was always pretty good and Haye was green at the time.
Purrity was a tough guy despite his record. He had a good fight against Tommy Morrison who was very highly thought of back then. I believe Purrity dropped him in that fight (if i am not mistaken)
Puritty knocked Morrison down twice.
haye was green and stepping in with a tough champion in that division. Puritty is a complete nobody.
but echoing Themachine, they both got there careers back on track soon after
I don't think either loss was very significant.
Both fighters got their careers back on track quickly after those losses.
Wladimir's losses to Sanders and Brewster were serious and nearly ended his career as a top fighter.
We've had a few votes but only one explanation... hungryherbert, why do you think that Haye's loss to Thompson was a bigger deal? Randall Hopkirk, ryn0 and texanballer, what is your reasoning for thinking that Klitschko's loss was of greater significance?
I would say Purrity, Thompson was sort of ocmpetitive at world class in his division, and was VERY VERY tough. It was Haye's what 10th fight? I think they underestimated him..Purrity is a journeyman