Fights that were seen as very close going in, but ended up very one-sided.

That's a very good example. But I didn't see Chavez-Delahoya 1 as a close fight. I knew Chavez was too small and faded at that point for Delahoya. True, but I never thought chavez would get beatdown so bad that he stops after 4 rds.. It was a total lopsided blowout... Going into it I thought chavez would lose a UD never imagined him getting destroyed like that.. He actually performed much better a few years later in the rematch..

Roy-toney Lennox-ruddock, Golata, grant Wlad- haye, Povetkin, Gatti-doran Mosely-margarito Brook-Porter Oscar-chavez 1 Toney-holyfield That's a very good example. But I didn't see Chavez-Delahoya 1 as a close fight. I knew Chavez was too small and faded at that point for Delahoya.

Cotto vs Pac But tainted by allegations of a weight drained Cotto and a roid using Pac.

I think it depends on what constitutes "seen as close" Seen as close on this board? Or seen as close as in the odds. If it's the latter then fights like Broner/Maidana, Pavlik/Hopkins, Margarito/Mosley wouldn't really apply, because the eventual losers were all heavily favored. Which in a way makes it worse, lol.

Come on man everyone knew Pavlik was going to lose he went up TEN pounds not 4 pounds Pavlik was a pretty substantial favorite going into the fight.

In recent memory Pacquiao/Hatton was the one.

Toney's resume has been criticized for years. There was even a thread questioning exactly why he was considered an ATG. Mike McCallum was his toughest fight before Roy and he almost lost both fights. Meanwhile Jones walked through McCallum (NO easy feat) a year later. I had no suspicions whatsoever that Toney would do anything but lose handily. A good fight, yes. But I saw nothing but speed outworking James Toney leading up to that fight. A few things. First. He had beaten Nunn, Johnson, Littles, Thornton and McCallum between 91 and fighting Roy in 94. Yeah he crushed a lot of cans in that stretch as well, but he averaged like 5 or 6 fights a year at that point. Some can crushing is acceptable considering the level of opposition he was disposing of. Second. It was 5 years between Toney fighting McCallum the first time and Roy fighting him. Also Toney and Roy fought before Roy ever faced McCallum, so I'm not sure what relevance it has to this conversation. Last. I'm fine with you saying that you thought Roy would make easy work with him, but you said you knew of no one that thought Toney would do anything other than get schooled. Considering Toney's p4p status, betting odds and his resume. You would of had to of been living under a rock for that to be true.

Aaron Pryor vs cocaine! Coke is a powerful adversary, and his posse, heroin, meth, weed, ego, Oxy.. Killers!

After everything you said, you give your vote to Hopkins/Pavlik? That fight was seen as possibly career ending for B-Hop... Err.. oops - my thoughts got derailed. Don't even know where I was going with that :crucified

I don't understand this. I know of nobody that thought James Toney would do anything but get schooled against Roy. Roy was just too fast back then - Toney's philly shell wasn't going to save him. Just no. If I remember correctly, Toney was the betting favorite and ranked ahead of Roy in the p4p rankings. At that point, Toney's resume was far superior to Roy's. I can see people believing Roy would win, but as easy as he did? Almost no one saw that coming.

Heh, it's funny how myths grow over time. Ward/Kessler and Froch/Ward are perceived very different from reality. Ward was a slight underdog (~1:2) against Kessler, and won after several headbutts, the last of which caused the stoppage of the fight. He still gives Ward no credit for the fight. Against Froch, Ward was an overwhelming favorite (at -400 or -500) and won in the same manner. But yeah, my vote goes to Hopkins/Pavlik. After everything you said, you give your vote to Hopkins/Pavlik? That fight was seen as possibly career ending for B-Hop...

Heh, it's funny how myths grow over time. Ward/Kessler and Froch/Ward are perceived very different from reality. Ward was a slight underdog (~1:2) against Kessler, and won after several headbutts, the last of which caused the stoppage of the fight. He still gives Ward no credit for the fight. Against Froch, Ward was an overwhelming favorite (at -400 or -500) and won in the same manner. But yeah, my vote goes to Hopkins/Pavlik.

Froch-Bute and Calzaghe-Lacy stand out. Seen as tight fights and the two favourites going in were demolished. I was trying to tell people Lacy was gonna get dominated. They hyped this kid into a butt whooping. Only decent win he had was over a well worn robin reid. Dude was basic as all get out...power wasnt even top notch

No, Pavlik was the overwhelming favorite. The complete opposite from "everyone knew". Roach went as far as to reject to train Hopkins when approached, and instead told Hopkins to retire before he gets badly hurt. Everyone's prediction was Pavlik by TKO, few picked Hopkins. In fact that's another match that does not belong in this thread, according to the thread title. You're absolutely right... That fight doesn't belong. Just about everybody had Pavlik winning that one. I thought it was crazy that Hopkins was still contending at all.

Look at this guy, acting like he's back, posting on back to back days and sh*t. You're not fooling anyone K-Nan, we know you will leave tomorrow for another 5 years. hahahaha nah I'm for good!! :boxing:

Roy Jones vs James Toney. Damn, thats a good one.

Wilder vs povetkin is going to be that way.

Mayweather vs Canelo Pacquaio vs cotto Forrest vs mosley Wright vs Trinidad Hagler vs hearns Whitaker vs chavez sr Ward vs dawson Kovalev vs hopkins Mayorga vs Vargas Froch vs bute

In addition to what others point out, remember Hopkins was coming off an ugly performance against Calzaghe where people said age finally caught up with him, so naturally people were legit scared for Hopkins health and it wasn't so much that Hopkins would lose but how he would lose, as the build was basically will Hopkins get knocked out for the first time in his career. He was a 4-1 underdog. Of course, some of us Hopkins believes thought he would win but we were definitely the minority and I remember being pretty nervous myself up till about the second round. Also, Pavlik had fought Taylor at 166 pounds, so the thought at the time was moving up four pounds wouldn't be a big deal for Pavlik, who cut a lot of weight to make 160 as it was. I remember not being nervous at all man, I was going off on youtube video predictions, I was pretty upset :rofl: I could not believe the amount of people who were saying Hopkins is going to lose/get KO'ed. I was arguing everyday, that build up stressed me out, cause I was telling everyone Hopkins is gonna school this guy, and that Pavlik does not have the style to do sh*t to B-Hop. What got me even more mad was the almost immediate discrediting months after Hopkins upset him. Same old sh*t, call a fight outcome, then don't have the balls to admit you were wrong, instead discredit.

Ward vs Pudwill Raheem vs Morales Lacy vs Calzaghe Chavez Jr vs Martinez