2008: Year of the upset?

[Hagler★]

The biggest upset this year will be if Clottey actually pronounces Margarito's name right before December 31st, Margarita, I mean Margarito cant be pleased with that ****

[Thread Stealer]

The biggest upset this year will be if Clottey actually pronounces Margarito's name right before December 31st, Margarita, I mean Margarito cant be pleased with that ****

The biggest upset this year will be if Vitali can beat training camp.

[Thread Stealer]

Another upset yesterday.

However, 2008 is not a special and unique "Year of the Upset" as some memory-impaired boxing fans might claim it is.

[Thread Stealer]

And Thread Stealer: You must not have followed boxing for long if you think this is regular. It's not- AT ALL.

People who are saying that this year is nothing special must not follow boxing over long periods of time. Sure every year has it's big upset. But to be this consistent. To have upsets on a monthly, (sometimes) bi-monthly basis? It's not normal.

Nonsense. Every year is full of upsets. I already shut down this claim of 2008 being the year of the upset by bringing up 2001, when a lot of BIG fights ended in upsets. Undefeated p4p fighters, or heavyweight champions losing to 20-1 underdogs. Not fights when a prospect loses to an undefeated prospect.

People bring up Cotto-Margarito. Wow. Cotto was a 2-1 favorite. That rarely happens.

Let's look at 2006:

Zab Judah loses the welterweight title to Carlos Baldomir. Baldomir was such a big underdog that some casinos didn't even carry the fight.

Bernard Hopkins, 3-1 underdog and coming off two straight losses, dominates Antonio Tarver for the light-heavyweight title.

Sergie Liakhovich beats Lamon Brewster, a -365 favorite, for the WBO HW belt.

Chris John upsets p4p fighter Juan Manuel Marquez. Don't know the betting odds.

Joel Casamayor, a 2-1 underdog, beats Diego Corrales for the lightweight title.

Oleg Maskaev, a 3-1 underdog, knocks out Hasim Rahman again for the WBC HW title.

O'Neil Bell, a 3 1/2 to 1 underdog, knocks out Jean Mormeck for the cruiserweight title.

Or let's look at 2004:

Erik Morales loses to Marco Antonio Barrera, who some consider shot after the Pacquiao massacre, and a 2-1 underdog. This was for supremacy at 130 and two belts.

Antonio Tarver, 4-1 underdog, knocks out light heavyweight and p4p champ Roy Jones.

Glen Johnson, 6-1 underdog, knocks out Roy Jones.

Danny Williams, 9-1 underdog, stops Mike Tyson.

Winky Wright (I have no idea why he was the underdog, but he was officially the underdog) beating Shane Mosley for the junior middleweight title.




Almost all of these were BIG fights which ended in upsets. Fights when champions, p4p fighters, were defeated by underdogs.

This is nothing new, but people get their ****s hard and think something exceptional is happening at the moment, when usually, it is not unique.

Wrong. All it proves is that you're either:

1) the one who hasn't followed boxing over a long period of time
2) lacking in memory

Upsets are commonplace in boxing. Upsets in big fights are less so, but have happened much more often in other years in recent memory, but not 2008 so far.


2004:

February: Grady Brewer, pre-Contender fame, upsets undefeated prospect Anthony Thompson.

March: Winky Wright upsets Shane Mosley for the 154 lb. title. Monte Barrett upsets Dominick Guinn, who is supposed to be the next big thing and is being hyped at the time.

April: Lamon Brewster, an 11-1 underdog, stops Wladimir Klitschko. The undercard, Cory Spinks beating Zab Judah, is a slight upset. Ricardo "Nino Brown" Williams gets upset by a guy twice his age.

May: 4-1 underdog Antonio Tarver KOs p4p/LHW champ Roy Jones.

June: Katsushige Kawashima KOs Masamori Tokuyama in a round.

July: Danny Williams, a 9-1 underdog, beats Mike Tyson.

August: Juan Carlos Gomez gets KO'd in a round by Yanqui Diaz.

September: Glen Johnson, a 6-1 underdog, KO's Roy Jones. Ivan Hernandez upsets 5-1 favorite Mark Johnson.

November: Marco Antonio Barrera upsets Erik Morales for 130 lb. supremacy.

December: Glen Johnson upsets Antonio Tarver for the light-heavyweight title. I thought Tarver won 7-5, but that's another story.

2001:


March: John Ruiz upsets Evander Holyfield for a title belt. Clifford Etienne was being pushed as the next big thing, thanks in part to his very exciting win over Lawrence Cley-Bey on the Lewis-Tua undercard, but got dropped 7 times in losing to the underdog Fres Oquendo.

April: 20-1 underdog Hasim Rahman KO's Lennox Lewis for the HW title. Marco Antonio Barrera upsets Naseem Hamed for featherweight supremacy.

June: It sounds funny now, but Manny Pacquiao beating Lehlo Ledwaba was an upset.

July: 7-1 favorite Michael Grant lasts a minute with Jameel McCline.

August: William Abelyan upsets Guty Espadas, who arguably beat Erik Morales 6 months earlier (I had it even). Chris Byrd (I don't know why, but he was a 3-1 underdog) beats David Tua.

September: Bernard Hopkins upsets Felix Trinidad for the undisputed middleweight title in probably the biggest fight of the year.

October: Rafael Marquez upsets Mark Johnson.

November: Kostya Tszyu upsets Zab Judah for the undisputed 140 lb. title. David Reid gets stopped by Sam Hill in 9 rounds.


2006:

January: O'Neil Bell upsets Jean Mormeck for the CW title, but this isn't even the biggest upset of the card. Zab Judah, The Ring's #10 p4p fighter and the WW champ, loses to heavy underdog Carlos Baldomir. Michael Jennings is upset by Young Muttley.

March: Juan Manuel Marquez, top 10 p4p fighter and WBA featherweight champ, gets upset by Chris John. Joe Calzaghe-Jeff Lacy is only a slight upset, although Calzaghe's supporters will act now as if it was the super middleweight version of Schmeling-Louis 1.

April: Sergei Liakhovich upsets Lamon Brewster for the WBO heavyweight belt.

May: Mario Veit upsets Juergen Brahmer.

June: Heavily touted prospect Joel Julio is upset by Carlos Quintana. Bernard Hopkins upsets Antonio Tarver for the Ring light-heavyweight title.

July: Arturo Gatti, a 2-1 favorite, gets KO'd by Carlos Baldomir. Curtis Stevens gets upset by Marcos Primera. Eliseo Castillo is upset by Jonathan Banks. Javier Castillejo upsets Felix Sturm for the WBA middleweight title.

August: Oleg Maskaev upsets Hasim Rahman for the WBC heavyweight title. On the undercard, David Diaz upsets Jose Santa Cruz.

October: Joel Casamayor upsets Diego Corrales for the Ring lightweight title. Firat Arslan upsets Gregory Drokd.

November: Chris Edwards upsets Dale Robinson.

Cat got your tongue?

[IwatchBoxing]

Pacman beating Oscar would shock da **** outta me, I vote yes.

[hishaam15]

Pacman beating Oscar would shock da **** outta me, I vote yes.

Jones Calzaghe and Pac Oscar and then yes, yr of upset

[Omalsi11]

If Manny can beat Oscar, it's official. ****ing WOW.

Bump...

And it looks like '09 is starting off in the same way.