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

[therealpugilist]

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

[j0zef]

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.

[K-Nan]

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...

[DreamerUSA]

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.

[j0zef]

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

[Zaroku]

Aaron Pryor vs cocaine!

Coke is a powerful adversary, and his posse, heroin, meth, weed, ego, Oxy..

Killers!

[Combat Talk Radio]

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.

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.

[DreamerUSA]

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.

[JStill Unbiased]

In recent memory

Pacquiao/Hatton was the one.

[johnm is...]

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.