Top 3 Biggest Upsets in Boxing History

Out of all the sports out there, Boxing is probably the one with the biggest upsets and surprise turns of events in history. As compared to the other sports, it has a relatively small world, and each and every emotion from the fights and their defining moments are more magnified for the fans. The wins feel sweeter, and the losses are that much more bitter. It’s because of this reason that some of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing are so heart-racing and exciting. They take the fans through the full spectrum of emotions and make them appreciate the sweet science all that much more.

The way boxing works, it’s reasonably easy to predict how a fighter’s career will go, right from the very early stages of their career development. Best of the fighters usually have decorated amateur careers, and that’s where you can see the early signs of a great fighter in the making. As the years go by, fight fans usually have a list of boxers that are most likely to dominate the sport, and the prospects that advance and have great careers are established as betting favorites. These are the fighters that have been groomed and thoroughbred for boxing from their very childhood. Their whole life revolves around boxing from the beginning, and they’re on a whole different level than the rest.

With that being said, sometimes, a complete turn of events takes place in boxing matches, and underdogs win against all odds. This is one of the aspects that make boxing one of the most exciting sports ever. There are dozens upon dozens of mind-blowing boxing upsets, but there are three that we believe to be the most impressive and defining for the sport.

3) Manny Pacquiao VS Oscar De La Hoya

Besides being one of the biggest upsets ever, this was probably one of the most hyped fights of its time. De La Hoya has had an amazing career up to that point and was planning to close his it with three last fights. Long story short, after winning one fight against Steve Forbes, his plan to fight Ricky Hatton had failed, and he chose to fight with Manny Pacquiao. This was to be a very big mistake.

The fight itself went amazing. The tickets sold out merely hours becoming available, and PPV earnings were one of the highest in history at the time.

The preflight hype was massive. Pacquiao was a top pound-for-pound fighter at the time, but almost no one believed he could win due to the 147-pound weight being too much for him. Pacquiao crushed the Mexican-American for 9 rounds until his corner threw in the towel. This was one of the most dominant victories at this level in boxing, solidifying Pacquiao’s career as one of the most impressive in history.

2) Wladimir Klitschko VS Tyson Fury

This one is a relatively recent fight, having taken place in 2015. Wladimir Klitschko was, at the time, unstoppable force in the heavyweight division. He was cruising on an 11-year undefeated career, which was one of the biggest streaks in boxing history. Klitschko was a 4-1 favorite against Fury and was expected to absolutely destroy him.

However, what most of us had forgotten at the time, is that Klitschko had almost never had to fight against a bigger man than himself. Standing at 1.98m, Klitschko had almost always towered against all of his opponents, so when he had to go against 2.06m gigantic Gypsy King, he just froze. Klitschko’s inability to adapt to fighting the bigger opponent, coupled with Fury’s incredibly awkward but effective technical style, resulted in total domination by Fury, and an upset of ages.

3) Mike Tyson VS Buster Douglas

No list of boxing upsets would be legitimate without this fight at the top. 30 years have passed since then, and there’s still not a single boxing upset that comes close to this one. What Buster Douglas did here shocked not only the boxing fans but the whole world.

Mike Tyson was coming off of a 37 undefeated win streak, having knocked out almost all of his opponents in a devastating fashion. Douglas was a 42-1 underdog, and almost nobody was giving him any chances to win. The fight was taking place in Tokyo, Japan, and Tyson was having a blast up to the fight, partying all the time. The undefeated champion had gone through a lot of hardships too by that time, with his trainer and mentor Cus D’ Amato having died several years prior. Cus was Tyson’s father figure, who was shielding him from all the people who were looking to exploit him. Alongside Cus, Tyson had another trainer, Kevin Rooney, who was a trusted member of Tyson’s entourage, and a vital piece in developing Tyson’s legendary signature Peekaboo style.

However, leading up to the fight, Tyson had fired Rooney, along with his promoter Bill Cayton, who was a saint in comparison to his other promoter Don King. Right before the fight, Douglas’ mother had passed away, and he was very focused and determined. This was in contrast with the fact that Tyson didn’t seriously train for any measurable time and was mostly on Cocaine leading up to the fight. He thought himself to be invincible and severely underestimated Douglas, and he was KO’d by Douglas in the 10th round, resulting in the biggest upset in boxing history.