TYSON FURY not only featured in and won, one of the biggest and heavily publicised fights of 2015, Fury also scored a big upset. Some have gone as far as to name Fury’s unanimous decision victory over Klitschko as 2015’s Upset of The Year.
But where does Fury’s November 2015 win rank amongst the biggest-ever upsets in the history of the heavyweight division?
Click below to read on
5. Leon Spinks WS15 Muhammad Ali. February 1978, Las Vegas.
Muhammad Ali was badly out of shape and nearing the end of his career when he met seven-fight novice Spinks. Taking advantage, a relentless and fearless Spinks pounded on a lazy defending champion, refusing to fall for Ali’s famous Rope-a-Dope tricks. Spinks was almost as big a betting underdog as Buster Douglas would be some 12 years later against Mike Tyson; with only one betting outlet in Las Vegas taking any bets on the fight. Of course, an in-shape Ali got his revenge later the same year, but Spinks’ win remains special.
Fury beat an even older defending champion than Spinks did in dethroning a 39-year-old Klitschko. However, Klitschko was in far better physical condition than Ali was. Can Fury go one better than Spinks and win the rematch?
4. Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) WRTD6 Sonny Liston. February 1964, Miami, Florida.
Seen as invincible, defending champion Liston was expected by practically everyone to make short, violent work of the upstart, highly vocal (some said scared) challenger. Instead Clay, soon to be known as Muhammad Ali, boxed rings around the ponderous champion and made a mess of Liston’s face whilst doing so. The sight of the feared terror quitting on his stool at the conclusion of the sixth-round was as shocking as it was puzzling – so much so that talk of the fight being fixed continues to this day.
Tyson Fury’s uncle and trainer Peter said shortly after Tyson’s upset over Klitschko, how his nephew’s win was the biggest and best heavyweight win since Ali stunned Liston. There are certainly similarities.
3. James J. Braddock WU15 Max Baer. June 1935, New York.
“The Cinderella Man,” as Braddock became known, punched his way to a marvellous unanimous decision win, as well as a to a permanent place in boxing history. Only a short time prior to this, Braddock was seen as a completely finished fighter who had endured a number of severe hand injuries and who was forced to work on the docks to eek out a living. Braddock overcame the hell of The Great Depression and then scored a victory that had simply been unthinkable.
Fury says he fights for the money and fair enough, but can he possibly be as hungry a fighter in the Klitschko rematch as Braddock was for his greatest triumph?
2. Hasim Rahman KO 5 Lennox Lewis. April 2001, Gauteng, South Africa.
Rahman was a whopping 25-1 underdog on some books, and Lewis, who was unbeaten since his subsequently avenged loss to Oliver McCall almost seven years earlier (itself quite an upset), was seemingly at his peak. Far more dangerous punchers than Rahman had been taken care of by Lewis, and most saw this bout as a showcase for Lennox; who was all set to meet Nelson Mandela after his expected win. Instead, taking advantage of an ill prepared defending champion, Rahman put on the best performance of his career.
Fury will of course be hoping to achieve far more than Rahman, who turned out to be a one hit wonder; losing by KO to Lewis in the immediate rematch.
1. James “Buster” Douglas KO 10 Mike Tyson. February 1990, Tokyo Japan.
This one absolutely nobody saw coming. Likely to never be topped as far as the biggest heavyweight – or indeed, boxing upsets go, Douglas’ win stunned the entire world. Tyson was seen by practically everyone as invincible, while Douglas was seen as an overweight, often lazy fighter who had lost his biggest fight to date; a title fight with Tony Tucker. A quick Tyson win was predicted, instead Douglas smashed the defending champion to sensational in what was a great fight.
Fury’s upset win was big, but not as big as this.
