Note from SC: This was penned and compiled by the editors at CompuBox, and the table is a pretty simple formula. We know that more punches landed (even landed AND thrown) doesn't automatically mean that the fight was a robbery or even a bad decision. Some of these fights (Lewis-Holyfield, Casamayor-Santa Cruz, Paez-Dorsey, etc.) were downright horrendous, and others have been long debated (Oscar-Tito, Oscar-Mosley). The most interesting on paper is Medina-Tapia, where Medina threw almost 1500 punches and missed almost 1200 of them.
In the wake of Joan Guzman's gift draw vs. Ali Funeka, courtesy of two inept Canadian judges and the absurd scorecard turned in by judge Pierre Benoist for the Williams-Martinez fight, CompuBox searched its archives for the worst decisions in its 25 years of counting punches in terms of the edge in punches landed by the jobbed fighter.
The numbers from Tiberi-Toney, thought to be maybe the worst decision in a title fight in recent memory, are actually dwarfish compared to those from Lewis-Holyfield. But wait, it gets worse, the all-time heist is Dorsey-Paez I. Dorsey outlanded Paez 620-340 in total punches and still lost a split decision! Dorsey landed an average of 52 punches per round vs. Paez, throwing 114 per frame. The overall CompuBox average is 18 punches landed per round and 56 thrown. So Dorsey landed nearly three times the Compubox average. Of Dorsey's 620 total connects, 609 were power shots (non-jabs). Talk about getting it done on the inside.
The fighter on the short end of each decision not only landed more punches, but threw more as well in every fight except Tiberi-Toney. Toney threw 14 more punches.
Fighter | (Landed/Thrown) | Result | Fighter | (Landed/Thrown) | Punches Landed Edge |
Troy Dorsey (1) | (620/1365) | L 12 | Jorge Paez | (340/697) | 280 |
Lennox Lewis | (348/613) | D 12 | Evander Holyfield (2) | (130/386) | 218 |
Dave Tiberi (3) | (439/905) | L 12 | James Toney | (290/919) | 149 |
Jose Armando Santa Cruz | (246/801) | L 12 | Joel Casamayor (4) | (129/502) | 117 |
Mike McCallum | (332/849) | L 12 | James Toney | (232/714) | 100 |
Oscar de la Hoya | (263/648) | L 12 | Felix Trinidad | (166/462) | 97 |
Oscar de la Hoya | (221/616) | L 12 | Shane Mosley (5) | (127/496) | 94 |
Pernell Whitaker | (311/790) | D 12 | Julio Cesar Chavez | (220/637) | 91 |
Ali Funeka | (248/903) | D 12 | Joan Guzman | (163/493) | 85 |
Manuel Medina (6) | (273/1466) | L 12 | Johnny Tapia | (193/722) | 80 |
- Dorsey's 620 landed punches the all-time CompuBox record for one fighter in a title fight
- Holyfield averaged 32 punches thrown per round, 14 less than the heavyweight average
- The totally disgruntled Tiberi never fought again
- Casamayor was knocked down in round one.
- Mosley averaged 11 punches landed per round, CompuBox avg. is 18 landed per round
- Medina threw an all-time CompuBox record 1005 jabs.