FanPost

Who is the best out of nowhere champion ever?

There have been a lot of fighters that pulled huge upsets. James "Buster" Douglas, "The Cinderella Man" James J. Braddock, and Andy Ruiz. The problem with them is they had that great night and then failed in their next fight, with the exception of Andy Ruiz but time will tell there. Braddock lost to all-time great Joe Louis and Douglas lost to all-time great Evander Holyfield.
So while those men are among the best upsets ever they aren't anywhere near the greatest out of nowhere champions ever. Those men are guys who won the title seemingly out of nowhere and then held onto it or kept fighting and winning at a high level.
Nowhere champions include guys like Sergio Martinez, Rocky Martinez, Steve Robinson, and Ricardo Mayorga. Then there is a level above them. Guys who won titles and then defended them and in some cases became all time greats. I started this with the thought that Timothy Bradley was the greatest out of no where champion ever. He certainly deserves a mention but he isn't anywhere near the top. The top guys actually surprise the hell out of me to be honest.

Nonito Donaire (40-5 26 KO)
Career Accolades:
  • IBF World Flyweight Title (July 2007-2009; 3 defenses)
  • WBC World Bantamweight Title (February 2011-2011; 1 defense)
  • WBO World Bantamweight Title (February 2011-2011; 1 defense)
  • (2) WBO World Super Bantamweight Title (Feb 2012-Apr 2013; 3 defenses, Dec 2015- Nov 2016; 1 defense)
  • IBF World Super Bantamweight Title (July 2012-October 2012; 0 defenses)
  • WBA Super World Featherweight Title (May 2014-October 2014; 1 defense)
  • WBA Super World Bantamweight Title (November 2018-present; 1 defense)
  • The Ring World Junior Featherweight Title (2012-2013)
  • Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year (2007, 2011)
  • Ring Magazine Upset of the Year (2007)
  • Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year (2012)
It is hard to think of Donaire as an unknown now but back in 2007 he was an unknown fighter. He stepped up to face Vic Darchinyan for the IBF and IBO super flyweight titles. He sported a record of 17-1 (10 KO) and was looking to avenge his brother.
Darchinyan stopped Glenn Donaire by 6th round stoppage in 2006. Darchinyan looked like a budding superstar. He was 28-0 (22 KO) and had made 6 defenses of the IBF title and 5 defenses of the IBO title. He had stopped 8 of his last 9 opponents and Donaire looked like another victim on his way to stardom.
Donaire had one decent win on his resume. A 2005 unanimous decision win over former IBO champion Ilido Julio. His fight before Darchinyan was a TKO-1 over 5-9 Kevin Hudgins. Donaire shocked the boxing world when he cracked Darchinyan with a huge left hook and became the IBF and IBO champion.
He hasn't left the world scene since. Doanire defended the IBF and IBO titles three times, all by knockout, before moving up and winning the interim WBA super flyweight title. Then he moved up to beat Fernando Montiel by devastating KO to become the unified WBC and WBO bantamweight champion. He made two defenses of the WBO title and one of the WBC title before moving up yet again.
His next feat was becoming the unified WBO bantamweight champion with a split decision over Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. He again became a unified champion when he beat IBF bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula over 12 rounds. Donaire defended the WBO title three times before losing to Guillermo Rigondeaux.
This wasn't the end for him though and he captured the WBA super featherweight title in 2014 but lost it in his first defense to Nicholas Walters. He then moved back down in weight to win the WBO super bantamweight title and make a defense before losing it.
In a huge shocker he won WBA super bantamweight title, due to an opponent injury, in 2018. He has made one defense since and is the current champion.
Timothy Bradley (33-2-1 13 KO)
Career Accolades:
  • (2) WBC Super Lightweight Title (2008-2009; 2 defenses, 2011-2012; 0 defenses)
  • WBO Junior Welterweight Title (2009-2012; 4 defenses)
  • (2) WBO Welterweight Title (2012-2014; 2 defenses, 2015-2016; 1 defense)
  • Sports Illustrated Breakthrough Performer (2009)
  • Sports Illustrated Fight of the Year (2013 vs. Ruslan Provodnikov)
  • Boxing Writers Association of America Fight of the Year (2013 vs. Ruslan Provodnikov)
  • The Ring Magazine Fight of the Year (2013 vs. Ruslan Provodnikov)
  • The Ring Magazine Round of the Year (2013, 6th round vs. Ruslan Provodnikov)
  • ESPN Fight of the Year (2013 vs. Ruslan Provodnikov)
  • ESPN Round of the Year (2013, 12th round vs. Ruslan Provodnikov)
Timothy Bradley came out of nowhere. I remember tuning in to see the awkward British super lightweight champion Junior Witter. I knew nothing about Bradley and neither do most of the viewing audience. Bradley was fighting away from home for the first time. He had fought his first 21 fights in the state of California.

His only decent win was Miguel Vazquez and nobody knew how good that win was until three years later when Vazquez won a world title.
Witter was making the second defense of the WBC super lightweight title. He was 36-1-2 (21 KO) coming into the fight and had won 20 straight since his only loss to Zab Judah. He had a slew of good wins on his resume and was the favorite coming into this fight.

It didn't go as planned and Bradley dropped Witter on his way to a split decision win to claim the WBC title. Bradley would defend the title once before unifying his WBC title with the WBO title. He beat Kendall Holt, had a no contest against Nate Campbell, and then beat 3 straight undefeated opponents.

Bradley beat 27-0 Lamont Peterson, 29-0 Luis Carols Abregu, and 21-0 Devon Alexander. He regained the WBC title with the win over Alexander. A shopworn Joel Casamayor, in his final fight, was his next win before the biggest, and most controversial, win of his career.

He beat the legendary Manny Pacquiao by split decision over 12 rounds in a fight that almost everyone thought he lost. Bradley then went to war with Ruslan Provodnikov over 12 rounds, earning a unanimous decision win. His next win may have been his best as he beat legendary Juan Manuel Marquez. It was another split decision but was much closer than the Pacquiao fight.

Pacman got his revenge in Bradley's next fight a unanimous decision loss to the Filipino. Bradley then drew with Diego Chavez, in a fight he should of won, beat 26-0 Jessie Vargas, stopped Brandon Rios, and then ended his career with another loss to Pacquiao.

Pipino Cuevas (35-15 31 KO)
Career Accolades:
  • WBA Welterweight Title(1976-1980; 11 defenses)
  • Rated as the 32nd greatest welterweight of all-time by Herbert G. Goldman in the September 1989 issue of Boxing Illustrated
  • Inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002
  • Rated as the 31st greatest puncher of all-time in the 2003 Ring Yearbook
Pipino Cuevas is the undisputed out of nowhere champion in my book. The 18-year-old's record sat at 15-6 (13 KO) and he had lost his previous fight when he challenged Angel Espada for his WBA welterweight title. It didn't matter though as the big punching Cuevas broke the jaw of Espada and won when he didn't come out in the 12th round.
Cuevas would go on to make 11 successful defenses of the title with 10 coming by knockout. The only man to hear the final bell was Randy Shields. In all probability this would of been another stoppage win but Cuevas had hurt his left hand early in the second round.
During his reign he beat Espada two more times and former champion Billy Backus. He was 12-1 (11 KO) in world title fights.
Roberto Duran (103-16 70 KO)
Career accolades:
  • WBA Lightweight Title (1972-1979; 12 defenses)
  • WBC Lightweight Title (1978-1979; 0 defenses)
  • WBC Welterweight Title (1980; 0 defenses)
  • WBA Light Middleweight Title (1983-1984; 0 defenses)
  • WBC Middleweight title (1989-1990; 0 defenses)
  • Duran received The Ring Magazine Comeback of the Year award for 1983 and 1989. He is the only fighter to win it twice.
  • The Associated Press ranked Duran as the greatest lightweight and the 7th greatest fighter of the 20th century in 1999
  • The Ring Magazine ranked Duran as the greatest lightweight of all-time in 2001
  • The Ring Magazine ranked Duran as the 5th best fighter of the past 80 years in 2002
  • Duran was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007
When you talk great fighters and Roberto Duran is involved it is hard to not put him at the top. He has a strong case here for being the best out of nowhere champion. All but one of his bouts prior to winning the title were in Panama or Mexico. The one fight that wasn't was in Madison Square Garden but it lasted a round against an 18-14-3 opponent.
That fight was on the undercard of a Ken Buchanan title defense and is the reason that Duran got his shot just under a year later. In that time he did defeat former super featherweight champion Hiroshi Kobayashi but it was in Panama and was the last fight for the former champion.

Outside of that win there aren't many good names on Duran's record. He was a 2-1 underdog against 43-1 Buchanan when they met in The Garden. Duran dominated the fight and got the win, with some controversy, in 13 rounds. Most of us know where we went from there.

He won titles in 4 different weight classes and fought in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's before retiring aged almost 50.
During that time he beat 11 world champions a total of 12 times, Ernesto Marcel, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Ken Buchanan, Guts Ishimatsu, Esteban De Jesus (twice), Saoul Mamby, Carlos Palomino, Ray Leonard, Pipino Cuevas, Davey Moore, Iran Barkley, and Jorge Fernando Castro. He lost 12 times to world champions as well.
His losses came to Esteban De Jesus, Ray Leonard (twice), Wilfred Benitez, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Vinny Pazienza (twice), Hector Camacho (twice), Jorge Fernando Castro, and William Joppy.
His win against "Sugar" Ray Leonard is the stuff of legends and may be the greatest single win of all time. He was 72-1 with his only loss avenged when he lost to Leonard in the rematch.
Salvador Sanchez (44-1-1 32 KO)
Career accolades:
  • WBC Featherweight Title (1980-1982; 9 defenses)
  • The Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year (1981)
  • Sanchez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991
  • The Associated Press named Sanchez the third greatest featherweight of the 20th century in 1999
Sanchez has a weird legacy as one of the greatest fighters ever but also one of the biggest what ifs. The 21-year-old exploded onto the scene with an upset over WBC champion Danny "Little Red" Lopez by TKO-13. Sanchez didn't have any real notable wins and had rarely fought outside of Mexico City. Lopez was 42-3 and a big TV favorite.
Sanchez went 26-0-1 over his last 27 fights and never lost in a world title fight. During his reign he stopped Lopez again, beat future champion Juan Laporte, former and future champion Wilfredo Gomez, and future champion Azumah Nelson.
The biggest win was against 32-0-1 (32 KO) Gomez. He was moving up from super bantamweight where he had made 17 defenses of his WBC title all by knockout. Gomez was a 2-1 betting favorite but was stopped in the eight round.
The 23-year-old Sanchez stopped future world champion Azumah Nelson in the 15th and final round. It was his final fight. Sanchez died shortly after in a car accident.
Carlos Monzon (87-3-9 59 KO)
Career Accolades:
  • WBA Middleweight Title (1970-1977; 14 defenses)
  • (2) WBC Middleweight Title (1970-1974; 9 defenses, 1976-1977; 1 defense)
  • The Boxing Writers Association of America named Monzon the 1972 Fighter of the Year
  • Boxing Illustrated named Monzon the 1972 Fighter of the Year
  • The Ring named Monzon, along with Muhammad Ali, the 1972 Fighter of the Year
  • Monzon was inducted into The Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1983
  • Monzon was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1983
  • Monzon was voted the 2nd greatest middleweight of all-time in a 1988 Boxing Illustrated poll of boxing experts
  • Boxing historian Herbert Goldman named Monzon the 2nd greatest middleweight of all-time in 1989
  • Monzon was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990
  • The Ring named Monzon the 7th best fighter of the last 50 years years in 1996
  • The Associated Press named Monzon the 5th best middleweight of the 20th century in 1999
  • The Ring named Monzon the 11th best fighter of the last 80 years in 2002
  • The Ring named Monzon the 40th greatest puncher of all-time in 2003
  • The Ring named Monzon the 3rd greatest middleweight of all-time in 2004
  • The Ring named Monzon's title reign the 4th greatest title reign of all-time in 2005
Monzon retired as one of, if not the, greatest middleweights of all time. You would think that he had a lot of fanfare on his way to the title but you'd be wrong. First off it took him 79 (!) fights to even get his title shot. He was 67-3-9 when he challenged Nino Benvenuti for the title. In those 79 fights he had only fought outside of his native Argentina twice and those fights were in Brazil.
He was 16-3 with one no contest after his first 20 fights. He avenged all three defeats and eight of his nine draws. Monzon finished his career by going 71-0-9 and being undefeated in championship bouts. The only real wins of note he had were over former world title challenger Jorge Fernandez for the South American middleweight title.
Monzon travled to Benvenuti's home country of Italy to face the champion and stopped the 3-1 favorite in 12 rounds. The fight was named Fight of the Year by The Ring. He went on to defend the title against all-time great Emile Griffith in his first defense. Monzon also beat notable fighters Bennie Briscoe, Jose Napoles, Tony Mundine, and Rodrigo Valdes.

He beat Griffith and Benvenuti again during his reign.

So there are my candidates for the best out of nowhere champions ever. What do you guys say? Is one of these men the best or is it someone else?

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