Tune-up fights that went wrong?

Question

Can you remember some tune-up fights fighters took that turned for the worst?

I remember Joe Louis not taking the first fight with Jersey Joe Walcott seriously and expected him to be a tune-up fight and got knocked down twice and got the gift decision even though most people thought he lost.

Any others???

Answer 1

Oscar De La Hoya vs Felix Sturm

Oscar clearly lost that fight he was out of shape and took lots of punches even though they weren't hard punches Oscar should've lost the fight but the judges gave him the win.

Answer 2

The Strum fight of course...

Also, Dougas - Tyson, Tyson was said to be fighting Holyfield 3 months after the douglas fight, that did not happen thanks to douglas.

Also Edison Miranda tuning up for JT...Oh my!  

It worked out well for Pavlik, but Douglas and Strum not so well.

Answer 3

Tommy Morrison vs. Ray Mercer;

Morales vs. Raheem;

Jones vs. Johnson;

Junior Jones vs. McKinney;

Kelly vs. Gonzales;

Trinidad vs. Hopkins;

Judah vs. Baldomir;

Mosely vs. Forrest and Wright;

Whitaker vs. Huertado (almost);

Tarver vs. Harding

Answer 4

Gerry Cotzee took Reynaldo Snipes for granted and lost his title shot to Larry Holmes because of it.  Holmes-Cotzee is one of those "could have been/should have been" fights.  Snipes was undefeated at the time and should have been taken more seriously.

Answer 5

Michael Nunn's tune up for Roy Jones Jr. didn't go as planned, Nunn got KOed in his home town against a little known fighter from Michigan named James Toney and lost his middle weight title.

Answer 6

barry mc guigan, took one tune up to  many while waiting for a shot at azumah nelsons 130 pound belt, and was stopped on cuts by jim mc donnel, who for his part gave nelson one h**l of a time!

roberto duran getting beaten by de jesus in a non title bout.

tommy hearns getting beaten by barkley while waiting for a rematch with either hagler or leonard

michael olajide trying to get another title shot after losing to frank tate gets stopped in 5 by the aforementioned "blade".

michael bennt kayoing tommy morrisson in 1

douglas putting the tyson - holyfield fight back 6 years (directly or otherwise!)

Answer 7

The fraze tune up fight is all wrong in the game of boxing. You can,t play boxing you have to fight.  I have seen so many of these over the years the problems  with tune up fights is you can get cut you can get knocked out or you can just lose. As a fighter when you go into any fight you better have your head on straight thinking about the person in front of you instead of a fight that might happen 3 months down theee road

Answer 8

Felix Sturm didn't get the OFFICIAL WIN over Oscar in this "tune-up" . . . but he showed, again, that Oscar doesn't properly prepare for fights.  And that his best days are way behind him.

And I think, at this point, that it's common knowledge that Sturm truly won that fight.

Answer 9

Joe Louis was undefeated and the most feared fighter in the heavyweight scene when he took on Max Schmeling in their first fight.  Nobody gave him much of a chance but Schmeling upset the great Louis by kayo.  Muhammad Ali lost to Ken Norton in their first fight and it was obvious that Ali thought it would be an easy fight for him.  Ali also almost lost and probably should have in his title fight with Jimmy Young a few years later.  Good question sir.