Which fighters were never great but they beat or nearly beat legends?

Question

I can think of a few

Tarver over Jones

JMM fighting tough against Pac

Forrest vs. Mosley.

Young over Foreman

Who else can you think of?

Answer 1

I can think of a few.

Jimmy Young nearly beat Ali and did beat George Foreman.

Earnie Shavers floored Larry Holmes and nearly took his title. Esteban DeJesus defeated Roberto Duran and as a lightweight.  Willie Meehan beat Jack Dempsey by a decision twice.  Roland LaStarza lost a split decision to undefeated Rocky Marciano in their first fight.  Max Schmeling handed Joe Louis his first career loss even though Max was an outstanding fighter.  John Stracey upset Jose Napoles for the welterweight title as did Billy Backus.

Buster Douglas upset Mike Tyson.  Kirkland Lang upset Roberto Duran.    Leon Spinks upset Muhammad Ali.

Answer 2

Buster Douglas comes to mind, Billy Conn had the championship won before he started trading with Joe Louis in the late rounds, Leon Spinks beat Ali.

Answer 3

Henry Cooper - vs. Cassius Clay

Ken Norton - vs. Muhammad Ali & Larry Holmes

Buster Douglas - vs. Mike Tyson

Answer 4

Ricky Womack - technically he was great but commited suicide before he could've really done anything. He beat Holyfield 3X as an amateur.

Sam Langford - never got the title shot because he was black.

Buster Douglas - his win over Tyson of course

only ones I can think off the top of my head.

Answer 5

Ken Norton (Ali, Holmes)

Glen Johnson (Jones)

Hurtado (almost beat Whitaker)

Frankie Liles

Oliver McCall (Lewis)

Ray Mercer

Answer 6

Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson beat Roy Jones Jr.

Kirkland Laing beat Roberto Duran

Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson. Mike was also beaten badly in his last two fights by Danny Williams and Kevin McBride, both of whom stink as fighters.

Ken Norton, Leon Spinks and Trevor Berbick beat Muhammad  Ali (Frazier also beat him but Frazier himself was a "great").

Ezzard Charles had quite a few losses late in his career. Ezzard kept boxing much to long and apparently boxed with multiple sclerosis for some years.

Answer 7

Leon Spinks over Muhammad Ali

Estaban DeJesus over Roberto Duran

Kirkland Lang over Roberto Duran

Frankie Randell over Julio Cesar Chavez

Iran Barkley over Thomas Hearns

Oliver McCall & Haseem Rockmon over Lennox Lewis

Buster Douglas, Danny Williams, Kevin McBride over Tyson

Mike Tyson over Larry Holmes

Max Schmeling over Joe Louis

Larry Donald, & Sultan Ibragimov over Holyfield

Bobby Bugaloo Watts & Willie Monroe over Marvin Hagler

Sugar Ray Seles fighting to a draw with Marvin Hagler

Axel Shultz over George Forman

Ross Puritty, Lamont Brewster & Cory Sanders over Wladimer Klitschko

Answer 8

Buster Douglass on Mike Tyson, shocked the whole boxing world.....

Manny Pacquiao (not a legend at the time) upsetting Marco Antonio Barrera by KO too....

Miguel Cotto beating Shane Mosley, I was really surprised to see that Miguel Cotto had won....

Mayorga beating Vernon Forrest twice... can you believe that...

and

I agree with Tarver over jones....