The 14 Biggest Upsets in Boxing History
Bookmakers got every one of these wrong. Some ended a reign, one ended an aura.
1Buster Douglas beats Mike Tyson
A 42-1 underdog knocked out the undefeated heavyweight champion in Tokyo in February 1990.
2Cassius Clay beats Sonny Liston
The 22-year-old challenger took the heavyweight title from Liston in Miami Beach in February 1964 as an 8-1 outsider.
3Hasim Rahman beats Lennox Lewis
Rahman knocked out the undisputed champion in the fifth round in South Africa in 2001.
4Muhammad Ali beats George Foreman
Ali, a 4-1 underdog at 32, stopped the unbeaten Foreman in Kinshasa in 1974.
5Lloyd Honeyghan beats Don Curry
The British welterweight travelled to Atlantic City in 1986 and stopped the pound-for-pound number one.
6Randolph Turpin beats Sugar Ray Robinson
Turpin outpointed Robinson over 15 rounds in London in 1951 to take the middleweight title.
7Evander Holyfield beats Mike Tyson
Holyfield, a 25-1 underdog, stopped Tyson in the eleventh round in Las Vegas in 1996.
8Andy Ruiz Jr. beats Anthony Joshua
A late replacement dropped Joshua four times at Madison Square Garden in 2019.
9Leon Spinks beats Muhammad Ali
Spinks, in only his eighth professional fight, took the title from Ali on a split decision in 1978.
10James J. Braddock beats Max Baer
The Cinderella Man came off the relief rolls to outpoint Baer for the heavyweight title in 1935.
11Tyson Fury beats Wladimir Klitschko
Fury outboxed the long-reigning champion in Dusseldorf in 2015 to end a nine-year title run.
12Bernard Hopkins beats Felix Trinidad
Hopkins, the underdog, stopped the unbeaten Trinidad at Madison Square Garden in 2001.
13Jorge Castro beats John David Jackson
Castro was being outboxed and badly hurt before knocking Jackson out in the ninth round in 1994.
14Corrie Sanders beats Wladimir Klitschko
The South African southpaw dropped Klitschko four times and won inside two rounds in 2003.
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