Top 5 upsets in boxing history
Few things in sports are more satisfying than an upset.
This is especially true in the visceral world of boxing, where a David slays Goliath story can be fashioned in a heartbeat, and fortunes are won and lost on the whims of a perfectly placed punch.
With that in mind, here are the top five upsets in boxing history:
Hasim Rahman knocks out Lennox Lewis
A 20-1 underdog, no one expected Hasim Rahman to be anything but cannon fodder for Lennox Lewis.
In fact, Lewis, the greatest heavyweight of his generation, was so confident that he'd demolish an over-matched Rahman, he'd already begun negotiations to set up a long-gestating matchup against former world-destroyer Mike Tyson.
You should have paid more attention to Hasim, Lennox. You should have paid more attention to Hasim.
Lewis learned the hard way what happens when you don't take your opponent seriously. Especially when your opponent happens to be a 236 pound man who hits like a Mack truck.
Lewis took Rahman seriously the second time around, though, and decimated The Rock in their rematch later that year.
Ali rope-a-dopes Foreman
Coming off a loss to Ken Norton just 18 months earlier, no one expected the legendary Muhammad Ali to have anything for George Foreman.
Foreman was younger, stronger and had completely demolished Norton in his second heavyweight title defense in 1974.
At "The Rumble in the Jungle" on Oct. 30, 1974, Ali employed his now famous "rope-a-dope" strategy, baiting the larger Foreman into gassing himself out trying to batter Ali, while the former Cassius Clay leaned on the ropes, absorbing the punishment mostly to the body and arms.
By the eighth round Foreman had completely run out of steam, and Ali came off the ropes and devastated the heavyweight champion with a slick, fight-ending combination.
Max Schmeling stuns the Brown Bomber
When Joe Louis and Max Schmeling met for the first time in 1936, Louis, at 27-0, was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest heavyweights of all-time. Schmeling, conversely, was a former world champion thought to be on the decline.
As such, Louis didn't see Schmeling as much of a threat, while The Black Uhlan of the Rhine studied Louis' style, and found a weakness in The Brown Bomber's armor, noting that Louis had a penchant for dropping his left hand after he threw a jab.
Schmeling would go on to violently exploit this weakness.
Louis learned from his mistakes and knocked out Schmeling in the opening round of their rematch in 1938.
Turpin stops a streaking Sugar Ray Robinson
Widely considered the finest pound-for-pound boxer to ever slip on a pair of gloves, Sugar Ray Robinson was on a 90-bout unbeaten streak when he ran into Randy Turpin in July of 1951.
Turpin may have been the best middleweight boxer in England, but no one expected him to hold up against the great Ray Robinson. So when Turbin not only hung with Robinson over 15 rounds, but looked thoroughly dominant, the world took notice.
Robinson would exact his revenge a few months later, regaining the World Middleweight crown with a 10th round TKO victory.
Buster Douglas shocks the world
For one fleeting moment on Feb. 10, 1990, James "Buster" Douglas was the most famous man on the planet.
Destined to become a footnote in the annals of boxing history, Douglas faced undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Tyson, a genuinely terrifying human being who carried anvils where his fists should be, was expected to continue his reign of terror with a quick drubbing of his seemingly over-matched opponent.
Douglas, a 42-1 underdog, had other plans, and violently crafted a destiny of his own.
Douglas was never able to regain the dizzying heights he achieved in Tokyo that night, but he did transform himself from a footnote into the answer to a trivia question: Who engineered the greatest upset in sports history?
Honorable mentions: Cassius Clay stuns Sonny Liston, Michael Spinks upsets an undefeated Larry Holmes, Gene Tunney claims heavyweight title from Jack Dempsey.