10: Other important upsets in heavyweight fights

A weekly boxing list compiled by Michael Rosenthal. This week: The 20th anniversary of Buster Douglas’ shocking knockout of Mike Tyson is this week. Here are other important upsets in heavyweight title fights (in chronological order):

1. Gene Tunney UD 10 Jack Dempsey, 1926: Dempsey was so revered that he was also favored in the rematch.
2. James J. Braddock UD 15 Max Baer, 1935: Braddock was thought to be washed up about a year earlier.
3. Max Schmeling KO 12 Joe Louis, 1936: Louis was an undefeated sensation and Schmeling seemed to be declining at the time.
4. Jersey Joe Walcott KO 7 Ezzard Charles, 1951: Walcott, 37, had already lost twice to Louis and twice to Charles in title fights.
5. Cassius Clay TKO 7 Sonny Liston, 1964: The upset makes sense now but was shocking at the time.
6. Muhammad Ali KO 8 George Foreman, 1974: Like Liston before him, Foreman seemed unbeatable.
7. Leon Spinks UD 15 Muhammad Ali, 1978: It was only Spinks’ eighth fight as a professional.
8. Evander Holyfield TKO 11 Mike Tyson, 1996: Holyfield was about a 25-1 underdog before the fight.
9. Corrie Sanders KO 2 Wladimir Klitschko, 2003: Klitschko has suffered three upsets but this one stands out because it was so quick.
10. Hasim Rahman KO 5 Lennox Lewis: Lewis was at his peak when Rahman took him out with one punch.

Five more: James J. Corbett KO 21 John L. Sullivan, 1892; Ingemar Johansson TKO 3, 1959; Michael Moorer UD 12 Evander Holyfield, 1994; Oliver McCall KO 2 Lennox Lewis, 1994; and George Foreman KO 10 Michael Moorer, 1994.