The Top 10 Upsets of The First Half of 2019
Co-written by Gregory Kudryavtsev
We’re halfway through 2019 and already we can label 2019 as the year of the upset. January had not ended and we saw a handful of underdogs rise to claim victories that were not meant for them. Since then, we’ve seen fighters rise from the depths of accepting a working class life to capturing the highest honor in the sport.
The question is why? Why has boxing suffered so many upsets?
There’s an old adage that boxing is scripted or fixed and fans frequently complain about the predictable nature of fights, but the reality is that 2019 has been incredible in just how unpredictable it is. Whether the matchmakers are asserting they know more about how to put on competitive fights than bookmakers and fans is up for you to decide.
One possible explanation is that boxing has been spread thin. With FOX, ESPN, and Showtime all broadcasting fights to their millions of subscribers combined with the relatively new streaming offerings of ESPN+ and DAZN, there are so many fight nights we are seeing fights in the marquee that never would have flown a few years ago when there were only 2 games in town.
With a huge group of fighters now given the responsibility to carry cards on their own, with that comes the responsibility to match them in fights where viewers will tune in and locals will come out. While that may be fine for guys like Erickson Lubin or Demetrius Andrade who have the skill to be in those positions, even if they aren’t top tier fighters at this point in their career, there are those fighters who have floundered in this position. Here are the top 10 upsets so far in 2019.
Honorable mentions: Mojica (+1098) over Barnes (-2200), Pearson (+186) over Falcao (-230), Garcia (+253) over Cheeseman (-303), Xu (+706) over Rojas (-981).
And special shoutout to Josesito Lopez for nearly pulling it off against Keith Thurman.
10. Scott Fitzgerald decisions Anthony Fowler (-650)
Sometimes the best way to showcase why a fight was a shocking upset is to look at what people said before the fight. Here’s a comment from a boxing forum:
“The fearsome machine from liverpool squares off against some lad called Scott from Lancashire. Seems a bit of a mismatch on the surface of it. The charismatic, marketable fowler, blowing away opponent after opponent, stealing our hearts with that Hollywood smile and razor sharp tongue. In the opposite corner we have Scott fitzgerald, not much to say about him tbh. The kids dull as dishwater and it would be a travesty to British boxing if he were to somehow land a hail mary. Does have a nice physique on him but this isn’t bodybuilding, this is the hurt business and we all know scousers are harder than wooly backs, it’s a scientific fact.” — a forum user
This forum user’s comment largely encapsulates the popular consensus when Fowler-Fitzgerald was announced. Both guys came into the professional ranks with hopeful eyes on them, but Scott had lost his from inconsistent performances, while Fowler continued to always look the part of a future star both inside and outside the ring.
More and more, Fowler was groomed for success, while Fitzgerald was viewed as a disappointment. Fowler fought at home and started strong, but Fitzgerald never gave in and turned up the pressure to rally against the tiring Liverpudlian. Scott entered the last round down on all three score-cards, but a last minute knock-down clinched him an upset victory in an incredible fight.
9. Enrique Tinoco beats the shit out of Jordan Gill (-4000). Literally.
Jordan “The Thrill” Gill was on his way to having a breakthrough 2019 and he alone looked like he was going to carry the next wave of Matchroom Boxing in the United Kingdom as Eddie Hearn’s sights shifted to the US. Gill had already answered questions about his power with two brutal stoppages against his best two opponents to date in 2019. With newfound sharpness in his straights from range, he was quickly likened to Kell Brook (on whose undercard he debuted on).
But these comparisons took a dark turn when Gill met his Errol Spence in the form of Enrique Tinoco, who was supposed to be a step-down showcase for another Gill headlined Sky Sports card. Tinoco barreled forward and exposed Gill’s lack of inside game as well as answered questions about Gill’s stamina and durability on his way to an 8th round stoppage victory. Jordan’s championship hopes are now in shambles and all Gill has had to show for that loss is an endless stream of excuses which include a broken hand and a case of diarrhea.
8. Ray Robinson (-10000) plays spoiler. Twice.
A 2018 KO loss to Yordenis Ugas had left Robinson’s career in apparent tatters and matchmakers moved in quickly sensing that his age had caught up with him. Robinson looked ripe for a win and a learning experience for some of the welterweight divisions hottest prospects, but it soon became obvious that he had different plans.
He was put in to lose against highly touted prospects Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas and Josh “Pretty Boy” Kelly. But utilizing lateral movement, he shut down Mean Machine’s offense and controlled the tempo of the fight. Then switching to a more damaging body-attack against Kelly paid dividends to exploit a tiring Pretty Boy’s inefficiency. While he didn’t come out with an official win in either fight, Robinson re-established himself as a legitimate contender in the deepest division in the sport (while Mean Machine and Kelly left with their undefeated records stained and their hype-trains derailed.
7. Oscar Rivas with the last round heroics derails Bryant Jennings (-275)
The thinking heading into this fight wasn’t that Jennings was the favorite because he was the far superior fighter to Rivas, but rather it was the consensus trust boxing fans have in Top Rank. The promotion has proven over decades that they are next to none in one of two things. Guiding prospects along and rehabbing fighters.
Jennings built a reputation on being too slick for Klitschko to catch, but questions were never asked on how much Wladimir had left at that stage of his career. Meanwhile, Rivas kept his cards close and never showed much more than an overhand right before facing his first real test in By-By. Now Rivas prepares to try and upset the odds once more against Dillian Whyte.
For Jennings, this loss was especially brutal given how things have shaken out for ESPN. With the signings of Kubrat Pulev and Tyson Fury, how many millions has Jennings lost due to the loss to Oscar Rivas?
6. Marcus Browne outboxes Badou Jack (-200) in a bloodbath
The odds don’t reflect how surprising of a result this fight really was. Media members and a large conglomerate of boxing fans considered Marcus a hype-job just waiting to be exposed and pointed to his controversial decision over the unheralded “Hot Rod” as proof. Even those willing to give Browne a chance suggested his only shot was a KO while down on the cards. Predicting Browne to win by clinical unanimous decision would probably have had you mocked beforehand.
But that night, Browne left his doubters grasping for straws. He intelligently managed distance and took away Jack’s jab with counters, while using his strength to clinch and neutralize Jack’s renowned inside game. Browne did his homework and schooled Jack to an absurdly one-sided decision. It was such a shocking result, that many still haven’t come to terms with it. Many of his critics still wrongly attest Browne’s dominance to Jack’s cut as if a cut was the reason why Jack’s offense had been utterly shut-down. Others claim Jack must have been shot, while giving Oleksandr Gvozdyk ample credit for beating an even older Stevenson who drew with Jack just 7 months prior.
5. Mykal Fox derails the Fazliddin Gaibnazarov train before it leaves the station
Gaibnazarov left the 2016 Olympics as one of the sports bright young stars. He alone looked like he had the skill to spearhead the next wave and usher in a new era of Uzbekistani fighters entering the scene as a force like the Cubans and Ukrainians have done in the past. Gaibnazarov got off to a slow start getting dropped in his pro debut, but quickly corrected and looked like he was on pace to enter the fray.
The level of competition was quickly stiffened and Top Rank made a grave mistake. They matched Gaibnazarov (5'6 and change) against Mykal Fox (6'3 and change). Yes, Gaibnazarov looked good and yes Fox was coming off a loss, but this was a disaster waiting to happen. Fox would go on to win and the losses for 2016 Olympian’s are starting to rack up.
We could not find a line for this one.
4. Andrew Cancio goes from retired to world champion
Before Andy Ruiz Jr, there was Andrew Cancio. Cancio entered as a sacrificial lamb to Golden Boy’s latest attempt to resurrect the boxing ghost of Tito Trinidad with Alberto Machado (-5000). Cancio had previously declared himself retired following his 4th career loss to 126 pound (then) rising prospect Joseph Diaz Jr and had committed himself full-time to his job as a Construction Technician for the Southern California Gas Company. Even in fighting for a world title, he stated he wasn’t giving up his job because at the end of the day when his payday got split across the various channels, it wasn’t much.
Most likely because he knew that nothing is guaranteed and entering as a huge underdog against one of the protected future cash cows of the promotion was a huge undertaking. And then the bell rang.
Cancio looked like a guy with 4 losses early on and that this would go according to the script. Another nice knockout victory to add the record of Machado. A beautiful left uppercut caught a leaning forward Cancio and this looked like it was going according to plan. Cancio bit down, stood on Machado’s neck, and a left hook changed the course of the fight in the 3rd round. Machado was dazed and Cancio poured it on. In the 4th a body shot would put Machado down and the rest was history.
3. Julian Williams rocks Jarrett Hurd (-664)
Julian Williams came into the sport as one of the most highly regarded blue-chip prospects around. A tough Philly fighter capable of stepping in and banging, but with enough finesse to box on the outside in the classic ‘make them miss and make them pay’ style had him ranked amongst the top 10 prospects in the sport when the prospect pool was at its deepest in perhaps decades. But struggles against the likes of Joachim Alcine, Ishe Smith, and Nathaniel Gallimore as well as a brutal stoppage at the hands of Jermall Charlo led to two contrasting trains of thought: Either Charlo ruined J-Rock or Williams was never that good to begin with.
Knockouts are the equivalent of a smoke grenade in boxing, obfuscating the truth from reality. Overnight the blue chip skill was forgotten and Williams was cast as just another overhyped prospect. He was mocked for his chin and stamina, taking a shot at Jarrett Hurd sounded like suicide. But J-Rock didn’t just upset the odds, he upset the narrative by pushing into Hurd, out-brawling him, and tooling him from the inside. It was a complete dismantling of a beloved fighter who lost at his own game. It was the culmination of his entire career and he delivered an emotional post-fight interview.
“I’m just so blessed, I worked so hard,” Williams said. “They told me that I was done, they told me I had no chin. I just got back in the gym. I don’t want to cry. “I went away in camp for the month of February and I missed my daughter’s birthday. I’m just so blessed.”
2. Pablo Cesar Cano knocks out Jorge Linares (-5000)
Jorge Linares getting stopped early in a fight is a headline we’ve seen printed before. It would mark the 5th stoppage loss of Jorge Linares’s career and 3rd time Linares failed to hear the bell signaling the end of the 2nd round. What is most surprising, however, is that Linares was in a fight he was supposed to win. Pablo Cesar Cano provided a worthy challenge in a new weight class for Linares who was coming off a brave stoppage loss to pound-for-pound talent Vasyl Lomachenko.
And here’s where the conspiracy creeps in. His fight with Cano was the final obligation in Linares’s contract with Golden Boy Promotions. A win over Cano would have provided Linares with everything he needed to pit Top Rank (ESPN), the tag team of Matchroom and Golden Boy (DAZN), and PBC in a battle for his services. His loss to Lomachenko was controversial in that he might have been giving better than he was getting until he was caught with the body shot which ended the fight.
But this loss raised many questions. Was it constructed through clever matchmaking from Golden Boy’s geniuses behind the scenes? Was it the result of 4 stoppages in Linares’s long (and somewhat illustrious career)? Age? Or pure brute force of a younger fighter who smelled blood in the water? Probably a combination of all. Linares in the space of 1 year exemplified the extraordinary highs and lows of the sport. A dull decision win, a fantastic high pace tactical battle, a brutal first round knockout victory, and a deflating first round knockout loss.
1. Andy. Ruiz. Jr.
With the end of the Klitschko’s, the heavyweight division has largely been a story of three protagonists just waiting for their respective paths to converge in mega fight bonanzas before Andy Ruiz Jr threw a wrench in those plans.
Andy Ruiz signed to face Anthony Joshua (-2500) on 5 weeks notice, while giving up 4 inches of height and 8 inches of reach. A quick and skilled but much smaller boxer-puncher not known for his power, the main questions asked during fight week were “when is the Wilder fight happening?” and “will Ruiz survive the distance?” While Ruiz was certainly no slouch, he appeared to be stylistically tailored to give a good fight, while posing no real threat to Joshua, who had used his size to outbox several comparably skilled fighters. His heart, youth, and physicality went by overlooked.
Ruiz narrowly failed his only step up against a top heavyweight (whom Joshua comfortably handled) before going inactive for over a year and returning against several unheralded opponents. In the meantime, Joshua racked up 6 title defenses, unified 3 titles, generated tens of millions in revenue, built up the strongest résumé of any active heavyweight, started making his way onto P4P lists, and put himself on a collision course with Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury for the biggest two fights in the sport today. Ruiz’s jovial demeanor as fight night drew near only seemed to confirm that this was a showcase for Joshua. AJ-Ruiz screamed of inevitability as the night of the coronation drew near.
But with the ring of the bell, Ruiz began to give a lesson on how to box a larger guy before getting dropped. DAZN’s commentary team immediately began to talk up Joshua’s “composed and ferocious” finishing ability. Rather than being dismayed, Ruiz channeled his legendary compatriot, Juan Manuel Marquez. He got up looking more annoyed than hurt, bit down on his mouthguard, and swung back. But this wasn’t just a foolhardy last stand, Ruiz kept his wits and kept his head moving before precisely nailing the stationary Joshua’s temple. DAZN’s commentary team only noticed Ruiz’s success after Joshua was already on his way down. Only now did we realize Joshua was in there with a dog.
As the fight went on and Joshua returned to steady legs, viewers began to ask if this was just going to be another tale of Joshua’s renowned ability to regroup and recover. But Joshua’s ominously bizarre questions to his corner proved foreboding as he disobeyed his corner’s advice and went in to trade hooks with Ruiz in the 7th round. Whether it was a lack of discipline or the concussive after-effects of the 3rd round that led to this mistake, Ruiz made sure Joshua was punished for it. He battered Joshua so badly in that round that the only controversy around the ref stopping it was whether Joshua was trying to quit or simply exhibiting the symptoms of a bad concussion.
With that Andy Ruiz Jr was thrust into super stardom. Joshua’s British invasion was put on the backburner as Ruiz found himself on Jimmy Kimmel and earning props from his beloved Snickers. The country was enamored with the husky heavyweight who somehow did the unthinkable against the ‘muscle man’ who had no business losing.
Some day Ruiz will have a movie made about his unlikely rise and how a down-on-his-luck trainer gave him hope to make one last attempt at fulfilling his dream before hanging his gloves up for good and joining the common man.
