NCAA’s Recent Cinderella Team Sparks Most Memorable Upsets In Boxing

Saint Peter’s Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament has reminded many people that anything can happen.

But Cinderella hasn’t only lived in college basketball, but boxing too. There have been a number of recent upsets in the sport – Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua and George Kambosos-Teofimo Lopez – to name a few, but here are some of the classics.

Iran Barkley TKO 3 Thomas Hearns – June 6, 1988 

Hearns controlled the first two rounds and dominated Barkley. In the third round, Barkley was already bleeding from cuts above both eyes and his lower lip. 

Hearns continued to hurt Barkley, but in the final minute of the round, Barley landed a big right hand that forced Hearns to stumble back. Barkley landed another one that sent Hearns flat on his back.  

He barely got up. Barkley attacked again and a wobbly Hearns forced the referee to stop the fight.  

Buster Douglas KO 10 Mike Tyson – Feb. 11, 1990 

Douglas dominated in the beginning.  

Tyson’s left eye began to swell by the fifth round. In the eighth round, the tides seemed to turn as Tyson dropped Douglas with a right uppercut. Douglas got up. 

In the ninth round, Douglas wobbled Tyson. 

Then it was in the tenth round when Douglas hurt Tyson with a right uppercut, combination and then a left that put Tyson down for the first time in his career. 

He stood up, but was wobbly, forcing the referee to call off the fight. 

George Foreman KO 10 Michael Moorer – Nov. 5, 1994 

Michael Moorer controlled the fight since the beginning.  

But the scorecards completely changed when Foreman knocked Moorer out with a right in the tenth round. 

Foreman regained the title he had lost 20 years earlier. 

Juan Manuel Marquez KO 6 Manny Pacquiao – Dec. 8, 2012 

This was Marquez and Pacquiao’s fourth meeting. And though it was the fourth time, they delivered nothing but fireworks. 

Pacquiao rocked Marquez in the second round, but in the third round, Marquez came back harder by dropping Pacquiao with a right hand. 

Pacquiao was shaky, but made it out of the round. 

Later in the fight, Pacquiao landed a left hand that sent Marquez to the floor. 

By the sixth round, Pacquiao was up on all scorecards, but that didn’t make a difference when Marquez landed a huge right hand that left Pacquiao slumped on the canvas.