1997, the "Year of the Upsets," finally comes to a close. Virtually every division was hit by this onslaught of upsets that has continued throughout the year. Whether the upsets were big or small, they have come at an alarming rate.
Heavyweight: The Heavyweight division was not hit quite as hard as some of the others, but it still had it's share of upsets. Although Evander Holyfield easily dominated in his first fight with Mike Tyson, he was the underdog in the rematch. Holyfield-Tyson II was the highest profile upset in the HW's last year, followed closely by Ike Ibeabuchi-David Tua. Tua was the hottest young Heavyweight out there and Ibeabuchi was a complete unknown to everyone except the Cedric Kushner "Heavyweight Explosion" fans. Although Tua looked unimpressive in his last two fights, he was easily expected to win. Other upsets included Robert Hawkins-Gary Bell, Louis Monaco-Kevin McBride, Louis Monaco-Michael Dokes, Maurice Harris-James Thunder, Anthony Green-Bert Cooper, Ross Purity-Joe Hipp, David Izon-Lou Savarese and even Larry Donald-Tim Witherspoon.
Cruiserweight: The Cruiserweight were been hit hard last year. With three new champions (in the five title fights) this year alone, the CW's have maintained their position as the "most hated division." The biggest upset in the Cruiserweights was Uriah Grant-Adolpho Washington. Grant, who was fighting for the second time after being thoroughly out-boxed by Chris Byrd, was 25-12 going in to this fight. Washington, on the other hand, was coming off a big win over Torsten May. Other notable upsets were Fabrice Tiozzo- Nate Miller, Immamu Mayfield-Uriah Grant, Saul Montana-Kenny Keene and Stefan Angehrn-Torsten May.
Light-Heavyweight: Several of the top LH's suffered upset defeats. The three biggest were Montell Griffin-Roy Jones I, Dariusz Michalczewski-Virgil Hill and Drake Thadzi-James Toney. Toney's loss to Thadzi was particularly devastating. Thadzi was a fringe contender and Toney was looking for a rematch with Roy Jones. Other upsets included Ole Klemetsen-Crawford Ashley, Ernest Mateen-John Scully and Dominick Carter-Rocky Gannon I.
Super Middleweight: A few upsets in occured in the SM's. Robin Reid lost to Thulani "Sugarboy" Malinga in December, Thomas Tate repeated his '95 victory over highly favored Joseph Kiwanuka, Roberto Duran beat Jorge Castro, Herol Graham beat both Chris Johnson and Vinny Pazienza, and Joe Calzaghe easily beat Chris Eubank.
Middleweight: There were very few upsets in the MW's. All that I can recall were Julio Cesar Green's victory over William Joppy, Robert Allen's win over Andrew Council and possibly Hector Camacho's kayo of "Sugar" Ray Leonard.
Junior Middleweight: The JM division was hit hard last year. Although Keith Mullings' wins over Donald Stokes and Terry Norris, and Yori Boy Campas' stoppage of Raul Marquez were the only "real" upsets, they made a definate impact. Especially when considering that Keith Mullings only won one of his last six fights immediately prior to his fight with Terry Norris.
Welterweight: There were really no upsets in the WW's last year. Diobelys Hurtado and Jose Luis Lopez came close against Pernell Whitaker and Ike Quartey, respectively. The only upset that I can think of was Tony Martin's victory over Kip Diggs.
Junior Welterweight: The JW's had a couple of big upsets in '97. Khalid Rahilou easily beat Frankie Randall and Vince Phillips stopped the would-be superstar Kostya Tsyzu. In addition to that, Mickey Ward stopped Alfonso Sanchez with one body shot, Ray Oliveira beat Charles Murray, Antonio Rivera iced Ken Sigurani, Reggie Green beat Ray Oliveira and Alfonso Sanchez beat Charles Murray.
Lightweight: The only upset I remember was Israel "Pito" Cardona's third round kayo of Ivan Robinson. Pete Taliaferro came very close in his fight with Philip Holiday.
Junior Lightweight: Hector Velazquez's kayo of Ever Beleno is the only upset that I can recall. The Genaro Hernandez-Azumah Nelson and Derrick Gainer- Manuel Medina fights were pick 'ems.
Featherweight: Tony Wehbee's kayo of November Ntishingila, Jose Rojas' defeat of Pastor Maurin and Hector Lizarraga's win over Welcome Ncita were the only major upset's in the FW's.
Junior Featherweight: Junior Jones' second victory over Marco Antonio Barrera and his own loss to Kennedy McKinney, Daniel Zaragoza's defeat of Wayne McCullough and Marius Frias' kayo of Jesse Magana were the major upsets in the JF's.
Bantamweight: Joichiro Tatsuyoshi's kayo of Sirimon Singmanassuk was the only upset I remember in the BW's
Junior Bantamweight: Satoshi Iida's win over Yoktai Sith Oar and Julio Gamboa's kayo of Andy Agosto were the most significant upsets last year.
Flyweight and below: Chatchai Dutchboygym's win over Yuri Arbachakov, Sammy Stewarts' kayo of Isidro Garcia and David Guerault's defeat of Jesper Jensen were the upsets in the Flyweights. Mauricio Pastrana and Jake Matlala's victories over Michael Carbajal were the only notable upsets in the Junior Flyweights. And Zolani Lapeteld's kayo of Ratanapol Dutchboygym was the only major upset in the Strawweights.
Overall, many of the sports biggest stars suffered upset losses this year. Mike Tyson, Roy Jones, Virgil Hill, Terry Norris, Yuri Arbachakov, Wayne McCullough, Kostya Tsyzu, Frankie Randall, Nate Miller, James Toney, Raul Marquez, David Tua, Michael Carbajal (twice), Junior Jones, Marco Antonio Barrera and several others were beaten last year. And although '97 has got to a good start with Angel Manfredy's stoppage of Arturo Gatti, it's unlikely that it will surpass '96.
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