Boxing's Three Biggest Turkeys of the Past 25 Years

In recognition of the impending Thanksgiving holiday, I decided to nominate the three biggest turkey’s to grace the sport of boxing over the course of the past 25 years.

Without further adieu, here are my rankings:


1. Mitch “Blood” Green: Green (19-6-1, 12 KOs) won the New York Golden Gloves four times as an amateur. He was once ranked as high as #7 by the World Boxing Council.

Unfortunately for Blood, he donned a hairdo like Randy Watson in Coming to America and he was crazier than a outhouse rat.

In August 1985, Green suffered his first loss as a professional fighter to future WBC champion Trevor Berbick. The following spring, Green was again defeated when he lost a ten round decision to Mike Tyson. A couple of years later, Green went on a bizarre campaign to secure a rematch with Tyson.

The lunatic from Augusta, Georgia heard through the vines that Tyson was at a clothing store in Harlem one summer evening. Blood stalked Tyson and eventually encountered the powerful prizefighter. According to reports, Green swung at Tyson, and Tyson countered with a straight right to Blood’s beak. 

Green, who required five stitches after the fracas, brought a criminal lawsuit against Tyson and he was eventually awarded $45,000 in damages. After the case was settled in court, Green rambled that “Michelle Cicely Tyson is a homo” while he smooched his gangly biceps.


2. Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga: Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 KOs) is a former WBA/WBC welterweight champion. Mayorga, who was known to arrive at post-fight press conferences smoking a cigarette and drinking a brew, fought with a reckless abandon and fearlessness that made him a somewhat popular boxer.

“I come from a country where everything is war,” Mayorga, 36, once said. “Even the women are tough. In Nicaragua, women give birth wherever—in the middle of the street, in the countryside—with no medical attention. You see that and it puts a totally different perspective on things.”

El Matador once lured Oscar de la Hoya out of quasi-retirement by stating that Mexicans approved more of him than they did “The Golden Boy. Furthermore, Mayorga had the audacity to call de la Hoya’s wife every derogatory name that one can fathom. Predictably, de la Hoya returned to the ring, and he disposed of the over-matched Mayorga quickly by TKO in the sixth round.

In a December 2003 issue of Ring Magazine, Mayorga was featured on the cover titled, "The craziest man in the sport: Mayorga lights up boxing.”

Fans can drink and smoke to that.


3. Andrew Golota: Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs) had a spectacular amateur career and he captured the bronze medal for Poland at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. As a professional, Golota, 41, showed tremendous promise in the ring and won the IBF North American Heavyweight championship.

In July 1996, Golota fought former champion Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe at Madison Square Garden. Despite dominating Bowe and nearing a resounding victory, Golota decided to make Bowe’s testicles his primary target. After being warned repeatedly by the referee to raise his punches, Golota was finally disqualified.

Upon the conclusion of the fight, a massive riot ensued in the crowd that primarily pitted Polacks against African-Americans. Ring Magazine simply named the incident the “Riot at the Garden.”

Golota had the necessary tools to become a legitimate heavyweight champion. Instead, he is sadly famed for creating violent debauchery in Gotham.


Honorable Mention : Oliver “The Atomic Bull” McCall: McCall (53-9, 37 KOs), a crackhead who has been arrested on a number of occasions for drug possession and other violations, won the WBC Heavyweight title in 1994 when he knocked out Lennox Lewis in the second round in Lewis’ hometown of London, England.

In their rematch, McCall refused to fight at the opening of the fourth round. McCall maintained his inexplicable experiment with pacifism and referee Mills Lane was eventually forced to halt the fight and award Lewis a victory.

“In the third round, he got in close, and then seemed frustrated, and then he just backed off and put his arms down,” said Lane in an interview after the pugilistic debacle. 

“I thought he was playing possum but then I saw his lips started to quiver and I thought, ‘My God, is he losing it? I wanted to fix the fight for him, but he started crying, so I had to stop the fight.’”

Needless to say, this article is based off opinions, and I would love to hear the thoughts of my readers.

In the meantime, Happy “Turkey” Day!