Biggest upset in sports history?

Which sporting upset is bigger?

  • Carlos Alcaraz defeats Jannik Sinner, 2024

    Votes: 11 42.3%

  • Buster Douglas defeats Mike Tyson, 1990

    Votes: 12 46.2%

  • Both equally big

    Votes: 3 11.5%
  • Total voters
    26
Megafanoftennis100

Megafanoftennis100

Hall of Fame
Today, we witnessed perhaps one of the biggest upsets in tennis, if not, sporting history!
Forget Istomin defeating Djokovic at AO, Soderling defeating Nadal at RG or Stakhovskiy defeating Federer at Wimbledon.
What we witnessed today is far more ridiculous!

Jannik Sinner tanks his match against Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells 2024! This may not have been a legitimate win by Carlos by any means, but if we go strictly by the results alone, then unfortunately, we have to admit that Alcaraz "won" the match.
Now, the question is, was this outcome a bigger sporting upset than Buster Douglas defeating Mike Tyson in 1990 (previously considered by many as the biggest upset ever in sports)?

In my opinion, I think yes. To be honest, I actually did expect Douglas to defeat Tyson back then.
However, with today's match, I did not see this coming. It totally threw me off guard.
 
I fully expected Carlos to win this match based on how the two of them have been playing this week in these conditions.
 
Biggest upset? What planet are you on? IW favours Alcaraz's game. He's going to win more as clay is starting. This season does not belong to Sinner.

Sinner will be back after W.
 
Don’t know much about boxing. Sinner losing to Alcaraz is just a tennis match in a tournament, both guys I think will swap honours from time to time - that’s all I got to say,
oh, just one more thing, probably one of the bigger upsets in sport was Australia 2 coming from 3 zip down to beat Stars and Stripes at the America’s Cup in 1983.
 
RS said:
Meh.
Click to expand...

You were probably not even born but I am not lying I was a huge Dwarfson fan and was bitter at him losing to EH and LL , when i kept my emotions aside I saw how overrated he was and got exposed against the real boxers.
 
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NeutralFan said:
You were probably not even born but I am not lying I was a huge Dwarfson fan and was bitter at his losing to EH and LL , when i kept my emotions aside I saw how overrated he was and got exposed against the real boxers.
Click to expand...
Meh had this convo with you a few times. You kinda think he was a pub boxer though and completely medicore.
 
RS said:
Meh had this convo with you a few times. You kinda think he was a pub boxer though and completely medicore.
Click to expand...

Never said he was a pub boxer but nowhere you Anglo Americans think he is. His resume is lacking big names, it is what it is. He's not half the boxer LL was.
 
NeutralFan said:
Never said he was a pub boxer but nowhere you Anglo Americans think he is. His resume is lacking big names, it is what it is. He's not half the boxer LL was.
Click to expand...
Tyson gets overpraised sometimes but usually by casuals but many hardcore fans and some all time lists don't even have him anywhere that high or as high a you think.
 
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Not just past history, but all of future history as well especial since the both of them combined have a total of 100 future slams making them the best to have ever lived
 
RS said:
Tyson gets overpraised sometimes but usually by casuals but many hardcore fans and some all time lists don't even have him anywhere that high or as high a you think.
Click to expand...

Not really, Dwarfson was a big name and still he is in Anglo sphere thanks to American media( biggest on earth) I was a Tyson fan back then but what funny is American fans who were in diapers back then or not even born tell me how great he was lol.
 
NeutralFan said:
Not really, Dwarfson was a big name and still he is in Anglo sphere thanks to American media( biggest on earth) I was a Tyson fan back then but what funny is American fans who were in diapers back then or not even born tell me how great he was lol.
Click to expand...
He deserves to be a big name. But just saying nowdays it's a common majority that he isn't the best from majority of serious fans.
 
RS said:
Tyson gets overpraised sometimes but usually by casuals but many hardcore fans and some all time lists don't even have him anywhere that high or as high a you think.
Click to expand...
Mike Tyson under Kevin Rooney's training (1985-1988) was 35-0 with 31 KOs and looked untouchable as a boxer. The aura of dominance that Tyson had in that period was overwhelming. This Tyson was chaotic in his personal life, but at peace in the ring as he plyed his trade. Then there was a three way power struggle for control of Tyson's career, between the D'Amato stable (D'Amato himself died in 1985), the King stable, and his wife and her mother. King won this power struggle in late 1988.

Once Tyson fired Rooney and broke links with the old D'Amato stable, Tyson changed. He was rocked by Frank Bruno early on in their first fight in 1989 and didn't look as good in terms of movement, as he started "head hunting" (i.e. looking for the KO punch) instead of working the body punches and keeping his movement high. Tyson won his next fight early (which hid the fact that his boxing skills had declined), so Tyson went into the Douglas fight at 37-0 with 33 KOs and a huge favourite to beat Douglas. Tyson was not in a good place with his mentality at this time.

Douglas dominated Tyson in their fight, aside from late in Round 8 when Tyson knocked Douglas down and Douglas staggered to his feet as the referee slowly counted to 9. It's debatable whether Douglas beat the count. Douglas then reasserted himself and KO'd Tyson in Round 10.

Unlike Don King (who tried to take away Douglas' win, citing the Round 8 count), Tyson took his defeat very well, saying that it helped him to put things in better perspective and to stop being so complacent and afraid of defeat. Tyson responded with two first round KOs in his next 2 fights, and by the time that Tyson faced Donovan "Razor" Ruddock twice in 1991, Tyson was now a brilliant fighter in a different way, i.e. street fighting rather than disciplined boxing. This Tyson was trained by Richie Giachetti was very different from the Rooney era, but he was still mentally strong in the ring.

Tyson after prison is different again. He's more fragile in that era, not as reliably consistent, especially mentally. Tyson said prison "fu**ed up my mind, with hate breeding hate". I was impressed with the Tyson who beat Bruno in their second fight in 1996, but he was much more fragile against Holyfield in their first fight, and then he snapped in their second fight.

Tyson in the 1999-2003 period seemed calmer again, but the fact is, he wasn't at the level of a Lennox Lewis by this point. Tyson won the first round against Lewis in their 2002 fight, but then Lewis dominated the rest of the fight until he KO'd Tyson.
 
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This is of course a ridiculous thread, but in terms of sporting upsets, I can’t think of anything that compares to Leicester’s miracle Premier League title triumph in 2015/2016.

It goes without saying that a 38 round league campaign over 9 months, with every team facing each other home and away, is geared towards favouring the strongest teams with the deepest resources. An upset triumph under that format, clearly is in a different stratosphere to an upset triumph in a one off sporting event, or even in a competition with a direct elimination / knockout format (for example Greece’s at Euro 2004).

Leicester were the joint 16th favourites out of the 20 teams to win the title at the start of that season, and IIRC also had the 4th or 5th lowest wage bill - teams’ wage bills are usually the biggest driver of how successful they are. For perspective, only 4 different teams had won the Premier League title during the previous 20 completed seasons from 1995/1996 to 2014/2015 (Man Utd x 11, Chelsea x 4, Arsenal x 3 and Man City x 2). Also previously during the 21st century, 80% of the top 4 places in the Premier League had been filled by teams that had one of the top 4 wage bills.

Even within football and looking at other surprise league title triumphs, I’d say that Leicester’s in 2016 was clearly an even bigger upset than Verona’s in 1985, Kaiserslautern’s in 1998, Boavista’s in 2001, Montpellier’s in 2012 etc.
 
Biggest upset? Very predictable! Istomin over Djokovic? It was the 3rd slam in Djokovic's 2-year hiatus.

The winner of 2 slams in an upset over the winner of one slam. Who was the prematch favorite?
 
Mustard said:
Mike Tyson under Kevin Rooney's training (1985-1988) was 35-0 with 31 KOs and looked untouchable as a boxer. The aura of dominance that Tyson had in that period was overwhelming. This Tyson was chaotic in his personal life, but at peace in the ring as he plyed his trade. Then there was a three way power struggle for control of Tyson's career, between the D'Amato stable (D'Amato himself died in 1985), the King stable, and his wife and her mother. King won this power struggle in late 1988.

Once Tyson fired Rooney and broke links with the old D'Amato stable, Tyson changed. He was rocked by Frank Bruno early on in their first fight in 1989 and didn't look as good in terms of movement, as he started "head hunting" (i.e. looking for the KO punch) instead of working the body punches and keeping his movement high. Tyson won his next fight early (which hid the fact that his boxing skills had declined), so Tyson went into the Douglas fight at 37-0 with 33 KOs and a huge favourite to beat Douglas. Tyson was not in a good place with his mentality at this time.

Douglas dominated Tyson in their fight, aside from late in Round 8 when Tyson knocked Douglas down and Douglas staggered to his feet as the referee slowly counted to 9. It's debatable whether Douglas beat the count. Douglas then reasserted himself and KO'd Tyson in Round 10.

Unlike Don King (who tried to take away Douglas' win, citing the Round 8 count), Tyson took his defeat very well, saying that it helped him to put things in better perspective and to stop being so complacent and afraid of defeat. Tyson responded with two first round KOs in his next 2 fights, and by the time that Tyson faced Donovan "Razor" Ruddock twice in 1991, Tyson was now a brilliant fighter in a different way, i.e. street fighting rather than disciplined boxing. This Tyson was trained by Richie Giachetti was very different from the Rooney era, but he was still mentally strong in the ring.

Tyson after prison is different again. He's more fragile in that era, not as reliably consistent, especially mentally. Tyson said prison "fu**ed up his mind, with hate breeding hate". I was impressed with the Tyson who beat Bruno in their second fight in 1996, but he was much more fragile against Holyfield in their first fight, and then he snapped in their second fight.

Tyson in the 1999-2003 period seemed calmer again, but the fact is, he wasn't as the level of a Lennox Lewis by this point. Tyson won the first round against Lewis in their 2002 fight, but then Lewis dominated the rest of the fight until he KO'd Tyson.
Click to expand...
Good summary.
 
I don’t know if I consider it an upset. These conditions alcaraz probably should beat sinner. Now if he does this at Wimbledon, year end or us open where conditions are faster I would consider that a massive upset
 
-NN- said:
I wonder who is taller out of Alcaraz and Tyson.
Click to expand...
Mike would not have been able to refuse such an invitation
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Screen-Shot-2022-11-16-at-8.31.18-AM-1024x678.png
 
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