Journeymen are a staple of boxing, be they area-level gatekeepers or a test for a prospect’s debut. Though many are better than their resume, some possess shocking records.
Journeymen are a great resource for the sport of boxing. They provide much-needed tests to rising prospects, challenge new fighters, and provide entertainment to the fans.
Floyd Mayweather’s toughest test came from Emanuel Augustus who finished his career as a 38-34 journeyman.
Though they very often end up on the losing side of the fight, their activity alone is to be admired, often fighting frequently and on late notice.
Here are five of the worst boxers of all time we could find, as ranked by their records.
Donnie Penelton
Penelton fought at light-heavyweight and faced the likes of Jean Pascal and Rydell Booker.
Nicknamed ‘The Spoiler’ and ‘The Black Battle Cat’, Donnie’s last fight was in 2009, and he retired with a record of 13-167-6. Only 33 of his losses came by way of stoppage.
He also holds a win over the next journeyman on the list, Reggie Strickland.
Reggie Strickland
Strickland spent much of his career fighting at middleweight, though moved up to light-heavyweight by the end of his career.
He faced names like Tavoris Cloud, a future world champion and Artur Beterbiev opponent, as well as Grover Wiley, who once defeated Julio Cesar Chavez, one of the top lightweights of all time.
Strickland’s record was 66-276-18 at the time of his retirement in 2005 but with only 26 of his losses coming by stoppage and the calibre of some of his opponents, he takes the number four spot.
Jerry Strickland
Another Strickland, though not related to Reggie, Jerry holds a record of 13-123 and finished his career at the start of the millennium in 2000.
Of his 123 losses, over sixty per cent came by way of stoppage. Strickland’s calibre of opposition is also not amazing, with few of his opponents going on to big things.
Despite having half the losses of Reggie Strickland, Jerry has over triple the amount of stoppage losses to his name.
MJ Hall
The first currently-active journeyman on the list and the first Brit, MJ Hall has won only three of his 128 fights.
Though he sits at the number two spot due to his minimal number of wins, it is to be noted that Hall has only been stopped 6 times and has fought the likes of Hassan Azim, brother to Adam Azim – who recently defeated Sergey Lipinets, and other domestic-level fighters like Dylan Moran and Stephen McKenna.
Eric Crumble
Though each of the fighters on this list has tasted victory at least once, the top spot on this list only has a palette for defeat, with zero wins and 31 losses.
How can a fighter with 31 losses be worse than a fighter with 276? Crumble lost every single fight of his career, which spanned from 1990 to 2003, by knockout.
Though fighting in four or six-round fights, Crumble only ever made it past the first round ten times, and never saw the fight go to round three.