Much like the music industry, boxing has had its fair share of one-punch miracles. George Kambosos Jr. seeks to avoid having his name added to the list of world title winners, only to quickly lose it and fall out of favor when he faces Vasiliy Lomachenko for the vacant IBF lightweight title on Sunday morning in Perth, Australia (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET in the USA, ESPN /ESPN+).

For some, becoming champion is the beginning of the end, as they lose the belt in their first defense and their career rapidly declines. However, it is still too early to put 30-year-old Kambosos from Sydney in that shameful category.

Kambosos (21-2, 10 KO) silenced Teofimo Lopez’s fans in Up-to-date York when he won a split decision in November 2021 to capture three lightweight world titles. Just over a year earlier, Lopez delivered the performance of a lifetime that nullified the fight due to Lomachenko’s dazzling skills. However, as a 7-1 betting favorite against Kambosos, Lopez was caught and sent to the court in the first round, and Kambosos left the game himself in the 10th round and took a split decision.

Kambosos didn’t have to enjoy life as a champion for long. Seven months later in Melbourne, the Australian lost his belts in his first defense against Devin Haney by unanimous decision. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, Haney did even better, winning another decision slow in 2022 in Melbourne.

A controversial majority decision victory over Maxim Hughes last year gave Kambosos his fourth world title shot in his last five fights.

Let’s take a look at some of the players who didn’t do much after winning the world title.

Harder falls

Andy Ruiz Jr. pulled off a major shock by stopping Anthony Joshua in round 7 to win three world title belts in 2019 as a slow substitute. Six months later, Ruiz showed up in the rematch weighing 15 pounds more than in the first fight and lost convincingly by unanimous decision to Joshua’s game.

Since then, Ruiz has recorded two unanimous decision victories, but both Luiz Ortiz and Chris Arreola are over 40 years antique. Ruiz (32-2, 22 KO) weighed 268¾ pounds when he scored three knockouts against Ortiz in September 2022. The Californian is expected to be born on August 3 in Los Angeles and will face Jarrell “Massive Baby” Miller. This will be his first fight since defeating Ortiz and he is one step away from a world title shot.

Joshua also ended the brief reign of Charles Martin, who hilariously entered the ring to face the Englishman for a massive crown in London in 2016. However, he was not majestic in the ring that night, as Joshua dispatched him in just two rounds to win the IBF world heavyweight title. Martin fell apart as soon as Joshua started to land.

When Vyacheslav Glazkov suffered a knee injury in the third round against Martin in January 2016, the American became champion. Martin, now 38, has so far failed to regain that lofty status and has suffered three consecutive defeats.

Deontay Wilder became champion for the first time, overtaking Bermane Stiverne in January 2015. Stiverne managed to become the first professional opponent to resist Wilder’s strength and defeat him at a distance, but he lost a unanimous decision in the first defense of the WBC belt, which he won by stopping Chris Arreola in the sixth round in May 2014. Stiverne’s career was in ruins, and in 2017, he was knocked out in the rematch by Wilder in a round. It was the first of four consecutive defeats, including three by stoppage, and he has not fought since January 2023.

Other notable heavyweight champions who lost the title in their first defense and whose career never recovered include Hasim Rahman (2001). The world was stunned when Lennox Lewis – boxing’s last undisputed world heavyweight champion in the three-belt era – was underestimated and unprepared for the heights in Johannesburg and was subsequently knocked out by Rahman in five rounds. Lewis quickly made amends in a rematch seven months later, and Rahman never became world champion again, despite fights against the likes of Evander Holyfield, James Toney, Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin.

Lighter falls

Manny Pacquiao will go down in history as one of the greatest boxing champions of all time, but slow in his career he lost to fighters who were unable to maintain success at an elite level.

Kambosos’ Australian, Jeff Horn (20-3-1, 13 KO), also held the world title for a brief time. Horn benefited from a night off against Pacquiao, one of the best boxers of recent years when he won a unanimous decision to win the WBO welterweight title in Australia in 2017. Pacquiao complained about the controversial result, but a rematch never took place. Horn won his first defense against the little-known Gary Corcoran, but was then stopped by Terence Crawford, ending his reign less than a year after it began. Horn never fought for a world title again.

In his last fight, Pacquiao suffered a unanimous decision loss to replacement opponent Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas in August 2021. At 35, Ugas was considered a secure opponent for the eighth-weight world champion as he approaches his last huge fight. But Ugas spoiled the party. Inspired by the opportunity given on 11 days’ notice and perhaps taking advantage of the 42-year-old Pacquiao’s waning powers, Ugas won as a +350 underdog. Pacquiao was preparing to face Errol Spence Jr. and perhaps the change of opponent, i.e. meeting another southpaw, contributed to the defeat. Ugas’ double jab proved decisive in winning the WBA title. However, Spence stopped Ugas in the unification title fight two years ago, and in September 2023, the Miami Cuban was passed by Mario Barrios.

Pacquiao was at the top of his game when the Filipino ended Chris Algieri’s brief reign. The Up-to-date Yorker survived two knockdowns in the first round to bravely defend himself and in June 2014 won a split decision over Ruslan Provodnikov in the fight for the WBO junior welterweight title. Five months later, he moved up the division and lost six times by wide decision. lost to Pacquiao. Algieri suffered further losses to Amir Khan, Spence and finally, at the age of 37, to Conor Benn in 2021.

Miguel Cotto was one of the greatest stars of his era, but like Pacquiao, his career ended in a shocking defeat. His bout was against Sadam Ali in December 2017. Ali, who had been stopped by Jessie Vargas for the WBO welterweight title the year before, was reluctant to beat the Puerto Rican Hall of Famer, but he put on an inspiring display in a unanimous decision. Ali never reached the same level again as he lost his title in a four-round defeat to Jaime Munguia and was stopped in his last fight by Anthony Newborn five years ago.

Cotto ended Yuri Foreman’s brief stint as the WBA junior middleweight champion with a ninth-round stoppage in June 2010 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, seven months after Foreman won the belt against Daniel Santos. Foreman failed to win another world championship belt despite 10 years of trying.

Sergio Mora, who gained fame thanks to the reality show “The Contender” on NBC, in June 2006 won the WBC junior middleweight title from Vernon Forrest by majority vote. However, three months later, in Mora’s first defense, he lost the belt to much improved Forrest by wide unanimous decision. Mora missed subsequent opportunities as Daniel Jacobs stopped him in two rounds and then in a seven-round rematch for the middleweight title in 2015 and 2016.

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James “Buster” Douglas, who overcame huge odds of 42-1 and ended Mike Tyson’s heavyweight rampage with a seismic 10th-round knockout in 1990, is perhaps the most obvious one-hit wonder in recent boxing history. Douglas, whose mother died 23 days before the fight, was inspired while Tyson was distracted. Douglas was overweight in his first defense against Evander Holyfield, who punished him in three rounds before winning all the belts eight months later. Douglas was never the same as that night against Tyson on February 11, 1990 in Tokyo.

Another one-hit wonder was Montell Griffin, who reigned as the WBC featherlight heavyweight champion for five months in 1997. Roy Jones Jr. he was in great shape and his skills made him seem untouchable at the time. Jones came close to another victory when Griffin went down to a knee in round 9, but Jones was disqualified for punching another American as he went down. Jones made Griffin pay in the rematch, resulting in a brutal first-round KO. Griffin lost his next two world title fights.

Leon Spinks may have been the 1976 Olympic gold medalist, but in 1978 the reasonable opinion was that Muhammad Ali would be unchallenged by a challenger who would be fighting for the world heavyweight title in only his eighth professional fight. Spinks, shockingly, won by split decision. but Ali returned to holding the belts five months later after winning the rematch on points. Spinks lost his next two world title fights and finished with a record of 26 wins, 17 losses and three draws.

Coming back further, the perfect performance of Randy Turpin, who in 1951 in London overtook the great Sugar Ray Robinson for the world middleweight title, was another huge shock. However, the Englishman lost a rematch with the imperious Robinson on the other side of the Atlantic just 64 days later and never regained the title.