"[2] A tomato can is usually a fighter with a poor record, whose skills are substandard or who lacks toughness or has a glass jaw.
Tomato cans are similar to jobbers in professional wrestling in that they serve to enhance the stature of someone the promotion uses to draw a crowd.
Journeyman boxers generally regarded as tomato cans have been known to provide surprising challenges to champions and in several instances, cause shocking upsets against supposedly superior opponents.
A former nightclub bouncer, Wepner was nicknamed "The Bayonne Bleeder" and was considered a washed-up contender with a mediocre record.
Don King selected Wepner as a tomato can to provide an easy victory for Ali after his famous win over George Foreman.
[6] The victory over Tyson, the previously undefeated "baddest man on the planet" and the most feared boxer in professional boxing at that time, at the hands of the 42–1 betting odds underdog Douglas, has been described as one of the most shocking upsets in modern sports history.
[7] Douglas was widely regarded as a tomato can, lined up to provide an easy victory for Tyson at that time.