The greatest fight at every weight

Big Ears

Simple as this , you put down either your favourite fight or what you deem to be the greatest fight , at that weight(I don't expect everyone to crawl through all 17 divisions) .

Now my choices may vary from quite a few of you , and I might show my youth . Sometimes I side with fights from recent times as I have seen them live , not knowing the result and this adds to the excitement , compared to a great fight from the past where I knew the result .

Heavyweight: Muhammed Ali v Joe Frazier(III) ,The Thrilla in Manilla .Why not start off with a real great one . Ali and Frazier had developed an intense rivalrly(mainly due to Ali) that wasn't exactly friendly . Both men were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice that night if need be and pushed themselves to the limit . At the end of the 14th round with one of Frazier's eyes shut and the other later found out to be legally blind(minimal vision) Frazier's corner retired their man . Ali slumped to the canvass immediately after he knew he had won , no celebrations . He was knackered and badly suffering from dehydration .

Cruiserweight: James Toney v Vassily Jirov , a great fight from more recent times and it turned out to be an absolute war as Jirov brought the fight to Toney . Jirov was relentless but Toney countered brilliantly all night and eventually floored Jirov in the 12th(for the first time in his career) . The fight seemed very close to me , I had it to Jirov by a point(he was also deducted a point for a low blow by the way) , but on the scorecards Toney won a very wide decision on all cards . Both are now well past their primes and it looks like they may have a rematch at heavyweight . Shame really , Toney took something from Jirov that ngiht and then ate away his own talent .

Light-Heavyweight: Thomas Adamek v Paul Briggs(I) , I'm probably going to have some Archie Moore fan telling me how ridiculous this is but for me this is the best fight at the weight . A great war between a thin tall guy against a stocky small guy , where Adamek would have the volume and punch quite hard but Briggs would land massive shots . Went to the cards ending with a MD in favour of the Pole Adamek . They rematched in another great fight , Adamek won another MD .

Super-Middleweight: Nigel Benn v Gerald McClellan , a tragic ending to this fight but if you can avoid the tragedy of that fight and look at the fight itself it was a classic . Benn knocked out of the ring in the first round eventually turns the tide but goes down int he 8th , gets up to floor McClellan twice in the 10th with him staying down the second time and it appearing he quit(which of course wasn't really the case) High drama throughtout as you felt it could end at any moment .

Middleweight: Marvelous Marvin Hagler v Thomas Hearns , might have only lasted 3 rounds but what a fight . Again full of drama and an absolute war .

Light-Middleweight: Jamie Moore v Matthew Macklin , someone who's been around longer than me could probably pick a world fight that was as good but in terms of excitement and sheer drive this was the best Britain can over . Macklin fought like a man possessed that night(ive actually never seen a fighter more determined) but the smarter Moore ko'ed him in the end .

Welterweight: Sugar Ray Leondard v Thomas Hearns(I) , another Superfight that made the list , Leonard started brilliantly , Hearns came back , Hearns ran out of gas and Leonard took control and wore him down .

Light-Welterweight: Julio Cesar Chavez v Meldrick Taylor(the first fight between Aaron pryor and Alexis Arguello was my runner up) , again another Superfight and this one had a dramatic ending . Taylor outlanded and bamboozled at times Chavez for 11 round 2 minutes and 30 seconds . However Chavez was slowly breaking Taylor down without winning rounds , 25 seconds to go and CHavez drops Taylor . Taylor gets up at 6 , us asked if he is okay by referee Richard Steele twice , makes no respose and Steele waves his arms at 2:55 and the fight is stopped at 2:58 , 2 seconds to go in the fight . To this day it still remains a controversial topic among boxing fans , for me Steele made the right decision .


lightweight: Diego Corrales v Jose Luis Castillo(1) , this is the main point of Diego's legacy . For me the greatest fight of all time with the most dramatic turnaround and ending . Odd that Diego died two years to the day after this bout , he will forever be best known for that day against Castillo .

Super Featherweight: Erik Morales v Manny Pacquiao(1), bit disappointed with myself here , very good fight but if I think harder I think I could do better . Non stop action throughout as Morales earns hard fought decision over his rival . Was Jeff Fenech v Azumah Nelson any good ? , ive never seen either of their bouts . I assume Alexis Arguello or Bobby Chacon would have had a contender or two aswell .

Featherweight: Marco Antonio Barrera v Erik Morales(II) , I'm guaranteed to have disagreements here . A role reversal of the first fight which most people though Barrera won and Morales was given the decision , this time Morales looked the winner to most and the decision went to Barrera .

Super Bantamweight: Now this one is a cert isn't it , has to be the 1st meeting of Barrera and Morales.............wrong , because the 2000 fight of the year is surpassed by the 2006 fights of the year(both of those of them being fight of the year are mine and Ring Magazine) , Mayhar Monshipour and Somsak Sithchatchawal battled away for the WBA Super Bantamweight championship on Canal + with little interest outside of France . But by the end of the year , almost all hardcore boxing fans had made sure they'd gotten around to see what was being described as fight of the year by all that had seen it(and this was a year with both Brewster v Lyakhovich and Mormeck v Bell I) . Monshipour and Sithchatchawl traded for 10 rounds of brutal action , the uppercuts Sithchatchawl landed would actually make you physically feel sick , but Monshipour would rally and the heart of the Frenchman of Iranian descent couldn't be questioned .............I'm not gonna spoil this one on you in case you haven't seen it , just try and find the fight and by the second round you'll have forgotten the comentary is in French , infact you'll forget there's any comentary at all other than the ooooes and aaas of the French crowd .

I love the lower weighhts but I'm afraid if I picked a fight for any other weight than Flyweight I simply wouldn't be doing the division justice .

My Flyweight fight is Jorge Arce v Hussein Hussein(1) , Hussein trys to use his quicker hands and better skills to outbrawl Arce.............he fails , as Arce breaks him down and eventually stops him .


I notice 8 of my fights are from the past 10 years , which I think really does show my age so i'm expecting quite a few to differ greatly from me .

So what are your opinions of my list and what are your favourite fights from each weight division ?

cowzerp

good post bigears-all these are memorable fights so would definetly be up there as some of the best..

walshb

Heavyweight....rumble in jungle
Cruiserweight....Holyfield V Qawi 1
Light Heavy.....honestly haven't seen anything that stands out
Super Middle....Toney V Barkley, a simply breathtaking display
of boxing genius from James against one hell of a tough relentless
fighter in Barkley. Toney threw every shot in the book, every move.
Pure perfection
Middle.....Hagler V Mugabi. It beats the Hearns war because it went longer and had some serious action
Light Middle....Norris V Waters for non stop power punching
Welter....Leonard V Hearns...two supreme welters at their peak in a true
mega fight. No Oscar-Floyd travesty here
Junior welter.....Pryor-Arguello.....absolute cracker
Lightweight....I liked Whitaker's display V Nelson...excellent performance from Pea
Super feather...I liked Nelson V Fenech 2. What a finish by Nelson
Feather....quite possibly the guttsiest display in sports history was Barry in Las Vegas in an action packed fight in over 100 degree heat. I still think Barry deserved the decision, as did a lot of people. I have yet to see such a display of heart in any sports athlete.....
Super bantam....Banke V Zaragosa 1.....you just gotta see their fights.
Bantam.....Wayne winning the title in Japan...grat fight
Fly.....Dave McCauley v Bassa.....
Junior Fly/straw.... Carbajal V Gonzales 1....

ROCKMAN

First great post and great question.

Heavyweight I agree ALI V FRAZIER (111) A true example of a classic had everything.
also i would give a honorable mention to ALI V FOREMAN very good fight plus the build up will never be matched, Ali 's ring plan wow " greatest "
Middle HAGLER V HEARNS 3 fantastic rounds of world class boxing.
Welter SUGAR RAY V HEARNS (1) The greatest fight of all time in my opinion ,I have this on tape and it will always comes out when "the greatest fight" argument starts. pure class
Bantam " Wayne in Japan " as stated in another post was a cracker

megadodge

Excellent idea for a post and some truly great fights already mentioned.
I’ll throw in a few of my own personal favourites.

For those who haven’t seen these fights www.Youtube.com probably has most of them now and if not there are loads of good collectors out there who’d have most of the following.
They’d make some collection.

Heavy:
No arguing with the Thrilla, but another complete slugfest that has to be mentioned is George Foreman / Ron Lyle. For those that haven’t seen it I won’t tell the result as it swings back and forth so often you’ll be certain it’s about to end any amount of times.

Cruiser:
Carl Thompson / Ezra Sellars, another in the mould of Foreman / Lyle, except the atmosphere is a little muted as there doesn’t seem to be a great crowd. Now that I think of it Thompson has given some value for money over the years.

Light Heavy:
Any Matthew Saad Muhammad fight. I’m exaggerating (but only slightly). This man was the late 70’s / early 80’s version of Arturo Gatti. War after war after war.
Definites are both Marvin Johnson fights, both Yaqui Lopez fights (esp. the 2nd), Richie Kates, Jerry ‘The Bull’ Martin and a few more which I haven’t seen yet but am trying to get hold of but from what I’ve read I ain’t gonna be disappointed.
I’ve seen clips of and ordered both Briggs / Adamek fights and can’t wait.

Super Middle:
Nigel Benn / Gerald McClellan. Nothing more needs to be said about this classic.
Shame about the aftermath.

Middle:
For years Marvin Hagler / Tommy Hearns was my all-time favourite fight, not least because it never took that long to view it, but there’s another little known one from 1994 that rivals it in my book. John David Jackson / Jorge Castro is one of the reasons I love boxing. It’s a different fight to HH but the sheer courage and guts shown are amazing. I won’t spoil it by giving the result but catch it if you can.

Light Middle:
I can’t help thinking I’m forgetting something here, but the best that comes to mind right now is Felix Trinidad / Fernando Vargas. Fantastic atmosphere (as there always is between top Puerto Ricans and Mexicans), shocking start, great comeback, controversy and great finish.

Welter:
Sugar Ray Leonard / Tommy Hearns. In terms of technical skill from both participants in a top level fight, this is the best ever. It’s not often I would disagree with Big Ears who said Sugar started brilliantly, but he actually lost the first 5/6 rounds !! Sorry dude. All Hearns had to do was survive the last two rounds and he had it sewn up, but Sugar proved how great a fighter he was that night. And that’s from a person who always hated him !
The first Roberto Duran / Sugar Ray Leonard fight is an absolute cracker too and highlighted the massively underrated handspeed and boxing skills of Duran.

Light Welter:
Arturo Gatti / Mickey Ward I. Can’t argue with either Aaron Pryor / Alexis Arguello I or Julio Cesar Chavez / Meldrick Taylor I, but for sheer drama this takes some beating. I thought Gatti deserved the decision though.

Light:
Jose Luis Castillo / Chico Coralles I. Pointless me trying to add anything. Arturo Gatti / Ivan Robinson I and Livingstone Bramble / Ray Mancini I get honourable mentions.

Super Feather:
I can’t choose between Arturo Gatti / Wilson Rodriguez, Bobby Chacon / Cornelius Boza Edwards II, Bobby Chacon / Bazooka Limon IV, Arturo Gatti / Gabby Ruelas. All savage fights and both Alexis Arguello / Alfredo Escalera bouts should get a mention too.

Feather:
Salvador Sanchez / Azumah Nelson. Unbelievable performance from the then completely unknown Nelson and IMO all he needed to do was finish the fight and he would have won on points (the judges amazingly didn’t agree), but like all true great fighters Sanchez finished him in the 15th when Nelson’s manic desire to win (and inexperience) caused him to punch it out when hurt then get up way too fast when floored then punch it out again when he should have just held and survived. But then again maybe he knew the judges were blind so had to go for it ! Probably THE greatest underdog display I ever saw.

Super Bantam:
My No. 1 favourite fight of all time is Marco Antonio Barrera / Erik Morales I, but having seen Mayhar Monshipour / Somsak Sithchatchawal I completely understand Big Ears’ decision to make it his best Super Bantam fight. The difference for me is the skill levels, but the brutality of both fights is amazing.
There is another though, almost a carbon copy of the Mexicans and it’s another Puerto Rican / Mexican war. Wilfredo Gomez / Lupe Pintor is a must see for all boxing fans. My version has no commentary, but none is needed !

Bantam:
Johnny Tapia / Paulie Ayala I. No knockdowns but non-stop combination punching from both men for the entire 12 rounds. I was one of the minority who agreed with the decision.
The only other one that comes to mind is the battle of the Z men - Alfonso Zamora / Carlos Zarate. The fight probably wasn’t as great as the others mentioned here, but the anticipation was incredible. Two Mexican power punchers with a combined record of 74 – 0 with 73 KO’s !!!!! Strangely enough it didn’t go the distance:)

Super Fly:
Robert Quiroga / Kid Akeem .It was Ring Fight of the Year in 1991, which for a heavyweight obsessed magazine is really some achievement. There was a semi-tragic aftermath – Akeem collapsed after and had a blood clot removed from his brain. He recovered but was killed in recent years (car crash I think).

Fly:
While I loved the Jorge Arce / Hussein Hussein fight, for pure non-stop drama nothing beats the Dave ‘Boy’McAuley / Fidel Bassa I brawl. I was literally off my seat roaring at the TV when McAuley had him down twice in the 8th (?) with the 3 knockdown rule in effect. McAuley was down in the 1st minute and barely survived the 1st round, but came storming back to have Bassa down 5 times officially (including 1 phantom knockdown where there was no obvious punch landed but Bassa was wobbling all over the place – I think it was a clash of heads) and 2 or 3 other slips/off balance falls/exhaustion falls. McAuley was ahead on all cards at the end of the 12th, but this was one of the last ever 15 round fights. He was KO’d in the 13th. Unbelievable fight. McAuley suffered from the Larry Holmes syndrome of coming after a hugely popular fighter (Barry) and as a result not getting a fraction of the attention he deserved. I saw him on a TV show a few years ago and I think he said he was down 17 times in his career of 23 fights but only failed to get up the once – this fight.

Light Fly:
Humberto Gonzalez / Michael Carbajal I is a classic that put the little men on the map in America.
Ricardo Lopez / Rosendo Alvarez II. Their first fight ended in a controversial Technical Decision draw after the legendary Lopez had been floored for the first time ever and then badly cut (from supposed head clash) which forced the fight to go to the cards. The second fight was a cracker. The beautiful boxing but big punching Lopez countering against the relentlessly aggressive and super tough Alvarez created 12 rounds of excellent entertainment.

henryb

Great post big ears and after much deliberation here goes.
HEAVY WEIGHT..... ALI V FRASIER 3 ( my fav fight of all time)
CRUISER ... MATHEW SAAD MUHAMAD V YAQUI LOPEZ
LIGHT HEAVY .... HOLYFIELD V DWIGHT MUHAMAD QUAI
SUPER MIDDLE .... BENN V McCLELAND
MIDDLE..... HAGLER V HEARNS
WELTER .... DURAN V LEONARD ( had to get Duran in some where )
JUNIOR WELTER.....PRYOR V ARGUELLO
LIGHT WEIGHT... Toss up WARD V GATTI 1/ CORALLES V CASTILLO
FEATHER .... BARRERA V my main man MORALLES (my 2nd fav fight of all time)
FLY WEIGHT ... CARBAJAL V GONZALES

I know ive left some weights out here but nothing springs to mind as yet
and im sure theres much more knowledgeble people than me that can add to the list.
looking forward to when we get debating about who we think are the greatest
ever fighters in their divisions...........
but i guess thats for another day!!!

Big Ears

Henryb , Gatti v Ward I was fought at effectively Light-Welterweight but technically Welterweight(142 lbs was the limit for the fight) , and Carbajal v Gonzales was a Light-Flyweight contest .



Megadodge I had actually forgot about Vargas v Trinidad somehow , great fight but I'm still gonna go with Moore v Macklin . Probably has to do with me knowing the result of Vargas v Trinidad when I watched while I watched Moore v Macklin live and was on the edge of my seat the whole time . Quite an odd feeling too , as I was routing for Macklin but am a big fan of Moore .