nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Favourite Fights to Rewatch

Morrison J

With the Coronavirus cancelling all boxing for the foreseeable anyone else filling their time this week by watching some older fights?

In the last week I've watched:

Duran v Hagler/Barkley/De Jesus III
Whitaker v Chavez/De La Hoya
Holyfield v Bowe I
Matthew Saad Muhammad v John Conteh I
Bradley v Provodnikov
Floyd v Corrales

Few notes:

Duran v Barkley is my favourite fight of all time. Unbelievable that Duran got that type of performance out of himself at 37, far above his best weight.

I don't think there's a robbery that angers me more than Whitaker v Chavez. Punch perfect performance by Whitaker against the best in the world at the time. Incredible performance.

If there was only one boxer's career I could rewatch for the rest of my life it might be Matthew Saad Muhammad.

Floyd v Corrales is probably the best performance of the last 20 years. Didn't lose a minute against a P4P top 5 fighter at the time. Flawless.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

megadodge

dinky earnshaw wrote: »

Funny I've found this thread now. Just finished watching Toney vs Mc Callum 1. Two technically excellent fighters going full tilt.

I watched that again last night and I'd forgotten how good a fight it was.

Originally I had watched it with English commentators, but this time it was the US version and I reminded myself why it is vital to turn the sound off if you want to mark a contest fairly.

Sean O'Grady just never shut up about Toney, Toney, Toney. He marked a very close fight widely to Toney, which was just wrong. Came out with such pearls of wisdom as "you have to take the title from the champion, so all close rounds go to the champ", despite the fact that it was in reality a unification bout, as McCallum dumped the WBA title shortly before the fight as the WBA wanted him to pay Steve Collins $50,000 stepaside money. He harped on about how hard Toney was to hit, depite him getting jabbed silly for most of the fight and McCallum making him miss badly over and over again especially the overhand right of which I'd say only 5% of the many he threw landed.

I marked it for McCallum, but realise that it wasn't easy to score and a draw wasn't a particularly bad decision.

megadodge

Boooourns wrote: »

Theres a documentary following Naseem in the buildup for that fight, well worth a watch.

If you want to show a young boxer how NOT to prepare for a big fight, that documentary is perfect.

walshb

Speaking of the great Mike McCallum. One of my favorite early 90s fights was his KO11 win v Michael Watson. Watson’s first title bid, after his TKO win over Benn the year before.

It was a brilliantly fought fight. Non stop work...

normanoffside

walshb wrote: »

Speaking of the great Mike McCallum. One of my favorite early 90s fights was his KO11 win v Michael Watson. Watson’s first title bid, after his TKO win over Benn the year before.

It was a brilliantly fought fight. Non stop work...

Not the full fight, but a brilliant technical break down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w58KO09kfWs

phily2002

Few I loved:

David Tua v Ike Ibeabuchi
Gomez v Alex Arthur
Valero v Mosquera

mfceiling

Probably not too PC but Benn vs McClellan was a great dust up.

Benn knocked through the ropes in the first round but kept coming back and finally stopped the unstoppable machine.

Going to say I loved Benn as a fighter. Never shrugged a challenge and had pure knock out power.

Bobby Baccala

mfceiling wrote: »

Probably not too PC but Benn vs McClellan was a great dust up.

Benn knocked through the ropes in the first round but kept coming back and finally stopped the unstoppable machine.

Going to say I loved Benn as a fighter. Never shrugged a challenge and had pure knock out power.

Tragic to see that happen to anybody but that was a great fight, Benn was relentless, he fought like a pitbull

megadodge

The Salvador Sanchez / Azumah Nelson fight is one of my favourite ever fights.

I have seldom seen such raw bravery and hunger from a challenger as the very green Azumah showed in that fight. I was surprised to find out that Sanchez was ahead at the finish, as I thought he needed the KO, having been outworked in many of the rounds.

Morrison J

Some literally punch perfect performances I've been watching:

Calzaghe v Lacy
Toney v Barkley
Whitaker v Nelson
Kalambay v McCallum
Pavlik v Miranda
Winky v Trinidad
Rigo v Donaire

Floyd v Corrales is the other one that I've already mentioned. All complete masterclasses.

Boooourns

megadodge wrote: »

If you want to show a young boxer how NOT to prepare for a big fight, that documentary is perfect.

Too right, Brendan Ingle stated getting ignored by Naz through it, a huge fall from grace.

walshb

Morrison J wrote: »

Some literally punch perfect performances I've been watching:

Calzaghe v Lacy
Toney v Barkley
Whitaker v Nelson
Kalambay v McCallum
Pavlik v Miranda
Winky v Trinidad
Rigo v Donaire

Floyd v Corrales is the other one that I've already mentioned. All complete masterclasses.

For sheer ridiculous skill, Toney’s dismantling of a very dangerous and aggressive and strong Barkley, is the pick of the bunch!

Morrison J

walshb wrote: »

For sheer ridiculous skill, Toney’s dismantling of a very dangerous and aggressive and strong Barkley, is the pick of the bunch!

Masterful performance by Toney that night alright.

Rigo v Donaire was one that really stood out to me rewatching it too. Lot of people forget Donaire was pretty much the consensus #3 P4P fighter in the world at the time behind Mayweather and Pacquiao. Rigo absolutely dominated him. Easily the best performance of the last ten years for me.

Can't help but make me think of how a fight between that version of Rigo and Inoue would play out. What a fight that would be.

walshb

Morrison J wrote: »

Masterful performance by Toney that night alright.

Rigo v Donaire was one that really stood out to me rewatching it too. Lot of people forget Donaire was pretty much the consensus #3 P4P fighter in the world at the time behind Mayweather and Pacquiao. Rigo absolutely dominated him. Easily the best performance of the last ten years for me.

Can't help but make me think of how a fight between that version of Rigo and Inoue would play out. What a fight that would be.

I didn't see Rigo dominate at all....lot of close action rds in that one....

It wasn't what I would call anything really dominant..

I do get some of your other picks.....Need to watch McCallum-Kalambay again. Their second fight? This was a closely fought affair.

Loved Whitaker-Nelson...Pea made it look so effortless...

Mayweather's was special....why I liked Toney's more, was him not needing to move at all in the fight. Just right there beating up a man who was all over him....Mayweather used all his skills, and his feet as well....

Toney for me the best inside pocket fighter in history.....the calmest fighter as well.

megadodge

Morrison J wrote: »

Some literally punch perfect performances I've been watching:

Calzaghe v Lacy
Toney v Barkley
Whitaker v Nelson
Kalambay v McCallum
Pavlik v Miranda
Winky v Trinidad
Rigo v Donaire

Floyd v Corrales is the other one that I've already mentioned. All complete masterclasses.

For a fan who knows his stuff I'm surprised at one of your choices there, simply because the quality of opposition for all the others was top notch - virtually all the losers were in the top 10 p4p or bordering it - Iran Barkley on the other hand wouldn't have even been approaching the top 100 !!

Four years after he was beaten by a fat 38 year old Roberto Duran and three years after he was obliterated in one round by Nigel Benn and the internet's most overrated boxer ever beats him in nine predictable rounds.... so what!!! Did anybody actually think a way past his not-very-good best to begin with, face-first slugger was going to beat a young quality fighter like Toney?

My mind always boggles at the credit internet fans give Toney for that win, when there are plenty other wins of his I would rate vastly superior.

callaway92

Bernard Dunne vs Ricardo Cordoba leaves great memories with me. Pretty amazing fight and refreshingly a non-neutral boxing crowd.

Same night that Ireland won the Grand Slam, so its was a pretty amazing Sporting day.

walshb

callaway92 wrote: »

Bernard Dunne vs Ricardo Cordoba leaves great memories with me. Pretty amazing fight and refreshingly a non-neutral boxing crowd.

Same night that Ireland won the Grand Slam, so its was a pretty amazing Sporting day.

Great fight. Very enthralling, exhilarating and insanely tense!

walshb

Whatever about Barkley as opposition, the Toney performance was exceptionally skillful and gifted...

Barkley was actually the favorite, and the champion...A top rated SMW at that time.

And Barkley gave it his absolute all...

walshb

A wee bit one-sided, but one I like to rewatch is Mayweather’s beatdown of Gatti.

Razor sharp killer punches..tough to watch, but exceptional...

And throw in Mayweather v Corley. Belter of a fight...

And vs Philip N’Dou...

Jaysus, he was actually is some brilliantly performed fights...

Morrison J

walshb wrote: »

I didn't see Rigo dominate at all....lot of close action rds in that one....

It wasn't what I would call anything really dominant..

I only gave Donaire two rounds + the KD so a very one sided win for Rigo tbh. Rigo put on a clinic on ring generalship in that fight. His use of distance, footwork, jab and counterpunching let him essentially coast the fight at the speed he wanted. Stung Donaire a couple of times early and had him petrified to make a mistake after that. Couldn't pull the trigger. Masterclass for me and a performance thats not talked about enough.

Best performance of the last 10 years then?

The only two that come close for me are Floyd v Canelo (the catchweight takes some shine off the performance for me) or Usyk v Gassiev (but I think I rate Gassiev higher than most).

Morrison J

megadodge wrote: »

For a fan who knows his stuff I'm surprised at one of your choices there, simply because the quality of opposition for all the others was top notch - virtually all the losers were in the top 10 p4p or bordering it - Iran Barkley on the other hand wouldn't have even been approaching the top 100 !!

Four years after he was beaten by a fat 38 year old Roberto Duran and three years after he was obliterated in one round by Nigel Benn and the internet's most overrated boxer ever beats him in nine predictable rounds.... so what!!! Did anybody actually think a way past his not-very-good best to begin with, face-first slugger was going to beat a young quality fighter like Toney?

My mind always boggles at the credit internet fans give Toney for that win, when there are plenty other wins of his I would rate vastly superior.

I see why it sticks out to you over the others but it's still a performance I rate very highly personally. I also rate that Duran win as probably the best win by every middleweight ever so maybe I just see Barkley differently to you. That was a competitive decision as was the Nunn loss. He'd also beaten Tommy Hearns twice. Knocking out the same Hearns that got robbed by Ray Leonard. Not the best version of Hearns obviously but I think you are underrating Barkley a bit. Not an easy out.

Toney definitely had better wins but the fashion of the win is always what impressed me most. Just the classic case of skills and ring IQ getting the better of size and strength and he absolutely pissed it.

Morrison J

callaway92 wrote: »

Bernard Dunne vs Ricardo Cordoba leaves great memories with me. Pretty amazing fight and refreshingly a non-neutral boxing crowd.

Same night that Ireland won the Grand Slam, so its was a pretty amazing Sporting day.

Didn't realise the full RTE telecast for the main event had been uploaded on youtube. Going to have to watch that tonight.

walshb

An epic domestic fight for fans, and a real tear up is Kevin Mitchell v Carl Johansson. At least ten years old at this stage. 130 lbs. great great scrap..

megadodge

I simply never tire of seeing this fight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHqpLTv--uw

Maybe Rocky wasn't so far-fetched!

megadodge

For the younger among you who don't know why Arturo Gatti was so adored, watch and enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_X6x4IXVLM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxt8eUdnprU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVkrqSrBM1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n4A_0Znd50

Boss Of Bosses

Holmes V Norton.

Two fantastic heavyweights.

Great fight.

walshb

Anyone remember a right dust up a few years back at 154 lbs between plastic Paddy, Matthew Macklin, and MTK servant, Jamie Moore? Belter....

Bobby Baccala

Bradley vs Pac 2 is a good watch, 2 technicians going at it for 12 rounds. Bradley had a granite chin if I’ve ever seen one.

walshb

Bobby Baccala wrote: »

Bradley vs Pac 2 is a good watch, 2 technicians going at it for 12 rounds. Bradley had a granite chin if I’ve ever seen one.

As good as Manny is/was, I never overly enjoyed watching his fights.

He always came across a bit awkward to me....

No inside game, very predictable type offence.

Similar to Khan in that regard.......

Boss Of Bosses

Benn V McClellan.

What a war. Watched it live on ITV at the time. Great to see again.
Benn on the ring apron round 1 ?
What a comeback. Different era, different fighters.

megadodge

Just came across this on Youtube. A superb collection of individual rounds from a wide variety of fights over 40+ years. Brilliant watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD71K2Mnk-s