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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.

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druss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH3X22jhBE0

Kostya Tszyu v Zab Judah is a fun re-watch. Not a classic by any means, but plenty of drama.

walshb

Watched McGuigan-Cruz again from 1986...

Said it before, but you’d be hard pressed to find a more gutsy and courageous sports effort, let alone boxing effort in any sport any time..Barry put in one hell of a brutal innings here.

YFlyer

megadodge wrote: »

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

Mayweather chopped him.

Bobby Baccala

megadodge wrote: »

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

De La Hoya - Gatti was a good knock

US2

Didnt read all the thread but didnt see Ward v Gatti mentioned? Maybe a bit overrated these days but still a great fight , a strange fight I've never seen fighters get so many second winds

Bobby Baccala

US2 wrote: »

Didnt read all the thread but didnt see Ward v Gatti mentioned? Maybe a bit overrated these days but still a great fight , a strange fight I've never seen fighters get so many second winds

Think it’s mentioned on the first couple of pages and somebody linked to it a couple of posts ago. It’s the first fight anybody thinks of when slugfests are brought up. Both men had insane powers of recovery, Ward was an absolute Warrior as well.

US2

Not a die hard boxing fan but watched a great fight around 2 years ago, world boxing super series, dorticus or something like that fought some fella, great fight. Any one know what I'm on about ?

squinn2912

Was it gassiev? Good fight Dorticus left himself too open early on

Morrison J

Carl Thompson was great value in his day.

If you haven't watched his fight with Ezra Sellers, it's a must watch.

Littlehorny

megadodge wrote: »

I simply never tire of seeing this fight

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

Maybe Rocky wasn't so far-fetched!

The inspiration for Rocky was a Muhammad Ali fight versus a no hoper called Chuck Wepner . Wepner just refused to go down

squinn2912

Littlehorny wrote: »

The inspiration for Rocky was a Muhammad Ali fight versus a no hoper called Chuck Wepner . Wepner just refused to go down

Didn’t the ref stop it in the end up? He knocked Ali down. Great film about it all

walshb

squinn2912 wrote: »

Didn’t the ref stop it in the end up? He knocked Ali down. Great film about it all

There was no knockdown...trip. Think it was ruled a trip as well..

Edit: think it was counted as a KD, actually..

paddythere

Rewatched Hagler v Mugabi the other night, great fight

Littlehorny

squinn2912 wrote: »

Didn’t the ref stop it in the end up? He knocked Ali down. Great film about it all

Yeah, don't know what round it was but near the end of the fight Ali opened up on Wepner after just going through the motions and the ref stopped it, not sure also but I think Wepner was giving out about being stopped.

Very similar fight to the time Larry Holmes fought the over matched Tex Cobb and battered him round the ring. Cobb was a tough s o b though.

walshb

paddythere wrote: »

Rewatched Hagler v Mugabi the other night, great fight

This was the night that SRL made the Hagler fight.....

Saw (was there with Michael J Fox) a sluggish Hagler and looked to have the fight made...

Kind of lessens the "greatness" of his win; his admitting that he saw Hagler as being past it, so he went and took the fight....

He admitted similar for Duran II....Said he knew Duran was out of training, eating and partying all around him, so pressed for the rematch.....

megadodge

Littlehorny wrote: »

Yeah, don't know what round it was but near the end of the fight Ali opened up on Wepner after just going through the motions and the ref stopped it, not sure also but I think Wepner was giving out about being stopped.

Very similar fight to the time Larry Holmes fought the over matched Tex Cobb and battered him round the ring. Cobb was a tough s o b though.

Cobb was a very funny character. During the fight he said to the ref something like "c'mon man, you're a white man too, can't you do something about this".

When asked after if he'd like a rematch, he said "No, I don't think his [Holmes] hands could take the punishment".

megadodge

Actually speaking of Cobb here's a few of his famous one-liners. Very witty.

https://www.just-one-liners.com/ppl/randall-tex-cobb/

Choochtown

For all the talk of Benn, Eubanks, Collins here in my opinion the best Middleweight around at that time was Mike McCallum.

His light-middleweight title fight vs the highly-rated Don Curry is well worth a rewatch.

Panda Killa

megadodge wrote: »

Actually speaking of Cobb here's a few of his famous one-liners. Very witty.

https://www.just-one-liners.com/ppl/randall-tex-cobb/

His Ben Dover line to Chevy Chase wasn't too bad either

Morrison J

Watched Usyk v Hunter and Usyk v Bellew tonight.

God, I didn't appreciate how good that performance against Michael Hunter was at the time. Put the pressure on from the opening bell and basically drowned Hunter with effective footwork and some vicious body shots. A performance that has aged extremely well given what Hunter has gone on to do since.

And that Bellew KO must be one of the more satisfying KO's of recent years. Haye and Froch would have you tearing your hair out with their commentary. Neither have a clue what they are watching. Paulie the only one with some sense and it wasn't even his best night either. Nearly had to mute it. Again, Usyk's footwork had Bellew working for every inch from the opening bell. Bellew was blowing and turning his back/walking away to catch a breather from about three rounds in.

Usyk is just on another level to these guys. Really hope this lay off doesn't have too negative an effect on him and he gets a fight with one of the big 3 at heavyweight before its too late.

paddythere

walshb wrote: »

This was the night that SRL made the Hagler fight.....

Saw (was there with Michael J Fox) a sluggish Hagler and looked to have the fight made...

Kind of lessens the "greatness" of his win; his admitting that he saw Hagler as being past it, so he went and took the fight....

He admitted similar for Duran II....Said he knew Duran was out of training, eating and partying all around him, so pressed for the rematch.....

Agree completely. Leonard was a great fighter but he was similar to Mayweather in his mindset: he didnt want to fight guys at their best, he just wanted to get a W over them... For me, Hagler was th greatest of that era.

Morrison J

Leonard was calculated in a lot of his decisions but he wasn't on Floyd's level with that type of stuff. The fact he moved up to junior middleweight to fight Ayub Kalule when a big money unification with Hearns at welterweight had been agreed says it all. Kalule was an undefeated, world amateur champion and awkward as ****. Floyd wouldn't take a risk like that in a million years.

Leonard fought Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Kalule all bang in their primes (or really close to it in Hearns’ case). Duran not being able to get in shape is not Leonard's fault (and I'm a bigger Duran fan than any of them).

How many of Sugar Ray's opponents would have given Mayweather serious trouble? At least 4 - Benitez, Duran, Hagler, Hearns. I'd also argue Kalule. Terry Norris even would have been a nightmare stylistically for Floyd too.

The other way around? None. Leonard wouldnt have had a single issue with anyone Floyd beat at 147.

walshb

Morrison J wrote: »

Leonard was calculated in a lot of his decisions but he wasn't on Floyd's level with that type of stuff. The fact he moved up to junior middleweight to fight Ayub Kalule when a big money unification with Hearns at welterweight had been agreed says it all. Kalule was an undefeated, world amateur champion and awkward as ****. Floyd wouldn't take a risk like that in a million years.

Leonard fought Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Kalule all bang in their primes (or really close to it in Hearns’ case). Duran not being able to get in shape is not Leonard's fault (and I'm a bigger Duran fan than any of them).

How many of Sugar Ray's opponents would have given Mayweather serious trouble? At least 4 - Benitez, Duran, Hagler, Hearns. I'd also argue Kalule. Terry Norris even would have been a nightmare stylistically for Floyd too.

The other way around? None. Leonard wouldnt have had a single issue with anyone Floyd beat at 147.

Duran being out of shape wasn't the point I was making...

It was more Leonard admitting that he knew it and wanted it, and then sought out the rematch ever so quickly. I juts thought it odd he would admit to it, because it does give off the impression that he beat a not prepared Duran in fight 2. It diminishes the win somewhat.

Most fighters would want to give off the impression that they don't want to take easy advantages, and want to be the best prepared fighter, so there are NO excuses....

Leonard did the opposite with Duran 2 and Hagler....openly admitting that he went after "wounded" type opponents....

Just always found it odd he did that.....

And yes, it does kind of out a slight asterisk on both wins.....more so the Duran win, as the Hagler win was Leonard actually coming out of retirement.

For the record: SRL is a great fighter.

walshb

Morrison J wrote: »

How many of Sugar Ray's opponents would have given Mayweather serious trouble? At least 4 - Benitez, Duran, Hagler, Hearns. I'd also argue Kalule. Terry Norris even would have been a nightmare stylistically for Floyd too.

The other way around? None. Leonard wouldnt have had a single issue with anyone Floyd beat at 147.

Spot on...

Hearns is an absolute nightmare for Floyd. Floyd gets dominated easily here...too small, and no hope in hell he outboxes Hearns

Floyd would probably not have ventured near WW and JMW if faced with Hearns and Norris. Both would be too good, and bigger....

Duran and Benitez at 140 and 147 would have been competitive....

Hagler at 160....not even worth a discussion..

I'd also make SRL a warm favorite over Floyd, but Floyd could certainly be competitive here.....Ray was not that big, similar reach and similar overall makeup at 147.....

normanoffside

Just re watched a couple of the 'controversial' Pernell Whittaker fights over the last few days and scored them

First off His fight with De La Hoya. I scored this close to even but DLH was definitely the aggressor and there were many very close rounds so i have no arguments with the decision in favour of Oscar.

Secondly I re-watched the fight with JC Chavez and wow. That has to be the biggest rip off in boxing history. I struggled to argue more than 2 Rounds to Julio. Pea dominated close to 8 rounds (and the other 4 were close enough) so to come out of there with a draw was a disgrace to say the least.

walshb

normanoffside wrote: »

Just re watched a couple of the 'controversial' Pernell Whittaker fights over the last few days and scored them

First off His fight with De La Hoya. I scored this close to even but DLH was definitely the aggressor and there were many very close rounds so i have no arguments with the decision in favour of Oscar.

Secondly I re-watched the fight with JC Chavez and wow. That has to be the biggest rip off in boxing history. I struggled to argue more than 2 Rounds to Julio. Pea dominated close to 8 rounds (and the other 4 were close enough) so to come out of there with a draw was a disgrace to say the least.

I scored Pea 8-4 v JCC!

Oscar deserved nod v Pea. Pea was more surviving than winning. Oscar was the one trying more to win..

walshb

Plenty plenty fights listed..

I see no amateur fights mentioned..

I have two for any enthusiastic keen fight fans...

I saw this one years ago, but was reminded of it the other day. A young 21 year old Evander Holyfield in Olympic year vs. the brilliant Cuban, Pablo Romero..

Lil background. They met the year before in Pan Am finals in Venezuela, where Romero won a decision. Romero about three years older, which could be quite significant at that age stage..

This fight is a tremendous scrap. Two hard hitting varied LHWs going toe to toe. Really strong fighters. I can’t think of many LHWs, save a prime 1976 Leon Spinks beating either..

Watch this: https://youtu.be/M5WKPh3lytM

And my pick for greatest ever amateur bout was the QF at 139 lbs in Sydney 2000

Ricardo Williams v Diogenis Luna: Another U.S. v Cuba match: https://youtu.be/lDCm8gwRRY0

https://youtu.be/dlkFZLZCp5U

Absolute belter.

normanoffside

walshb wrote: »

I scored Pea 8-4 v JCC!

Oscar deserved nod v Pea. Pea was more surviving than winning. Oscar was the one trying more to win..

Yeah, Pea had 8 very clear rounds. If you scored the other 'close' rounds (1,2,5,12) all to Chavez, fair enough but 8-4 is absolute best case scenario for JCC.

paddythere

Acelino Freitas v Barry Jones is a very good underrated scrap to re-watch or watch for the first time. Full fight on youtube if anyone is bored

SHOVELLER

Just watched Leonard v Hagler in full for the first time and while the Marvelous one can feel aggrieved as he was never hurt I think the decision is a fair one. Leonard fought very clever at distance, holding down Hagler's head and generally staying out of trouble. Superb footwork and movement from the best of those four icons.

I am biased as I shook his hand last year and he grew up only a few miles from here!