Boxing Fans - Greatest Fight You Have Seen?

DirtyHarry

I just watched "The Thrilla in Manilla" on ESPN Classic for about the tenth time. Ali and Frazier left their souls on the canvass during this bout. I have never seen two greater competitors. This fight was so grueling and draining, that both champions were never the same again.

Share your thoughts. Seen one better?

RANDYMOSS84

i am personally young so havent watched much boxing. But i love watching floyyd mayweather fight. He is great.

jaxxr

There are so many great ones I've seen via film, and TV also.

In date order, I think.....

Dempsey - Willard, Henry Armstrong - Barney Ross, Zale - Graziano ( all 3 ), Louis - Schmelling (both), Archie Moore - Yvonne Durelle, The first Ali -Frazier ( unbelievable build-up and a truly great fight as well ), Tyson - Douglas, and of course Ric Flair beating Hulk Hogan.

I'm sure I've overlooked/can't recall quickly, a few more outstanding ones.

dgbaseball

Any Hagler/Leonard/Duran/Hearns fight. Especially the ones won by Marvelous..

pandrews

oh man, way too many.. i cant even remember them all..

i did enjoy watching Buster Douglas dismantle Tyson.. i also seem to remember Pernell Whitaker/Julio Caesar Chavez as an exciting fight..

now, if you want to actually talk about fights and not boxing matches, thats another story.. again, too many to remember, but off the top of my head,

Kazushi Sakuraba kicking any Gracie ass..

Luis Azeredo vs. Takanori Gomi was spectacular..

Fedor vs. Mirko Filpovic..

Mauricio Rua vs. Ricardo Arona..

Antonio Nogueira vs. Bob Sabb..

Don Frye vs. Takayama..

Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson..

Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar

recently,

Luke Cummo vs. Joe Stevenson was great

Rashad Evans vs. Brad Imes..

Wasy

Chavez/Meldrick Taylor was a classic.

I love the couple of fights between Vito Antifermo and Alan Minter, two totally opposite style fighters that absolutely beat the hell out of each other.

Larry Holmes giving the heavily favored Ray Mercer a lesson in boxing was also great.

Hagler/Sugar Ray have to be two of the best fights ever.

dgbaseball

now, if you want to actually talk about fights and not boxing matches, thats another story.. again, too many to remember, but off the top of my head

I think the topic of the thread is pretty clear about what we want to talk about. Ultimate fighting is not a sport.

pandrews

<< <i>I think the topic of the thread is pretty clear about what we want to talk about. Ultimate fighting is not a sport. >>



its called Mixed Martial Arts, and it's more of a sport than anything else..

dgbaseball

its called Mixed Martial Arts, and it's more of a sport than anything else..

Yes, no doubt. In fact I just picked up a box of Wheaties with Mauricio Rua on the cover this very morning.

pandrews

<< <i>Yes, no doubt. In fact I just picked up a box of Wheaties with Mauricio Rua on the cover this very morning. >>



oh, ok.. i was unaware that a box of wheaties is what defines a "sport"..

you're obviously not very knowledgeable about the sport of mma, or you wouldn't call it "ultimate fighting"..

it is the most complete sport in existance, and has been since the beginning of time.. the early Greeks called the sport Pankration..

mma fighters crosstrain and combine boxing, muay-thai, jiujitsu, greco-roman, and any other martial art..

dgbaseball

oh, ok.. i was unaware that a box of wheaties is what defines a "sport"..

you're obviously not very knowledgeable about the sport of mma, or you wouldn't call it "ultimate fighting"..

it is the most complete sport in existance, and has been since the beginning of time.. the early Greeks called the sport Pankration..

mma fighters crosstrain and combine boxing, muay-thai, jiujitsu, greco-roman, and any other martial art..


Yes, that's wonderful. The early Greeks also had a lot of other traditions I'm glad no longer exist in our civilized society...

Anyways, my point was that your initial post was way off topic. But since this has now evolved to in to a discussion about the merits of ultimate fighting (no quotes), I'll offer this assertion:

Ultimate fighting fighters, in addition to crosstraining and combine boxing (whatever that is), are a bunch of steroid laden exploited losers bred to entertain people like yourself who enjoy watching unskilled, merciless brawling, probably to fulfill some vicarious rush. Admittedly, I'm describing much of boxing promotions in the world these days, which is maybe why you brought it up in the first place.

pandrews

<< <i>Yes, that's wonderful. The early Greeks also had a lot of other traditions I'm glad no longer exist in our civilized society...

Anyways, my point was that your initial post was way off topic. But since this has now evolved to in to a discussion about the merits of ultimate fighting (no quotes), I'll offer this assertion:

Ultimate fighting fighters, in addition to crosstraining and combine boxing (whatever the that is), are a bunch of steroid laden exploited losers bred to entertain people like yourself who enjoy watching unskilled, merciless brawling, probably to fulfill some vicarious rush. Admittedly, I'm describing much of boxing promotions in the world these days, which is maybe why you brought it up in the first place. >>




ignorance must be blissful for you.. unskilled? merciless? heh.. merciless is when Roberto Duran took so much grief for his "No Mas" fight.. that is brutal.. at least mma allows an opponent to tap out and nobody looks down on that..

steroid laden? we all know that no other sports are full of roid heads, right? and yes, the big mma shows test for steroids..

if you really think the word "unskilled" applies to mma, you're sadly mistaken..

and i have to quote you again just for fun:

<< <i>in addition to crosstraining and combine boxing (whatever the that is), >>



whatever is the that?.. heh..


and anyway, back to your statement about it not being a sport, you should buy a dictionary instead of a box of wheaties.. look up the word sport and get back to me..

the worlds earliest and truest sports are fighting and running.. like it or not..

Stingray

Thomas Hearn vs Marvin Haggler, only three rounds, but the best three rounds I have seen.


Stingray

JrMacdaddy

I remember watching the Boom Boom Mancini vs Duk Koo Kim fight back when I was in 8th grade. That was a great fight but obviously had a terrible outcome.

pandrews

<< <i>I remember watching the Boom Boom Mancini vs Duk Koo Kim fight back when I was in 8th grade. That was a great fight but obviously had a terrible outcome. >>



that was brutal, but Boom Boom was the man..

DirtyHarry

I would love to see an MMA champ in a fight with a WBA champ. For that matter, either with a "real" wrestling champion. But, the sports are different and no true victor can be claimed unless a promoter is smart enough to try and pull the whole thing together. That would indeed be interesting!

pandrews

<< <i>I would love to see an MMA champ in a fight with a WBA champ. For that matter, either with a "real" wrestling champion. But, the sports are different and no true victor can be claimed unless a promoter is smart enough to try and pull the whole thing together. That would indeed be interesting! >>



it would be interesting, but it would depend on the rules.. a top boxer would kill a top mma guy if they're boxing, but a top mma guy would kill a boxer if it was mma rules.. just depends whose "turf" they're on..

a boxer could do great in mma if they learn 1 thing -- avoid the takedown.. its easier said than done, but if a boxer could keep the fight on the feet, they'd be successful in mma..

real wrestling champs are also usually badass mma fighters once they learn to incorporate strikes into their game.. some of the top guys are ex-wrestlers, ala Randy Couture and Dan Henderson off the top of my head.. even Rulon Gardner has fought once, and won.. these are some of the guys the boxers would NOT want to take them to the ground.. and it would be hard to avoid.. once a good wrestler gets you on the ground, its gonna be hard to get back up.. thats where good jiujitsu can come in handy, you can win the fight from your back..

with mma rules, a wrestler like Randy Couture or Dan Henderson would take down somebody like Mike Tyson and drop elbows and fists on his face for as long as neccesary, and i dont picture Tyson being able to get up off his back after being taken down by a world class wrestler..

ROCKDJRW

The Gotti / Ward fights were amazing!