Their Very Best Night

[marbleheadmaui]

We often discuss a fighter's prime. Sometimes we discuss a shorter perio, his peak. Now I'm going one step further. In what single fight was he at his very best. If you wanted to show someone how good a given guy COULD BE? What fight do you show?

Some are pretty easy.

Joe Frazier UD15 Muhammad Ali
Max Schmeling KO12 Joe Louis
Barry McGuigan UD15 Antonio Cervantes

Here are some that in my view are true, but probably will cause some controversy

Tommy Hearns UD 15 Wilfredo Benitez-Hearns showed his offensive greatness in dropping El Radar and his boxing greatness by then outboxing him.

Azumah Nelson KO8 Jeff Fenech-The Professor at his arrogant, powerful and dangerous best on Fenech's home ground.

Matthew Saad Muhammad TKO14 Yaqui Lopez-This one is weird because to show Miracle Mathhew you have to show a fight he almost loses.

Joe Louis KO4 Max Baer-I just don't think he was ever any sharper.

Ricardo Lopez TKO12 Andy Tabanas-While his KO of Sorjaturong is more impressive? it didn't take long enough to really show Finito.

Where am I wrong and waddya got?

[Mark TKO]

what about Hearns v Duran. The first man to KO him wasn't he at the time. And in quick brutal fashion

[greynotsoold]

I thought that the night Rafael Ruelas beat Freddie Pendleton was the best night of his life. Pendleton dropped him twice in the first (and twice later, which weren't ruled knockdowns), and the entire Forum would hold its breath every time he threw that rocket of a right hand, but Ruelas would not be denied that night.

[Fenster]

Benn KO10 McClellan - Mental heart/courage/determination. We shouldn't have enjoyed that but it was incredible.

Barrera KO1 Paul Lloyd - Savage.

Naz KO8 Robinson - New superstar.

Toney TKO9 Barkley - Masterclass.

Roy Jones KO/PTS Everyone pre-2002 - Amazing.

Calzaghe UD12 Lacy - justification.

Jackson KO4 Graham - he honestly didn't have a horseshoe in his glove.

Pac TKO8 Oscar - did that little dude really just humiliate him like that?

Wayne McCullough vs every punch ever landed on him - probable descendant of planet Krypton.

[boozeboxer]

Winky beating Trinidad.

[ICB]

Ruben Olivares vs Lionel Rose
Pernell Whitaker vs Miguel Santana
Hector Samacho vs Jose Luis Ramirez
Alexis Arguello vs Ruben Olivares
Julio Cesar Chavez vs Ruben Castillo
Terry Norris vs Simon Brown 2
Larry Holmes vs Earnie Shavers 1
Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Marvin Johnson 1
Dwight Muhammad Qawi vs Matthew Saad Muhammad 2
Michael Spinks vs Yaqui Lopez
Chris Eubank vs John Jarvis
Michael Watson vs Nigel Benn
Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manny Pacquiao 1

[marbleheadmaui]

I thought that the night Rafael Ruelas beat Freddie Pendleton was the best night of his life. Pendleton dropped him twice in the first (and twice later, which weren't ruled knockdowns), and the entire Forum would hold its breath every time he threw that rocket of a right hand, but Ruelas would not be denied that night.

VERY nice!

[marbleheadmaui]

what about Hearns v Duran. The first man to KO him wasn't he at the time. And in quick brutal fashion

I just don't think it was long enough or varied enough to explain Hearns. But I'm not surprised that you/someone would choose that instead.

[TitoFan]

We often discuss a fighter's prime. Sometimes we discuss a shorter perio, his peak. Now I'm going one step further. In what single fight was he at his very best. If you wanted to show someone how good a given guy COULD BE? What fight do you show?

Some are pretty easy.

Joe Frazier UD15 Muhammad Ali
Max Schmeling KO12 Joe Louis
Barry McGuigan UD15 Antonio Cervantes

Here are some that in my view are true, but probably will cause some controversy

Tommy Hearns UD 15 Wilfredo Benitez-Hearns showed his offensive greatness in dropping El Radar and his boxing greatness by then outboxing him.

Azumah Nelson KO8 Jeff Fenech-The Professor at his arrogant, powerful and dangerous best on Fenech's home ground.

Matthew Saad Muhammad TKO14 Yaqui Lopez-This one is weird because to show Miracle Mathhew you have to show a fight he almost loses.

Joe Louis KO4 Max Baer-I just don't think he was ever any sharper.

Ricardo Lopez TKO12 Andy Tabanas-While his KO of Sorjaturong is more impressive? it didn't take long enough to really show Finito.

Where am I wrong and waddya got?

If you go by that statement, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Buster Douglas on the night he beat Mike Tyson. I've watched that fight a few times, and.... although everyone is quick to point out how off his game Tyson was, and that he was overconfident due to never having lost.... I think it does a disservice to Douglas, who arguably fought one of the best fights a heavyweight could fight.

He was lean, in shape, fearless.... and fought the perfect fight against Tyson. The fight itself was great. Not boring, not a clinch-fest, not a tactical chess match, not a Wlad-Haye fight (oops). It was truly a great fight. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so, but Douglas-Tyson is the quintessential fight you'd show to someone to show how good Douglas could've been, had he given himself fully to his career. He had the talent, and the size. He didn't have the heart, or the mind.

[marbleheadmaui]

We often discuss a fighter's prime. Sometimes we discuss a shorter perio, his peak. Now I'm going one step further. In what single fight was he at his very best. If you wanted to show someone how good a given guy COULD BE? What fight do you show?

Some are pretty easy.

Joe Frazier UD15 Muhammad Ali
Max Schmeling KO12 Joe Louis
Barry McGuigan UD15 Antonio Cervantes

Here are some that in my view are true, but probably will cause some controversy

Tommy Hearns UD 15 Wilfredo Benitez-Hearns showed his offensive greatness in dropping El Radar and his boxing greatness by then outboxing him.

Azumah Nelson KO8 Jeff Fenech-The Professor at his arrogant, powerful and dangerous best on Fenech's home ground.

Matthew Saad Muhammad TKO14 Yaqui Lopez-This one is weird because to show Miracle Mathhew you have to show a fight he almost loses.

Joe Louis KO4 Max Baer-I just don't think he was ever any sharper.

Ricardo Lopez TKO12 Andy Tabanas-While his KO of Sorjaturong is more impressive? it didn't take long enough to really show Finito.

Where am I wrong and waddya got?

If you go by that statement, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Buster Douglas on the night he beat Mike Tyson. I've watched that fight a few times, and.... although everyone is quick to point out how off his game Tyson was, and that he was overconfident due to never having lost.... I think it does a disservice to Douglas, who arguably fought one of the best fights a heavyweight could fight.

He was lean, in shape, fearless.... and fought the perfect fight against Tyson. The fight itself was great. Not boring, not a clinch-fest, not a tactical chess match, not a Wlad-Haye fight (oops). It was truly a great fight. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so, but Douglas-Tyson is the quintessential fight you'd show to someone to show how good Douglas could've been, had he given himself fully to his career. He had the talent, and the size. He didn't have the heart, or the mind.

GREAT call! Good post too!

[johnsebastianmiran]

Although Ali's performnce against Big Cat Williams as he was nicknamed was a great one, Mr. Wiolliams came back from being shot bin a holdup and was carrying three bullets. I don't know how much was taken out of him but I have to give him more than just credit for fighting Ali but he nade a greta comeback when he was shot and still was a top contender. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like everything Ali ever did but He was great in 1966. If someone has the information and it's not really that important but did Williams weigh in with three slugs? That is what I read about him in Ring Magazine.

[THE THIRD MAN]

Although Ali's performnce against Big Cat Williams as he was nicknamed was a great one, Mr. Wiolliams came back from being shot bin a holdup and was carrying three bullets. I don't know how much was taken out of him but I have to give him more than just credit for fighting Ali but he nade a greta comeback when he was shot and still was a top contender. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like everything Ali ever did but He was great in 1966. If someone has the information and it's not really that important but did Williams weigh in with three slugs? That is what I read about him in Ring Magazine.

Williams was at his peak in the early 60's, only Sonny Liston easily beat him before
that. He lost a SD to Terrell after knocking Terrell out in their previous fight. Inactive in 1965 due to the shooting, Williams was never the same again and was no match for a prime Ali. 58 KO wins in 78 is pretty good going.

[johnsebastianmiran]

Terrell was the role model for John Ruiz all that holding and wrestling probably frustrated Williams too.

[JazMerkin]

I'm going to stick to fights from my lifetime for now, even if there are some old ones I'd love to pick out, I prefer to go off fighters whose careers have followed live & how I can remember my reactions to them. I've probably answered the question more as a kind of 'which fight defined them' thing, but meh it's close enough.

Mosley-Margarito. I know that the temptation would be to pick the first Oscar fight or one of his defences at LW & WW, but he really was great in this fight. He even had a round where Margarito seemed to be getting back into it & he again imposed himself. This remains one of my best upset picks in years of watching the sport, even if truthfully it was partly pushed by memories of my childhood worship of Sugar Shane. The fact was it made him once again the real welterweight champion of the world.

Hopkins-Pavlik. Again I know the Tito one would be obvious, but this fight really had everyone thinking Hopkins was shot. He was supposed to just be there to make up the numbers. The question wasn't would Pavlik beat him, it was 'would Pavlik KO him?'. I know after damn near everyone claimed they'd picked 'Nard, but I didn't see a lot of them pre-fight. Also that moment where he stared out into press row might just be my most spine-tingling moment in watching the sport. It also had a truly brilliant moment where Hopkins threw a bolo punch, landed, Pavlik stayed in covered up & Hopkins gave him a look that said 'C'mon son, give me SOMETHING'.

Mayweather-Corrales. A tough one to pick out as there are so many fights that could be Floyd's 'best night'. The fight with Genaro, in which he was amazingly a major underdog, could definitely be it, but this was probably the single most dominant performance between two top fighters in my lifetime. It was more of a shut-out than any other fight between two elite guys (& they both were at the time) than any other.

Pacquiao-Hatton. I may be a bit biased here as I was at the fight, but I believe this was Pacquiao at his perfect weight & regardless of how badly Hatton fought, if he'd even been at his best, I struggle to believe he would have lasted much longer. Awe-inspiring to have even been in the presence of greatness.

Corrales-Castillo 1. I don't need to say anymore really. If ever there was a fight that defined one man refusing on every level to be beat, it was this one.

[marbleheadmaui]

I'm going to stick to fights from my lifetime for now, even if there are some old ones I'd love to pick out, I prefer to go off fighters whose careers have followed live & how I can remember my reactions to them. I've probably answered the question more as a kind of 'which fight defined them' thing, but meh it's close enough.

Mosley-Margarito. I know that the temptation would be to pick the first Oscar fight or one of his defences at LW & WW, but he really was great in this fight. He even had a round where Margarito seemed to be getting back into it & he again imposed himself. This remains one of my best upset picks in years of watching the sport, even if truthfully it was partly pushed by memories of my childhood worship of Sugar Shane. The fact was it made him once again the real welterweight champion of the world.

Hopkins-Pavlik. Again I know the Tito one would be obvious, but this fight really had everyone thinking Hopkins was shot. He was supposed to just be there to make up the numbers. The question wasn't would Pavlik beat him, it was 'would Pavlik KO him?'. I know after damn near everyone claimed they'd picked 'Nard, but I didn't see a lot of them pre-fight. Also that moment where he stared out into press row might just be my most spine-tingling moment in watching the sport. It also had a truly brilliant moment where Hopkins threw a bolo punch, landed, Pavlik stayed in covered up & Hopkins gave him a look that said 'C'mon son, give me SOMETHING'.

Mayweather-Corrales. A tough one to pick out as there are so many fights that could be Floyd's 'best night'. The fight with Genaro, in which he was amazingly a major underdog, could definitely be it, but this was probably the single most dominant performance between two top fighters in my lifetime. It was more of a shut-out than any other fight between two elite guys (& they both were at the time) than any other.

Pacquiao-Hatton. I may be a bit biased here as I was at the fight, but I believe this was Pacquiao at his perfect weight & regardless of how badly Hatton fought, if he'd even been at his best, I struggle to believe he would have lasted much longer. Awe-inspiring to have even been in the presence of greatness.

Corrales-Castillo 1. I don't need to say anymore really. If ever there was a fight that defined one man refusing on every level to be beat, it was this one.

Wonderful post. A couple of things.

I remember being astonished when Margarito took his first step back against Mosley.

I may have been in the minority going in but there was no question my mind BHOP knew EXACTLY what to do to beat Pavlik. The only question was did he have the stamina anymore to do it for twelve rounds. My guess was probably not but that BHOP was a VERY live dog. I wasn't surprised by what I was watching. I was of course, extremely impressed.

I think those are Floyd's and Manny's finest performances as well.