Fights "won" BEFORE the fight

[Master]

Holmes vs Tyson. In Larry's biography stated, it was the only fight where he wanted to call it off; while in the dressing room. But also said King lured him into the fight by offering millions.

I can believe that. Holmes was humiliated in that fight but I am sure he could have done a lot better in that fight.

[X]

Cassius Clay's mental demolition of Sonny Liston was truly amazing.

Most of Joe Louis' title defences were won before the first bell rang, as were most of Mike Tysons defences.

Floyd and Canelo stacked the odds in their favour beforehand, but that's not quite the same

The Mob fix was really in during the 1950's, but we won't ever know the true extent of that!

[THE THIRD MAN]

Duran V Leonard 1 : Leonard at the referee instructions is looking down and sideways and has a look that says "what the hell am i doing here in the ring with this mad man"? Duran isn't sweating, he's intense and is totally focused on a worried Leonard! Leonard is trying to remain calm, but he knows all hell is about to break loose and it did! This was the last time we saw Roberto Duran at his absolute frightening peak!

[TitoFan]

Duran V Leonard 1 : Leonard at the referee instructions is looking down, sideways and has a look that says "what the hell am i doing here in the ring with his mad man"? Duran isn't sweating, he's intense and is totally focused on a worried Leonard! Leonard is trying to remain calm, but he knows all hell is about to break loose and it did! This was the last time we saw Roberto Duran at his absolute frightening peak!

Good one. And credit to Leonard for making a good fight out of it. But he was clearly..... awed, shall we say..... by Duran prior to the fight.

[THE THIRD MAN]

Duran V Leonard 1 : Leonard at the referee instructions is looking down, sideways and has a look that says "what the hell am i doing here in the ring with his mad man"? Duran isn't sweating, he's intense and is totally focused on a worried Leonard! Leonard is trying to remain calm, but he knows all hell is about to break loose and it did! This was the last time we saw Roberto Duran at his absolute frightening peak!

Good one. And credit to Leonard for making a good fight out of it. But he was clearly..... awed, shall we say..... by Duran prior to the fight.

All credit to Leonard too, he was also at his peak and fought well and matched it with Duran who was a fighter possessed that night! Leonard learned an invaluable lesson.

[Master]

Everyone knew that Douglas would lose to Holyfield when they saw what he weighed before their fight.

[Syntax Error]

Tyson V Bruno 2 - Bruno virtually wet himself on the way to the ring & he just did not want to be there.

Holyfield V Tyson 2 - Tyson is a student of the game & no-one knows other fighters better than him & he knew deep down that he could not beat Holyfield, hence what transpired subsequently.

[Spicoli]

Mayweather v Marquez was pretty absurd. As was Canelo v Khan, we all knew 'what' we just didn't know the 'when'. I remember Camacho, RIP, trying to yuk it up before he got in with Chavez but quickly found the left hook to the body of Chavez becoming a permanent part of his anatomy. Camacho always had tons of charisma and he took a pounding that night. Chavez right up there with guys like Tyson early on in terms of sheer intimidation and having this cold quite malice about him. Big round of applause for the head games that backfired, Haye v Wlad. Silly dude even made t shirts .

[Master]

Khan v Alvarez and Crawford

[mikeeod]

1. Head Games: Some of my favorite examples of this are Liston vs Patterson (Floyd had a disguise in his bag to wear while leaving the building after the fight), Foreman vs everyone pre-Ali, Tyson vs Spinks, Riddick Bowe vs Larry Donald, and Steve Collins vs Chris Eubank (Eubank was rattled by Collins’ claim of hypnosis use).

2. Weight Games: Andre Ward vs Chad Dawson, Oscar vs Arturo Gatti, Gatti vs Joey Gamache, G-Man vs middleweights, and Ray Leonard vs Donny Lalond (won belts in two weights for one fight).

3. Judges Games: I feel like every boxing “cash cow” gets favor from judges so Canelo, Oscar, Ray Leonard, JCC…etc, all have some questionable wins. The interesting exception to me is Manny- he actually had some blatant robberies vs Tim Bradley and Jeff Horn while he was a cash cow.

4. Rules Games: Adding to the Hagler v Leonard regrets- DEFINITELY a mistake to allow Ray to get the bigger ring. Taking a different spin- prime BHOP was the master at using the rules to his advantage by fouling while the ref was out of position. I loved his tactic of using his left hand to position his opponents body between himself and the ref and then hitting low before maneuvering the opponent out of the way so the ref could clearly see the retaliatory low blow from the opponent.