Top Ten Greatest Boxing Fights
Joe Frazier dominated their first fight - the fight of the century with his left hook and body punches.
Even in the early rounds, despite being known as a slow starter, Joe rocked Ali with some big hits which a precursor to what followed. In Round 5, he was laughing and taunting Ali and goading Ali to hit him. Ali did land some punches which Joe seemed to brush off. Joe had conveyed his message to Ali - "I can take your punches".
In Round 8, Frazier grabbed Ali's hands and dragged/pulled him away from the ropes and then beat him right back to the ropes. Ali was a big man and it was incredible to watch Frazier handling him with what seemed to border on disdain. By this time, Frazier was dictating the bout.
Frazier was relatively short and so needed to get in for landing his punches. In the process, he did take some jabs/punches from Ali too, but none of them were seriously threatening. It never stopped a determined Frazier from constantly moving forward while Ali seemed to constantly back track towards the ropes and cover up there. Joe just went at Ali for the entire 15 rounds!
In the 11th, Frazier gave hell to Ali staggering him badly. In the 15th, Ali went down, but got right back up to take some wicked shots again from Joe in the closing moments.
To Ali's credit, he did not get knocked out. Most other boxers would have been flattened by Joe that night. But by staying up, Ali had taken a lot of damaging shots from Smokin' Joe, the undisputed winner of this bout.
According to boxing historian Bert Randolph Sugar, Frazier though he lost was partying and singing while Ali the victor stayed in bed for at least 2 days. That bout should've retired Ali, but he needed the money and fame to keep fighting until he had nothing left against Larry Holmes in October, 1980.
It's Joeysworld.
Ali thought Joe was washed up by the time if this fight. Joe was well past his peak, but fighting Ali always charged up Joe. Joe's style was also a bad match up for Ali. Ali won, but Joe Frazier gave him a fearsome beating.
An awesome inspiring action fight of all time. This is the heart of professional boxing,
Two warriors fighting with heart, a courage for nothing but their pride on the line. Tons of excitement, courage, heart, big shots, little defense, etc.
Gatti - best action fighter of his generation.
The best by BOTH fighters... Ward is the "Pride of Lowell" not Dicky Eklund. Sugar Ray slipped baby. So. Lowell in the house here!
Man vs Man, will vs courage, endurance vs agility, clearly the best fight of the boxing history.
Throw strategy out the window. This was nothing more than a street fight for 8 minutes. 3 rounds of pure brutality.
To think, Hagler was badly cut in the first minute of the fight, should give you an indication of how tough a puncher Tommy Hearns was.
But after 8 minutes of watching, what can only be described as a predator stalking its prey, Hagler catches Hearns when Hearns foolishly turns his back on Hagler for a split second... Needless to say, lights out Mr Hearns.
Let's be thankful that the rung doctor didn't stop the bout in the first minute of round 3, or this fight would be nowhere near this great fights list.
You could tell Hagler knew he had to finish it quick and I think he knew that cut would only get worse the longer the fight went on, increasing the liklihood of the fight being stopped.
Great, great, great fight. Go watch it now!
Non stop action for 12 rounds. Clearly displayed the difference between a boxer and a fighter.
Taylor showed great heart that night. But chavez arguably the best boxer of all time. His timing was pergect.
Having worked for both HBO and Showtime for more than 25 years, I worked fishpole at ringside for all three of the Gatti/Ward battles. Of the more than 265 fights I worked, these three (and the Corrales/Castillo trio of fights) were more exciting than any of the Mayweather fights I worked (38)
Still the best of this millennia. Amazing
Buster Douglas vs Tyson maybe on a list of greatest upsets. This fight was highly anticipated and delivered the goods two great fighters.
This one of the top five fights ever. Heavyweights are overrated. Fighters today in the welterweight class would not last 5 rounds with either Duran or Leneord.
The classic matchup The Great Vs The Great. Legendary fight that I still love to watch nowadays.
This fight should definitely be ranked higher. It was a see saw battle from two fighters who definitely despised each other. Erik being undefeated and pound for pound...and Marco hating that he was forgotten about after the Junior Jones loss. Great scrap I thought Morales took two out of the their trilogy. The first being the closest.
As an avid boxing viewer, this for me is the greatest boxing match of all time. This match will keep you on the edge of your seat throughput. Back and forth like you've never seen. If you like boxing and haven't seen this contest, I would urge you to check this match.
Seriously. Most brutal fight ever. One almost dies and left dumb, deaf and blind. The fought one more time and retired. So vicious the boxing community doesn't want to remember it.
Brutal. Let's hope this never happens again.
Great fight from 1st minute, sad for McClellan but still hell of a fight
Ali at his most cunning. A must-see for any self-proclaimed boxing fan.
An ending fit for a legend like Wlad! No shame in passing the torch and in such style... AJ got a little lucky after the knockdown.