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Kind of like the excellent fight topics, but individual performances that just shine, but are forgotten due to something else about the fight.
Mosley-Margarito - Another fight that was affected by the allegations of plaster... but, can anyone think of another fight that shows pure offensive artistry in every second of the fight? Seriously, Mosley connected with everything, and every single punch was 100% loaded up, meant to knock out an unknockoutable fighter. Mosley's power won the argument against Margarito's chin in the end. Absolutely incredible.
Dirrell-Abraham - I'm not here to argue what happened with the DQ... every debate I've had on that topic transcends the level of stupidity this board is capable of it seems like. However, Dirrell came into that fight with everyone expecting him to get knocked out, and knocked out early. He boxed the perfect fight, using his range effectively, and mixing up offense and defense to perfection in his game plan.
Martinez-Dzinziruk - This fight boils down to... had you seen Dzinziruk coming into this fight. If so, you knew the special fight Martinez was fighting, outjabbing the guy with the second best jab in the sport, only behind Wladimir Klitschko. Dzinziruk was legit, soundly beat a prime Daniel Santos, and he got absolutely wrecked by Martinez. This win was much more impressive than his decision over Pavlik and almost as impressive as his knockout of Williams, which was only better because of the track record of Williams's chin.
Calzaghe-Kessler - People often underrate everything about this fight. It was a pretty decent fight in terms of action... both fighters were trying to hurt as well as win rounds, it was easily the most significant fight of 2007 (lineal IBF and WBO/Ring champ vs. WBA/WBC champ; truly established dominance in the division with one fight), and Calzaghe totally shut down a better technical fighter with his unorthodox game plan. I've never seen the Eubank fight, but I have problems seeing how any fight but this can't be considered the best win of Calzaghe's career.
Kessler-Froch - This fight gets a lot of love, but I think both fighters' performances get underrated. Kessler came back and showed that he still had it, with a very good technical fight, and he showed tons of heart, fighting through the multiple times he was hurt. Froch's performance really impressed me though. I came into this fight thinking Froch was trash, but came out wondering how he looked like Sweet Pea Whitaker defensively sometimes (I swear to god I thought that while watching the fight in spots) and was impressed by the awkwardness and how he was able to make his punches land, even though they look slow as hell. He really is a special fighter, you just can't figure out why when watching him fight.
Tarver-Johnson II - After Hopkins made Tarver to look like the most overrated fighter of the decade, people largely blew him off as a guy who was in the right place at the right time to take down a weight drained Jones... I'm not buying it, and never will, and it's because of the Glen Johnson fights. I was quite surprised that Johnson got the decision in the first one, as I thought Tarver boxed an excellent fight, but the rematch was truly special. People forget that the guy who almost beat Dawson in their first fight got completely shut down, almost as hard as he did against Hopkins back when he was a green middleweight. This fight alone validates Tarver's career past a lucky guy with a fluke win over a shot Jones in my mind.
Wright-Mosley II - The myth of the majority decision, and the revisionist way HBO talks about this fight makes people forget that Wright put even more of a down south, Mississippi ass whipping on Sugar Shane, who had no business at 154. Seriously, check the compubox numbers if you don't have time to watch it, or actually watch it and have it don on you... man, I did remember this all wrong. Mosley got dominated, even though he fought a little better; Wright fought soooooooo much better, which made a bigger gap in margin of victory (or should have been in the official cards anyway).
Margarito-Cintron II - Considering what Cintron has done since moving up to 154... beating Angulo, giving Martinez more trouble than Pavlik did, etc... he has kind of received the title of spoiler. He spoiled nothing for Margarito. I was in awe at the beating Margarito gave Cintron in their rematch, which really was a legitimate fight, but after it was over, it functioned the same that Cotto's tune-up against Gomez did for their fight in the summer. Excellent performance.
Pacquiao-Diaz - People often think of David Diaz as a substandard champion and average fighter. He has some okay wins in his career, give some credit. Regardless, he was obviously not on the same level as Pacquiao. But, what people do forget is that, previous to this fight, Pacquiao was a come forward puncher... but he unveiled a boxer-puncher style not seen before, and that I didn't think he was capable of.
Pacquiao-Morales II - People think of this in the same way that they think of the third fight. This fight was competitive, close, Morales fought quite well, and Pacquiao doesn't get credit for retooling his game plan and finding a way to break Morales down with better use of his right, and body punching. People who point to Raheem beating Morales before this fight make me laugh a little... do you really think Pacquiao fought like Raheem to win this fight?
Alright, done... I kind of went overboard with this one... post away!
Mosley-Margarito - Another fight that was affected by the allegations of plaster... but, can anyone think of another fight that shows pure offensive artistry in every second of the fight? Seriously, Mosley connected with everything, and every single punch was 100% loaded up, meant to knock out an unknockoutable fighter. Mosley's power won the argument against Margarito's chin in the end. Absolutely incredible.
Dirrell-Abraham - I'm not here to argue what happened with the DQ... every debate I've had on that topic transcends the level of stupidity this board is capable of it seems like. However, Dirrell came into that fight with everyone expecting him to get knocked out, and knocked out early. He boxed the perfect fight, using his range effectively, and mixing up offense and defense to perfection in his game plan.
Martinez-Dzinziruk - This fight boils down to... had you seen Dzinziruk coming into this fight. If so, you knew the special fight Martinez was fighting, outjabbing the guy with the second best jab in the sport, only behind Wladimir Klitschko. Dzinziruk was legit, soundly beat a prime Daniel Santos, and he got absolutely wrecked by Martinez. This win was much more impressive than his decision over Pavlik and almost as impressive as his knockout of Williams, which was only better because of the track record of Williams's chin.
Calzaghe-Kessler - People often underrate everything about this fight. It was a pretty decent fight in terms of action... both fighters were trying to hurt as well as win rounds, it was easily the most significant fight of 2007 (lineal IBF and WBO/Ring champ vs. WBA/WBC champ; truly established dominance in the division with one fight), and Calzaghe totally shut down a better technical fighter with his unorthodox game plan. I've never seen the Eubank fight, but I have problems seeing how any fight but this can't be considered the best win of Calzaghe's career.
Kessler-Froch - This fight gets a lot of love, but I think both fighters' performances get underrated. Kessler came back and showed that he still had it, with a very good technical fight, and he showed tons of heart, fighting through the multiple times he was hurt. Froch's performance really impressed me though. I came into this fight thinking Froch was trash, but came out wondering how he looked like Sweet Pea Whitaker defensively sometimes (I swear to god I thought that while watching the fight in spots) and was impressed by the awkwardness and how he was able to make his punches land, even though they look slow as hell. He really is a special fighter, you just can't figure out why when watching him fight.
Tarver-Johnson II - After Hopkins made Tarver to look like the most overrated fighter of the decade, people largely blew him off as a guy who was in the right place at the right time to take down a weight drained Jones... I'm not buying it, and never will, and it's because of the Glen Johnson fights. I was quite surprised that Johnson got the decision in the first one, as I thought Tarver boxed an excellent fight, but the rematch was truly special. People forget that the guy who almost beat Dawson in their first fight got completely shut down, almost as hard as he did against Hopkins back when he was a green middleweight. This fight alone validates Tarver's career past a lucky guy with a fluke win over a shot Jones in my mind.
Wright-Mosley II - The myth of the majority decision, and the revisionist way HBO talks about this fight makes people forget that Wright put even more of a down south, Mississippi ass whipping on Sugar Shane, who had no business at 154. Seriously, check the compubox numbers if you don't have time to watch it, or actually watch it and have it don on you... man, I did remember this all wrong. Mosley got dominated, even though he fought a little better; Wright fought soooooooo much better, which made a bigger gap in margin of victory (or should have been in the official cards anyway).
Margarito-Cintron II - Considering what Cintron has done since moving up to 154... beating Angulo, giving Martinez more trouble than Pavlik did, etc... he has kind of received the title of spoiler. He spoiled nothing for Margarito. I was in awe at the beating Margarito gave Cintron in their rematch, which really was a legitimate fight, but after it was over, it functioned the same that Cotto's tune-up against Gomez did for their fight in the summer. Excellent performance.
Pacquiao-Diaz - People often think of David Diaz as a substandard champion and average fighter. He has some okay wins in his career, give some credit. Regardless, he was obviously not on the same level as Pacquiao. But, what people do forget is that, previous to this fight, Pacquiao was a come forward puncher... but he unveiled a boxer-puncher style not seen before, and that I didn't think he was capable of.
Pacquiao-Morales II - People think of this in the same way that they think of the third fight. This fight was competitive, close, Morales fought quite well, and Pacquiao doesn't get credit for retooling his game plan and finding a way to break Morales down with better use of his right, and body punching. People who point to Raheem beating Morales before this fight make me laugh a little... do you really think Pacquiao fought like Raheem to win this fight?
Alright, done... I kind of went overboard with this one... post away!
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