Greatest All Time Fight by Weightclass

[DeeMoney]

Am wondering what opinions are for the greatest all time fights were based on weight class? For the sake of discussion you can use whatever criteria you want (Consistent excitement, level of skill of fighters, importance, etc) and to whatever extent you want. To keep it organized lets just focus on the original 8 weight classes:

Heavy
Lt Heavy
Middle
Welter
Light
Feather
Bantam
Fly

[Willie Pep 229]

I am assuming we all choose one fight?

HW ::: Dempsey-Firpo - 11 KDs in four minutes with the HW Champion knocked out of the ring. Also the first 'water-cooler' moment in any sport, as millions for the first time ever shared the excitement first hand via radio.

LHW ::: My knowledge is too limited to make a real assessment; guess I have ignored the weight class for decades.

MW ::: Zale-Graziano II - but unfortunately we are depended on the contempoary written accounts only. No film, what a shame. For me personally it was Benvenuti-Monzon I. Other than a flash KD against Valdez (II) the tenth round of this fight is the only time I ever saw Monzon at bay; Benvenuti almost pulled a rabbit out his ass. At one point in the tenth, maybe, just maybe, Monzon actually looked scared. Hard to believe, I know.

WW ::: Leonard-Hearns I - much drama, much give and take - but this is really only circa my lifetime - I wonder what the Ross-McLarin trilogy looked like. Two SDs and UD over 45 close rounds, or possibly Basilo-Fulmer?

LW: I want to think on this for a while; my favorite weight class.

FW ::: Lopez-Ayala - a perfect fight; a perfect styles match-up; would've brought down the house in any decade.

BW ::: Romero-Tapia - great fight, fair decision for a change - but again my knowledge is limited; no opportunity to see the great BWs in action. (This fight was contested at 114 [Super Flyweight/Junior Bantamweight] so not sure where to put it.

FyW ::: Carbajal-Gonzalez I - Maybe the only FyW fight I have ever watched. How's that for a pointless opinion? Great fight though. Oddly Gonzalez would win the next two and prove to be the better fighter.

[Rockybigblower]

HW....AJ/Ruiz 2
LH....Calzaghe vs Roy Jones
SMW....Ottke vs Mundine
MW....GGG vs Geale
JMW....TBC
WW....De La Hoya vs Quartey
Jr WW....Khan vs Malignaggi

[JAB5239]

I am assuming we all choose one fight?

HW ::: Dempsey-Firpo - 11 KDs in four minutes with the HW Champion knocked out of the ring. Also the first 'water-cooler' moment in any sport, as millions for the first time ever shared the excitement first hand via radio.

LHW ::: My knowledge is too limited to make a real assessment; guess I have ignored the weight class for decades.

MW ::: Zale-Graziano II - but unfortunately we are depended on the contempoary written accounts only. No film, what a shame. For me personally it was Benvenuti-Monzon I. Other than a flash KD against Valdez (II) the tenth round of this fight is the only time I ever saw Monzon at bay; Benvenuti almost pulled a rabbit out his ass. At one point in the tenth, maybe, just maybe, Monzon actually looked scared. Hard to believe, I know.

WW ::: Leonard-Hearns I - much drama, much give and take - but this is really only circa my lifetime - I wonder what the Ross-McLarin trilogy looked like. Two SDs and UD over 45 close rounds, or possibly Basilo-Fulmer?

LW: I want to think on this for a while; my favorite weight class.

FW ::: Lopez-Ayala - a perfect fight; a perfect styles match-up; would've brought down the house in any decade.

BW ::: Romero-Tapia - great fight, fair decision for a change - but again my knowledge is limited; no opportunity to see the great BWs in action. (This fight was contested at 114 [Super Flyweight/Junior Bantamweight] so not sure where to put it.

FyW ::: Carbajal-Gonzalez I - Maybe the only FyW fight I have ever watched. How's that for a pointless opinion? Great fight though. Oddly Gonzalez would win the next two and prove to be the better fighter.

I'm partial to Naseem Hamed-Kevin Kelley at featherweight probably because I watched it live. But you could put any number of featherweight from the late 70's and early 80's and say it was the greatest fight. Those guys had some wars!! Chacon, Boza-Edwards, Lopez....all were in incredible fights with each other and others.

[Flickergrab98]

HW - Bowe vs. Holyfield trilogy. A part of me wants to pick Foreman vs Lyle, but I ultimately decide to give it to one of the consistently epic trilogies of all time. The first fight was the best of its decade pound for pound and helped define silver age of heavyweights. The second was pure insanity with several instances of fighting after the bell, the fan man incident, and the fourth instance of a former heavyweight champion regaining their title. And the third one managed to give us two things that the previous two fights didn’t: Bowe getting knocked down for the first time and Holyfield getting TKO’d for the first time.

LH - Moore vs. Durelle 1. The Old Mongoose gave us the greatest “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat” fight of all time. My favorite fight from the 1950’s that I’ve seen so far.

MW - This was a tough one. I could’ve gone with more classic choices like Hagler vs Hearns or Robinson vs LaMotta 6. But I think I’m going to pick Duran vs Barkley. Not only was the chocked full of jaw-dropping action, it was an inspiring story. Duran, considered the underdog coming in, managed to score a victory through both perseverance and ring generalship despite being past his prime and way out of his natural weight class.

WW - My gut is telling me to pick Ward vs. Gatti 1. But I’m not sure if it counts since I’m pretty sure it was set at light welterweight. If not that, then maybe Leonard vs Hearns 1 & 2? Pacquiao vs. Marquez 4? Or maybe Rodriguez vs Wolak? I’m really not sure.

LW - I realized over course of writing this post that I probably don’t watch enough lightweight fights. Cause I’m drawing a blank here. I think the best ones I’ve seen are some of Duran’s fight during his lightweight prime like against Buchanan or Esteban De Jesus 2. But I don’t wanna pick another Duran fight now that I gave him best Middleweight fight. I think I should probably give Corrales vs Castillo a watch.

FW - Chacon vs Limon 4. A lot of good featherweight fights out there to choose from. But I’m going with this epic classic of the 80’s with Chacon overcoming two knockdowns and scoring a knockdown on Limon in the final round. It was also tremendous to see an instance where the swarmer beat the slugger.

BW - This one was a battle between my head and my heart. My head said it should be Morales vs Barrera 1. My heart tells me to pick Inoue vs Donaire. Ultimately, my heart won out. This was Inoue’s biggest challenge yet, with Donaire proving that he could still go against top-level competition. And Inoue despite suffering from double-vision for much of the fight, persevered and scored a body shot knockdown on Donaire to secure the decision. It was an excellent display by both boxers.

FyW - I remember Carbajal vs Gonzalez being a pretty good fight, so I’ll agree wit Pep on this one. I haven’t seen a lot of flyweight matches either.

[QueensburyRules]

Am wondering what opinions are for the greatest all time fights were based on weight class? For the sake of discussion you can use whatever criteria you want (Consistent excitement, level of skill of fighters, importance, etc) and to whatever extent you want. To keep it organized lets just focus on the original 8 weight classes:

Heavy
Lt Heavy
Middle
Welter
Light
Feather
Bantam
Fly

- - For sheer ebb and flow action mixed with craft, ain't ever gonna beat Pryor/Arguello 1 at jr welt.

FOC Frazier/Ali close, but Ali out of it the championship rounds. Say Hello Wlad/AJ where AJ unified the the Great Champs titles to give him a crack at them after the former disgraced Ring Champ busted for steroids and stripped of all his titles save his Ring who have not even the scruples of the ABCs.

Fly- Skinny 19 yr old Filipino with a spotty record brought to Thailand to be slaughtered by the Great Champ but ends up skewered, ie Manny/Sasakul and the rest history.

Welter- Duran/Leonard 1 - Leonard concussed early tried a late comeback but was never destined to be a winner of this furious fight.

[The Old LefHook]

In the history of boxing one fight stands out above all others--Ayala vs Lopez. Best single fight ever. Period.

[BattlingNelson]

Hw Ali-Frazier III
lhw Saad Muhammad - Lopez II
mw Hagler - Hearns
ww Marquez _ Pacquiao IV
lw Gans - Nelson I

idk about the midgets.

[The Old LefHook]

In the history of boxing one fight stands out above all others. Best fight ever. Leonard/Duran1.

[soul_survivor]

Good thread topic. I'll pick just one fight for each division.

HW: Ali v Frazier 1, the greatest, most skillful heavyweight contest of all time.

LHW: Moore v Durelle, high octane and exciting.

MW: Hagley v Hearns, man could it be anything else?

WW: Leonard v Duran I, two of the greatest of all time going at it.

More to follow.