Fighters with heart who had moments of self-doubt

[BKM-]

I like rare fights where a fighter who is actually known for being very resiliant and never giving up mentally has a period in a fight where he seems to be off and giving in to the helpless feeing of losing. What I like even more is when they overcome that and actually end up finishing the fight strong and maybe even winning.

It's not necessarily fights with the greatest comebacks because in most of those the winner kept digging for a win before he finally got it. I'll mention some of mine whether some may disagree with the nature of how that fight went, and you can add yours,

-Evander Holyfield vs Lennox lewis 1. In a very rare display it looked like Evander looked highly demotivated as he had real trouble dealing with Lennox' size and fight IQ. Little later on that classic grit and heart showed up and he finished strong.
-Famous one is Leonard vs Hearns 1. The coach helped a lot in this.
-Ali vs Liston 1. Controversy about blindless aside, the man was ready to stop fighting. He overcame the fear and ended up winning by finish.

[QueensburyRules]

I like rare fights where a fighter who is actually known for being very resiliant and never giving up mentally has a period in a fight where he seems to be off and giving in to the helpless feeing of losing. What I like even more is when they overcome that and actually end up finishing the fight strong and maybe even winning.

It's not necessarily fights with the greatest comebacks because in most of those the winner kept digging for a win before he finally got it. I'll mention some of mine whether some may disagree with the nature of how that fight went, and you can add yours,

-Evander Holyfield vs Lennox lewis 1. In a very rare display it looked like Evander looked highly demotivated as he had real trouble dealing with Lennox' size and fight IQ. Little later on that classic grit and heart showed up and he finished strong.
-Famous one is Leonard vs Hearns 1. The coach helped a lot in this.
-Ali vs Liston 1. Controversy about blindless aside, the man was ready to stop fighting. He overcame the fear and ended up winning by finish.

- - Usually when a fighter quits in his corner, and especially after failing the first prefight medical after becoming hysteric, that's an automatic RTD or TKO.

Immature Clay had a magical quality in his personality that allowed him to circumvent the standard officiating.

[BKM-]

- - Usually when a fighter quits in his corner, and especially after failing the first prefight medical after becoming hysteric, that's an automatic RTD or TKO.

Immature Clay had a magical quality in his personality that allowed him to circumvent the standard officiating.

They kept it quiet whenever an official was near them. Ali wasn't gonna quit then and there when he was blind but he did need the motivation of his coaches at that moment to continue on.
To put myself in his shoes as a keyboard warrior, lets say I was a pro fighter today. I would not want to continue fighting Beterbiev if he's just a blur in front of me. Screw that.

[JAB5239]

Ali in the 3rd Frazier fight. Gatti in the first Ward fight.

[QueensburyRules]

They kept it quiet whenever an official was near them. Ali wasn't gonna quit then and there when he was blind but he did need the motivation of his coaches at that moment to continue on.
To put myself in his shoes as a keyboard warrior, lets say I was a pro fighter today. I would not want to continue fighting Beterbiev if he's just a blur in front of me. Screw that.

- - Only time I ever saw Ali quiet was after bigging up Lar big time who was still skinny when Duane Bobick knocked Lar for a loop and out of their Olympic qualifier. Didn't make a peep for the rest of the night as Duane medaled one the strongest heavy divisions in their history.

[Tails]

This example doesn't necessarily have as much drama attached to it but I remember the look in Tyson Furys eyes after he got dropped by Wilder the for the second time in the third fight.

It looked like for that one or two seconds he was contemplating getting up or not. Now it could have been he was rocked badly and that is why he looled that way but I have seen that look in other fighters who did not get up.

[BKM-]

Those fights where a fighter’s grit gets tested are awesome.

That's why one of my favorite HW fights is still Lewis vs Vitali. He was really getting hammered in the first few rounds and looked a bit lost. But as he discussed with his coach beforehand, he had to stay in there to get close to the Russian so he could land his shots especially the left hook and right uppercut. In other words he knew it could get tough at first having to close the distance, but I don't think he quite expected Vitali to crack him and hurt him that bad. Lennox had to persevere and you can see his body language slowly change over the course of the fight as he was landing and shredding Klitschko's face.

Vitali though I never saw a moment of doubt in him that fight. He was crazy and on a mission.

[Anthony342]

How about No Mas fight. Duran had plenty of self doubt there. Or Marciano-Walcott 2 when Walcott looked like he was getting ready to get up, but then decided not to. Walcott later said he blacked out and couldn't hear the ref's count, which is why he got up after 10. Same seemed to happen in the second Pryor fight with Alexis Arguello when he was knocked down and took the 10 count, opting not to continue.

[QueensburyRules]

How about No Mas fight. Duran had plenty of self doubt there. Or Marciano-Walcott 2 when Walcott looked like he was getting ready to get up, but then decided not to. Walcott later said he blacked out and couldn't hear the ref's count, which is why he got up after 10. Same seemed to happen in the second Pryor fight with Alexis Arguello when he was knocked down and took the 10 count, opting not to continue.

- - Had two whole g****fruits including skin and seeds along with 2 full steak dinners sitting comfortably in his bowels ready to erupt at the first bell.

Ray ran the Shyte outta him…

[them_apples]

I like rare fights where a fighter who is actually known for being very resiliant and never giving up mentally has a period in a fight where he seems to be off and giving in to the helpless feeing of losing. What I like even more is when they overcome that and actually end up finishing the fight strong and maybe even winning.

It's not necessarily fights with the greatest comebacks because in most of those the winner kept digging for a win before he finally got it. I'll mention some of mine whether some may disagree with the nature of how that fight went, and you can add yours,

-Evander Holyfield vs Lennox lewis 1. In a very rare display it looked like Evander looked highly demotivated as he had real trouble dealing with Lennox' size and fight IQ. Little later on that classic grit and heart showed up and he finished strong.
-Famous one is Leonard vs Hearns 1. The coach helped a lot in this.
-Ali vs Liston 1. Controversy about blindless aside, the man was ready to stop fighting. He overcame the fear and ended up winning by finish.

ya Ali was ****ting himself the first few rounds of that Liston fight but then he came around at the end.