What's Your List of the Greatest Heavyweight Fights of the Past 25 Years?

[Dubblechin]

I wasn't watching boxing in the 90s, but since I started in 2000 we've had some good ones:

Sanders-Vitali
Lewis-Vitali
Wlad-Peter I
Helenius-Peter
Brewster-Lyakhovich
Brewster-Krasniqi
Quinn-Lyakhovich (great fight, look for it)
Chisora-Fury


some nice quick KOs:

Wlad-Bostice
Wlad-Jefferson
Wlad-Austin
Brewster-Golota
Helenius-Levin
Vitali-Johnson
Vitali-Hide
Price-Butler

Quinn-Liakhovich was good, as was Helenius-Peter. Peter-McCline was good, too.

Three fights I'm looking forward to in the next couple weeks are the Helenius-Liakhovich/Povetkin-Chagaev doubleheader as well as a fight that is off the radar but could be exciting: Dominick Guinn-Amir Mansour. If you haven't seen Mansour, check him out on YouTube. He's old, but he's a killer puncher.

[Dubblechin]

When talking about the heavyweight division, the above fights are far more common than those of the "great" variety.

A great heavyweight fight tends to be more exciting, P4P, if you will...but there are far fewer of those than in the other divisions.

I don't agree there are fewer. People tend to lump all 16 of the lighter divisions together and then say the heavyweights have fewer great fights.

No single division has more great fights than all the rest combined. But the heavyweights don't turn out fewer great fights than most of the others.

For example, if I asked you to name all the "great" welterweight fights over the past 25 years ... it's not like there were a lot more than there were at heavyweight.

Were the Forrest-Mosley fights great? No. I think Oscar had two great fights at the weight (Mosley 1 and Quartey). Six Heads Lewis? Buddy McGirt? Pernell Whitaker? Zab Judah? Cory Spinks? Marlon Starling? There aren't a lot of all-time "great" fights springing to mind going back to '86 ... especially if we're not considering quick knockouts.

Berto-Ortiz might have been the best welterweight fight in 25 years ... and it wasn't any better than Liakhovich-Brewster. Both were outstanding.

[Jedi Vader]

I wasn't watching boxing in the 90s, but since I started in 2000 we've had some good ones:

Sanders-Vitali
Lewis-Vitali
Wlad-Peter I
Helenius-Peter
Brewster-Lyakhovich
Brewster-Krasniqi
Quinn-Lyakhovich (great fight, look for it)
Chisora-Fury

some nice quick KOs:

Wlad-Bostice
Wlad-Jefferson
Wlad-Austin
Brewster-Golota
Helenius-Levin
Vitali-Johnson
Vitali-Hide
Price-Butler

Oh my goodness me!!

[CubanGuyNYC]

I don't agree there are fewer. People tend to lump all the lighter divisions together and then say the heavyweights have fewer great fights.

But if I asked you to name all the "great" welterweight fights over the past 25 years, for example, ... it's not like there were a lot more than there were at heavyweight.

Were the Forrest-Mosley fights great? No. I think Oscar had two great fights at the weight (Mosley 1 and Quartey). Berto-Ortiz might have been the best welterweight fight in 25 years.

I agree that people tend to lump all the lower weight classes together. I know I do. But I considered that fact when I made my statements. I don't want to split hairs here, but, for the sake of clarification, I use the word "great" to mean "excellent" or "exceptionally exciting." From what I've seen listed, people seem to understand that.

I haven't made a detailed study, so I'm just going off memory, but I would bet that the welterweight division, for one, has had a higher number of "great" fights than the heavyweights. I find myself watching welterweight fights with greater interest than I do the heavyweights. The big men tend to be overweight and less professional. Hence, their fights are often slow and sloppy.

As I've said before, a great heavyweight fight tends to be more exciting. But those are relatively few and far between.

[CubanGuyNYC]

Were the Forrest-Mosley fights great? No. I think Oscar had two great fights at the weight (Mosley 1 and Quartey). Six Heads Lewis? Buddy McGirt? Pernell Whitaker? Zab Judah? Cory Spinks? Marlon Starling? There aren't a lot of all-time "great" fights springing to mind going back to '86 ... especially if we're not considering quick knockouts.

Berto-Ortiz might have been the best welterweight fight in 25 years ... and it wasn't any better than Liakhovich-Brewster. Both were outstanding.

Considering what some people are citing as "great" heavyweight fights, Oscar's bout with "Tito" could easily be considered "great."

I didn't see Liakhovich-Brewster. If it was as good as Berto-Ortiz, then I must check it out. However, while Berto-Ortiz was an excellent fight, I'd be very hesitant to say that it "might have been the best welterweight fight in 25 years." That's a big statement.

[Dubblechin]

Considering what some people are citing as "great" heavyweight fights, Oscar's bout with "Tito" could easily be considered "great."

I didn't see Liakhovich-Brewster. If it was as good as Berto-Ortiz, then I must check it out. However, while Berto-Ortiz was an excellent fight, I'd be very hesitant to say that it "might have been the best welterweight fight in 25 years." That's a big statement.

I stand by all the fights I named ... I'm not going to defend anyone else's. If you haven't seen them, then it wouldn't be wise to disagree.

The only thing interesting about Oscar-Trinidad was the decision.

On no planet would that be considered a great fight.

Berto-Ortiz was excellent. I can't think of another welterweight fight that was better in the past 25 years ... because frankly there aren't many that were wars or that stand out. Brown-Blocker was exciting because of the storyline (best friends unifying). I might add that. But Whitaker-Chavez wasn't an exciting fight ... just a case (like De La Hoya-Trinidad) where the scorecards made it controversial. Starling wasn't in any epics. Neither was Mayorga or Forrest. Mosley and De La Hoya 1 was great, like I said, as was Oscar-Quartey. But the pickings are slim.

The heavyweight division has probably had MORE great fights than welterweight has ... but, overall, I'd say heavyweight is in the middle somewhere when it comes to classics.

Hell, I can't think of a welterweight title fight that was even as good or as exciting as Michael Moorer-Bert Cooper ... and people don't even bring that fight up when they consider the best heavyweight fights of recent years.

[CubanGuyNYC]

I stand by all the fights I named ... I'm not going to defend anyone else's. If you haven't seen them, then it wouldn't be wise to disagree.

The only thing interesting about Oscar-Trinidad was the decision.

On no planet would that be considered a great fight.

Berto-Ortiz was excellent. I can't think of another welterweight fight that was better in the past 25 years ... because frankly there aren't many that were wars or that stand out. Brown-Blocker was exciting because of the storyline (best friends unifying). I might add that. But Whitaker-Chavez wasn't an exciting fight ... just a case (like De La Hoya-Trinidad) where the scorecards made it controversial. Starling wasn't in any epics. Neither was Mayorga or Forrest. Mosley and De La Hoya 1 was great, like I said, as was Oscar-Quartey. But the pickings are slim.

The heavyweight division has probably had MORE great fights than welterweight has ... but, overall, I'd say heavyweight is in the middle somewhere when it comes to classics.

Hell, I can't think of a welterweight title fight that was even as good or as exciting as Michael Moorer-Bert Cooper ... and people don't even bring that fight up when they consider the best heavyweight fights of recent years.

I haven't disagreed with any fights I haven't seen. Please don't imply that. I made a general statement based on my recollection of great heavyweight fights versus those of other divisions. I clarified what I meant by "great." I don't consider DLH-Trinidad a great fight. The point was that it seems some peoples' heavyweight choices indicate they might consider that particular welterweight fight "great." If that is so, and I think it is, then the best heavyweight fights list would be a little shorter.

[Dubblechin]

I see. I apologize if I implied you hadn't seen a lot of them.

But you said you thought welterweight had more "great" fights ... can you name them?

I fired off a pretty long list of heavyweight fights (at least 50 or 60) off the top of my head (and have thought of a few more since then) ... can you name 40 or 50 great welterweight fights over the last 25 years?

I started you off with a list of fights I thought were great:

Victor Ortiz-Andre Berto
Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey
Oscar De La Hoya-Shane Mosley 1
Simon Brown-Maurice Blocker ... do you have 45 or 46 more so we can compare ... since you thought welterweight had better fights than heavyweight?

[SWEETSCIENCE100]

I think they broke the record for the most punches ever thrown in a heavyweight fight. This fight was made while both guys were in thier prime, in tip top shape. An instant classic.https://<iframe width="425" height="...reen></iframe>

[Cutthroat]

I wasn't watching boxing in the 90s, but since I started in 2000 we've had some good ones:

Sanders-Vitali
Lewis-Vitali
Wlad-Peter I
Helenius-Peter
Brewster-Lyakhovich
Brewster-Krasniqi
Quinn-Lyakhovich (great fight, look for it)
Chisora-Fury


some nice quick KOs:

Wlad-Bostice
Wlad-Jefferson
Wlad-Austin
Brewster-Golota
Helenius-Levin
Vitali-Johnson
Vitali-Hide
Price-Butler

lmao, you're one very funny guy.