The most violent fights.

[Bombs Away!]

Then of course there's the atg of fights, the holy grail. Corrales Castillo.

Joe Goosen described that fight as,

"Two chainsaws going at it."

[Bushbaby]

Berto/Ortiz started out violent.

[Exciterx30]

Gatti vs. Ward I
Durán vs. Moore
Trinidad vs. Joppy
Foreman vs. Frazier
Benn vs. McClellan
Mancini vs. Kim
Tyson vs. Berbick

[Beercules]

Since we're on the subject...
Pacman/Marquez 2 and 4 were also pretty violent.

Yup they were

[Bombs Away!]

Keith Thurman vs Diego Chaves

Victor Ortiz vs Marcos Maidana

Adrien Broner vs Marcos Maidana

Marcos Maidana vs Josesito Lopez

Marcos Maidana vs Jesus Soto Karass

Lucas Matthysse vs Olusegun Ajose

Lucas Matthysse vs Humberto Soto

[Larry the boss]

Foreman-Ron Lyle

[PainfromUkraine]

Ruslan P vs Bradley was a good recent one, pretty violent considering some of the combinations and punishment handed out by both men, and the self-confessed effects on Bradley for months after the fight. Ibeabuchi v Tua was a good shout, the rest I can think of at the moment have been said so I won't repeat.

[Russian Crushin]

[SeekDaGreat]

Haggler vs Hearns
Castillo vs Corrales
Tyson vs Douglas
Bowe vs Holyfield 1
Gatti vs Ward 1
Mago vs Perez
Bradley vs Provodnikov
Leonard vs Duran
Tyson vs Holyfield 1


I'm talking about these guys beat the piss out of each other.

[Tom Cruise]

You guys best be ready because I'm about to go all kinds of hipster on your asses...

Sam Mcvey vs. Joe Jeannette

This is the article i read the other day:

Revisiting The Greatest of All Fights - Sam McVey vs. Joe Jeannette April 17, 1909

On a cold spring evening at Cirque de Paris in 1909, Joe Jeannette and Sam McVey, both inductees of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and among the greatest heavyweights to ever live, waged what many to this day claim must have been the greatest fight ever in the sport of boxing. Several of boxing’s most official sources, including The Boxing Register, “The Encyclopedia of Boxing” by Gilbert Odd and “An Illustrated History of Boxing” by Nat Fleischer, described a bout that included thirty-eight knockdowns over the course of forty-eight three-minute rounds. That is not a typo! Twenty-seven were recorded in favor of Sam McVey during the first two-thirds of the fight and eleven were recorded in favor of Joe Jeannette during the later rounds. Yet primary sources of information written immediately after the bout, French and American newspapers in particular, do not claim nearly the same multitude of knockdowns.

Regardless, all accounts of the event recall Joe Jeannette being sprawled on the canvas numerous times, up to five times in the 19th round alone, and each report marveled at his ability to endure punishment, recuperate and come back fighting. As for Sam McVey, the number of knockdowns aside, it is also without dispute that he suffered a severe eye injury early in the match, and by the time he gave up before the beginning of the 49th round, both eyes were closed and his face was a mangled mess.

That said, the most widely publicized story describing the event that evening was a syndicated article appearing throughout the most popular of American newspapers, the New York Times included. It described the match as “the greatest fight witnessed in France since John L. Sullivan and Charley Mitchell fought their thirty-nine round draw at Chantilly in 1888.” Without any real details, it describes Sam McVey as having the better of the fight for the first forty rounds, with Joe Jeannette suffering tremendous punishment and barely lasting through the 21st and 22nd rounds. The article then recounts that McVey wore himself out by the 40th round, and Jeannette came back to win with effective infighting during the final nine rounds.

In reviewing French newspaper accounts of the fight, we get more detail but absolutely no accounting for all the knockdowns that supposedly took place. An April 24, 1909 article appearing in La Presse described the McVey-Jeannette bout as a clash of styles, with Joe Jeannette matching his superb defensive and scientific mode of boxing against Sam McVey’s brute strength and punching power. An excerpt from the coverage offered by La Presse as translated probably imperfectly by myself is below.

At the beginning of the combat, Sam McVea looked in marvelous form due to a severe drive in training and strongly attacked Joe Jennnette, and he seemed to worry very little about the blows that his adversary threw at him. During a certain number of rounds, the two men made a good match and looked the equal of one another. Then Sam, by use of terrible blows projected at his adversary, knocked him to the ground several times. Then next, with extraordinary courage, Jeannette raised himself and little by little found the means to put the hurt on Sam. The combat was superb, and all at the same time violent and scientific. Sam landed terrible direct blows to the jaw of Jeannette who also dodged many and counterpunched well with his own powerful blows that landed admirably. Sam no longer looked human, as his eye was completely closed and his mouth bloodied.

We arrive thus at the fortieth round. Joe Jeannette, very fresh, rains a hail of blows on Sam, who is completely disabled, but thanks to his incomparable force and courage, always resists. The bell saved him several times from defeat. The uppercuts of Jeannette are no longer avoided anymore by Sam who is well finished.

With the forty-ninth round, a record! Sam shakes the hand of Jeannette and states he has given up. Science, speed and flexibility have just triumphed over brute force. Sam MacVea, crowned by Parisians as the king of boxing, falls from his pedestal. Joe Jeannette will replace him. Poor Sam!

The above record by a French journalist at ringside reporting for La Presse described a tremendous battle between Sam McVey and Joe Jeannette but offered no account of the thirty-eight knockdowns….only that Jeannette was floored several times. Other French reports on the fight highlighted the use of oxygen inflated balloons which were inhaled by both fighters in between rounds and marveled at how energized Joe Jeannette looked going into the 40th round of combat.

The most detailed description of the match in U.S. newspapers appeared in a New York Sun article dated April 18, 1909. In the piece, its summary was as follows:

By virtue of oxygen pumped into them by their seconds, Jeannette and MacVey reeled and staggered through forty-eight rounds of a brutal and plucky fight here tonight. At the opening of the forty-ninth round MacVey, his face utterly dehumanized save for an expression of helpless agony that distorted what remained of his features, signified that he was unable to continue, whereupon the referee declared Jeannette the winner.

The New York Sun article also goes on to describe Joe Jeannette’s scientific style of boxing as more than offsetting Sam McVey’s punching power until the nineteenth round when Jeannette found himself floored three times and in tremendous trouble. With the ******* use of oxygen administered to Jeannette over the next few rounds, he would survive but found himself saved by the bell multiple times. The article then goes on to describe Joe Jeannette as displaying “remarkable powers of recuperation” and making a “chopping block” of his opponent during the last ten rounds. At the same time, the Sun’s reporter claimed Joe Jeannette “lacked the power to deliver a knockout or even achieve a straight knockdown.” This directly contradicts other accounts that had Jeannette flooring McVey multiple times over the last ten rounds, including The Boxing Register which claimed McVey was downed seven times in the 42nd round alone.

Two very detailed ringside correspondent reports provided by www.JoeJennette.com offer accounts of Joe Jeannette being floored numerous times and saved by the bell on several occasions. At the same time, the reports mention no knockdowns of Sam McVey at all.

What is to be believed? Whether the bout actually recorded thirty-eight knockdowns or not is really irrelevant because something truly special transpired that evening in Paris a hundred years ago between Joe Jeannette and Sam McVey. What we do know is Joe Jeannette was floored numerous times, out on his feet and seriously hurt, and saved by the bell at least three times from the hard hitting Sam McVey. We also know that despite the tremendous battering he endured at times during this fight to the finish, Joe Jeannette was still capable of relying on his will and superior ability to outlast and outbox one of the greatest heavyweights of all times over the course of forty-eight hard fought, back and forth rounds.

In an era where 12-round fights like those waged between Diego Corrales – Jose Luis Castillio or Rafael Marquez – Israel Vazquez are considered all-time greats, and only a knockdown or two were recorded in each, let’s cut Joe Jeannette and Sam McVey some slack. There were numerous knockdowns over the course of a dramatic, action-filled forty-eight round bout that likely was the greatest fight ever contested in the history of boxing.