Tweet
EDIT: 10 FIGHTS...
You know that moment when you overhear some people at work talking about combat sports and, inevitably, boxing comes up? I'm sure most of you at some point fine tune your ears as you start to hear casual ramblings from the uninformed commoner that boxing is dead, boxing is boring, boxing is irrelevant outside of Pacquiao or Mayweather. You just shake your head and you want to chime in, but you know it's going to be an uphill battle trying to convince someone who's already prejudiced against it (and it's not like he'll most likely have the time to listen/watch all the examples you can fire off to dispel that notion either). So, in any case, what I bring to this topic is simple. If you had to take in someone to try and turn them into a boxing fan by showing them ten fights (a different dimension each one), which ones would you choose. Here are the following categories:
1. Fight with a comeback TKO/KO
Jose Luis Castillo vs. Diego Corrales...it's been done to death, I'm sure. And I've heard about it for years, but it wasn't yesterday that I actually sat down to watch it from start to finish. The fight is brutal, but when it hits round 7 I feel it really starts to fly off the handle and it looks like it could end at any moment but both men are too stubborn to yield. Hell of a fight...
2. Fight that goes to a competitive decision
Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward I easily. There are probably dozens of fights that can be put into other categories, but I don't think there is a more consistently competitive, action-packed fight that goes the distant than Gatti-Ward I. And I have yet to find a fight with more momentum shifts in a single round than round 9 of this fight. Truly remarkable. It is like something out of a Rocky movie.
3. Fight that ends in controversy***
I was tempted to say Bowe-Golota because of how hysterical it is given both endings, but I'm going to have to pull out a more historically significant one in Chavez vs. Taylor I. When you have a fight where people are still on the fence about it more than two decades later, you know you HAVE to see what the fuss is about if you aren't a boxing fan.
4. Fight with a one punch KO during the first six rounds
So many choices. My personal pick would be Martinez-Williams II. The difference between this KO and other one-punch KO's is that the close-up of Paul Williams' face when he's getting counted out is something that deeply worried me when I saw it. You don't forget it.
5. Fight between two undefeated fighters
Easily Trinidad-Vargas. There are so many qualities that you have going on into this fight that the fact they're undefeated is icing on the cake. Terrific all-around fight.
6. Fight where it's one-sided from start to finish
I don't think you can find a more shocking entertaining one-sided beatdown than Mosley-Margarito. It wasn't just the fact that it was one-sided and the way the punches landed from round to round to round. There was significance to it because Margarito had never been anywhere near stopped throughout his career, and he had looked indestructible following his last win, and Mosley was perceived to be on the decline. The fight stands on its own two feet, but when you factor in the other attributes, it becomes just that more unbelievable.
7. Fight between a boxer and a brawler
Undoubtedly 2010's Ring magazine's fight of the year in Ivan Calderon vs. Giovanni Segura. When you want to talk about someone who is a PURE boxer, look no further than Ivan Calderon. When you think of Giovanni Segura, you think of the typical face-first brawler. If you toss in the PR-Mexican angle, you are set for a great fight and a great fight atmosphere. I was there, for the last three rounds of the fight the entire crowd was up on its feet. It was just that great.
8. Fight where the fighter feels that he can go on, but is stopped because of cuts/facial damage
I'm going to cop out and say the obvious choice here. Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III. For 14 rounds they battered and scrapped their way through a hot noon for purely pride. What those two men exhibited in the ring that day was special, and they may have never been the same afterwards...
9. Fight where it ends on a shot to the body
Roy Jones, Jr. vs. Virgil Hill...sounds like a toy ******* going off. They're not common, which is why it makes body punch endings more surprising.
10. Free fight (personal choice-state your reason)
I'm stumped. Normally, the fight I think of is Trinidad-Vargas because of all the things it has going for it, but seeing as it's already up there, the next logical pick that I can think of would probably be that old doozy back from 2009 between Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana. Four knockdowns in the first two rounds and more action as the fight goes on? Sure, I'll take it.
So, there you have it. What would be YOUR list using this format to show someone what boxing is?
You know that moment when you overhear some people at work talking about combat sports and, inevitably, boxing comes up? I'm sure most of you at some point fine tune your ears as you start to hear casual ramblings from the uninformed commoner that boxing is dead, boxing is boring, boxing is irrelevant outside of Pacquiao or Mayweather. You just shake your head and you want to chime in, but you know it's going to be an uphill battle trying to convince someone who's already prejudiced against it (and it's not like he'll most likely have the time to listen/watch all the examples you can fire off to dispel that notion either). So, in any case, what I bring to this topic is simple. If you had to take in someone to try and turn them into a boxing fan by showing them ten fights (a different dimension each one), which ones would you choose. Here are the following categories:
1. Fight with a comeback TKO/KO
Jose Luis Castillo vs. Diego Corrales...it's been done to death, I'm sure. And I've heard about it for years, but it wasn't yesterday that I actually sat down to watch it from start to finish. The fight is brutal, but when it hits round 7 I feel it really starts to fly off the handle and it looks like it could end at any moment but both men are too stubborn to yield. Hell of a fight...
2. Fight that goes to a competitive decision
Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward I easily. There are probably dozens of fights that can be put into other categories, but I don't think there is a more consistently competitive, action-packed fight that goes the distant than Gatti-Ward I. And I have yet to find a fight with more momentum shifts in a single round than round 9 of this fight. Truly remarkable. It is like something out of a Rocky movie.
3. Fight that ends in controversy***
I was tempted to say Bowe-Golota because of how hysterical it is given both endings, but I'm going to have to pull out a more historically significant one in Chavez vs. Taylor I. When you have a fight where people are still on the fence about it more than two decades later, you know you HAVE to see what the fuss is about if you aren't a boxing fan.
4. Fight with a one punch KO during the first six rounds
So many choices. My personal pick would be Martinez-Williams II. The difference between this KO and other one-punch KO's is that the close-up of Paul Williams' face when he's getting counted out is something that deeply worried me when I saw it. You don't forget it.
5. Fight between two undefeated fighters
Easily Trinidad-Vargas. There are so many qualities that you have going on into this fight that the fact they're undefeated is icing on the cake. Terrific all-around fight.
6. Fight where it's one-sided from start to finish
I don't think you can find a more shocking entertaining one-sided beatdown than Mosley-Margarito. It wasn't just the fact that it was one-sided and the way the punches landed from round to round to round. There was significance to it because Margarito had never been anywhere near stopped throughout his career, and he had looked indestructible following his last win, and Mosley was perceived to be on the decline. The fight stands on its own two feet, but when you factor in the other attributes, it becomes just that more unbelievable.
7. Fight between a boxer and a brawler
Undoubtedly 2010's Ring magazine's fight of the year in Ivan Calderon vs. Giovanni Segura. When you want to talk about someone who is a PURE boxer, look no further than Ivan Calderon. When you think of Giovanni Segura, you think of the typical face-first brawler. If you toss in the PR-Mexican angle, you are set for a great fight and a great fight atmosphere. I was there, for the last three rounds of the fight the entire crowd was up on its feet. It was just that great.
8. Fight where the fighter feels that he can go on, but is stopped because of cuts/facial damage
I'm going to cop out and say the obvious choice here. Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III. For 14 rounds they battered and scrapped their way through a hot noon for purely pride. What those two men exhibited in the ring that day was special, and they may have never been the same afterwards...
9. Fight where it ends on a shot to the body
Roy Jones, Jr. vs. Virgil Hill...sounds like a toy ******* going off. They're not common, which is why it makes body punch endings more surprising.
10. Free fight (personal choice-state your reason)
I'm stumped. Normally, the fight I think of is Trinidad-Vargas because of all the things it has going for it, but seeing as it's already up there, the next logical pick that I can think of would probably be that old doozy back from 2009 between Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana. Four knockdowns in the first two rounds and more action as the fight goes on? Sure, I'll take it.
So, there you have it. What would be YOUR list using this format to show someone what boxing is?
Comment