What's your favourite Heavyweight Championship changing of the guard?

[Tom Cruise]

Its one of the most iconic moments in sports. The changing hands of the Heavyweight Championship of the World is always a momentous occasion. Inspiring, dramatic and often violent, there are few moments that can compare to the sense of history you feel watching a boxing era come to an end, and a new one begin.

Whether its a heavy underdog putting all together for one special night a la James 'Buster' Douglas, or its a display of ruthless violence from a long avoided contender a la Sonny Liston, we all have our favourites.

I've put a few of the biggest ones in a poll up top, but its just off the top of my head, so dont expect it to be a exhaustive list.

Please post and discuss

[Tom Cruise]

[Tom Cruise]

[Tom Cruise]

[Tom Cruise]

Foreman Vs Frazier i think is my favourite to rewatch. Brutality at its finest. Two ATGs, in their primes.

Fury > Klitschko might seem a little bit out of place being a pretty lame fight and all. But its the only significant lineal championship win since i have been a hardcore fan of the sport. For that reason it holds a place in my heart.

I also have fond memories of Rahmann Ko'ing Lennox Lewis. Not that i wanted Rahmann to win, but i remember all the men in my family (3 brothers, dad and grandad) gathered around watching the fight oohing and aahing at the KO. My brother commented just before the KO that Lewis was laughing at Rahman, taking the piss. He meant it as a positive for Lewis, but obviously we know what it really meant. Good times.

Other options which didnt make the poll:

Joe Louis > James J Braddock
Evander Holyfield > James Douglas
Leon Spinks > Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali > Leon Spinks
Michael Spinks > Larry Holmes
George Foreman > Michael Moorer
Rocky Marciano > Jersey Joe Walcott
Jersey Joe Walcott > Ezzard Charles
Gene Tunney > Jack Dempsey
Riddick Bowe > Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield > Riddick Bowe
Hasim Rahman > Lennox Lewis
Lennox Lewis > Hasim Rahman

[New England]

as i get older i keep going back to foreman - moorer. foreman's comeback started as a hobby. then a side show. somewhere along the line he became a contender. then he won the HW championship of the world via "what the heck just happened?"

add in that i can't stand michael moorer and think he's an A-hole... and there you go!



honorable mention for me would be louis - schmelling [rofl]

hard to imagine a fight between the world's two superpowers being outshined by an old man / side show beating a LHW, but this is my list and not an objective one!

[New England]

the biggest fight / event in HW history and in boxing was the fight of the century [ali frazier 1,] but joe kept his belt .

[billeau2]

Douglas Tyson... just because I was of prime fan age, and the evening was special...One of those nights you get more than you bargain for. Figured I would have a beer at the local sports bar in the Haight, yes the Haight had a sports bar back then!. Figured it would be a five minute fight... I would walk back over the hill to Oak Street and hit the books again.

Wow! was I wrong, me and a bunch of like minded guys, no doubt all thinking the same thing. A few skirts came in to compliment the show. its about the third round and people are starting to get a little restless but nobody wants to really believe this could happen...this goes on for a while and suddenly its happening when Mike nails him with the other atomic bomb in Japan...Buster is down!!! Buster is down!!!! and at the crack of half past nothing he is up again! And the reeeeeesssstttt is history.

[Weltschmerz]

Thanks for the thread, good stuff. I picked Dempsey's destruction of the cowboy Willard, simply because of its sheer brutality and violence.