Boxings Greatest Trilogies

[Jack Dempsey]

Well wouldn't you know it I just found a small clip Zale Graziano II on YouTube, I stand corrected

[la-califa]

How about Chacon-Limon? Did they fight three or four times? All wars though.

[bladerunner]

Pac-Morales deserves a mention.

[Duodenum]

Originally Posted by la-califa

How about Chacon-Limon? Did they fight three or four times? All wars though.

That great rivalry was indeed a quartet, not a trilogy.

[Duodenum]

Although overlooked outside Latin America, Miguel Canto/Betulio Gonzalez was the definitive flyweight rivary of the 1970s. Gonzalez won their first 15 rounder by MD, then Canto won the remaining two by SD. A closely contested exchange of great skills by two legendary veterans. By winning their rubber match, Canto gained acclaimation as an ATG, and eventual HOF enshrinement.

[Pat_Lowe]

James Toney - Mike McCallum was skill at its highest level. The trilogy featured 2 of the best fighters with very little between them. The combined skill level was insane

[Thread Stealer]

Originally Posted by ibragimovfan

Number One How Can You Argue With

Gatti/ward


Best Trilogy Ever

Because a lot of us have seen more boxing and are not fooled by HBO hype.

Gatti-Ward is overrated.

The first fight was a classic but a great trilogy should at least be competitive and fairly close. The 2nd fight was alright, with one terrific round, but Gatti won 10-0 or 9-1. Ward won 2 rounds in the 3rd fight, when Gatti injured his hand, and when Ward scored a late KD after getting outboxed for the first 2:55 of the round. Barrera-Morales was a better trilogy among this decade. Pacquiao-Morales was probably better too, at least that had two very good and competitive bouts.

I personally like Bowe-Holyfield better than Ali-Frazier. Ali-Frazier had greater impact due to the popularity and the times, but Bowe-Holyfield had 3 very good bouts. The FOTC and Manila were classics, but the 2nd fight was a stinky clinchfest.

[NickHudson]

for a stinky clinch fest please see Lewis Akinwande.

It will reset your stinkometer and Ali Frazier II will suddenly become one of your favorite ever fights...

Originally Posted by Erratic Behavior

Because a lot of us have seen more boxing and are not fooled by HBO hype.

Gatti-Ward is overrated.

The first fight was a classic but a great trilogy should at least be competitive and fairly close. The 2nd fight was alright, with one terrific round, but Gatti won 10-0 or 9-1. Ward won 2 rounds in the 3rd fight, when Gatti injured his hand, and when Ward scored a late KD after getting outboxed for the first 2:55 of the round. Barrera-Morales was a better trilogy among this decade. Pacquiao-Morales was probably better too, at least that had two very good and competitive bouts.

I personally like Bowe-Holyfield better than Ali-Frazier. Ali-Frazier had greater impact due to the popularity and the times, but Bowe-Holyfield had 3 very good bouts. The FOTC and Manila were classics, but the 2nd fight was a stinky clinchfest.

[mcvey]

Originally Posted by TBooze

This is what I came up with:

10 Griffith/Rodriguez: Three excellent boxing fights, Griffith loses the first, but comes back to win two split decisions, a point deduction for a low blow, stops Rodriguez getting a draw in the finale, that is how evenly matched they were.

9 Duran/DeJesus: Duran was the phenomenon, who had just beaten the brilliant Scot, Buchanan, and was having a non title defense against the unknown DeJesus; after hitting the deck in then first ten seconds, and dropping a decision, the Hands of Stone, would not forget the Puerto Rican again, in a hurry. Duran was floored early again in the rematch, with the title on the line, but got up to win in 11; and won the final bout of the trilogy, in 12, this time avoiding the early knockdown!

8 Griffith/Benvenuti: Griffith is the King of trilogies, this time though he lost two/one trading the Middleweight crown. The first fight saw both hit the deck in The Ring's fight of the year, as the Italian won the title by Unanimous decision. The rematch saw Griffith regain his title, knocking Nino down in the 14th, and wining a majority decision. The third bout saw Benvenuti knock Griffith down in the ninth, to regain the Middleweight title, on a Unanimous decision.

7 Patterson/Johansson: Three fights, that have gone down in history, their finale, was great fun.

6 Duran/Leonard: If the third bout did not suck, this trilogy may have been #2 on the list.

5 Barrera/Morales: These two hate each other with a passion, and all that hate comes pouring out in their bouts; perhaps there has never been a more intense trilogy.

4 Bowe/Holyfield: Seemingly every November in the early/mid 90s we got our latest installment of Bowe/Holyfield, and we were never disappointed.

3 Ali/Frazier: The second fight sucked, but fights one and three were truly historical.

2 Ward/Gatti: Not a weak round, let alone a weak fight, these two warriors gave it their all, it took something truly amazing to rob of them of the #1 spot but…

1 Zale/Graziano: Was the trilogy for which all other trilogies are judged, three brutal brilliant fights, that kept twisting and turning, and had two shocking endings.

The others I considered for the list were:

Nelson/Gans: Fight one was brutal, Gans winning on a 42nd round dq; a savage fight that had Nelson famously throwing up over the ropes! Nelson got his revenge in the other two bouts by 17th and 21st round KO's.

Moore/Charles: Anyone who thinks Charles is overrated needs to read up on these three bouts. The Cincinnati Cobra, made his reputation dominating this trilogy, over a near prime Moore.

Griffith/Paret: Infamous for the ring death, but these two hated each other with a passion and had three intriguing fights, trading the Welterweight title.

Ali/Norton: Three famous bouts that ended in 1977, when Ali controversially snatched the 'Clash of the Titans' by close 15 round decision.

Hagler/Monroe: The making of Hagler; The Worm dominated the Marvelous one, in their first bout (IMO, Hagler's only true defeat as a pro), but despite struggling with Willie in the rematch, Hagler eventually got on top to win in 12, and then blew Monroe away in two, in the finale.

Toney/McCallum: Two excellent fighters, who fought three superb boxing matches, McCallum was unlucky to only get a draw in their first bout, Toney came back strong to win the rematch and the third bout at Cruiserweight, showed both to be excellent boxers, despite being way past their primes, both in ability and weight.

Chavez/Randall: Two exciting and shocking bouts, started the trilogy, then much like Duran/Leonard, you had the sad final bout.

Pep Saddler?

[Holmes' Jab]

Ali-Frazier
Duran-Leonard
Holyfield-Bowe
Ward-Gatti
Zale-Graziano

[Duodenum]

Originally Posted by mcvey

Pep Saddler?

Again, although a fabled rivalry, Pep/Saddler was a quartet, not a trilogy.

[Thread Stealer]

Originally Posted by NickHudson

for a stinky clinch fest please see Lewis Akinwande.

It will reset your stinkometer and Ali Frazier II will suddenly become one of your favorite ever fights...

[/b][/u]

It stunk. I hated that fight.

A fight doesn't have to be as bad as Lewis-Akinwande to not stink.

It was a dull match sandwiched in between two classics.

[Thread Stealer]

Originally Posted by TBooze

Toney/McCallum: Two excellent fighters, who fought three superb boxing matches, McCallum was unlucky to only get a draw in their first bout, Toney came back strong to win the rematch and the third bout at Cruiserweight, showed both to be excellent boxers, despite being way past their primes, both in ability and weight.

I disagree.

I had Toney winning the first one 8-4. He won the last three rounds, so unless you had Mike up 6-3 after nine, I don't see how Toney doesn't deserve the W.

The 2nd fight was an alright fight after the brilliant first fight, I had Mike slightly ahead, but that was a nightmare to score.

[George W Hedge]

Top 2 trilogies....

Ali Frazier & Morales Barrera

If your talking hatred, passion, technique, boxing, fighting & sheer blood & guts grit, nothing compares to these 2 imo.

[Bigcat]

Gatti v Ward
Bowe v Holyfield.............