Which of your favourite fighter's less celebrated fights do you enjoy?

i wasn't following the sport at the time (I've watched all of floyds fights now, i think) but i can imagine chavez being seen as an acid test, to see if floyd really was the real deal

 

Chavez previous fight before Mayweather against Arias was an all out war,Chavez was a non stop punching machine in that one, very underrated fight.

 

Watsons defence was outragously good, let Benn just pound away at his arms and gloves until he was ****ed then turned the screw. I was pretty young when that fight happened and like alot of kids had Benn as one my heroes, was pretty gutted but gained another hero.Benn got ****ed up that night fair and square.

 

Dewitt said Benn hit harder than anyone he'd faced, likened it to something, cant remember what.

 

Oh, Mabuza. :-( Poor kid. I was sure he'd inherit bantamweight once Rafa moved up to challenge Vazquez. He was the clear #2 h2h in the division, having pushed the kingpin like no one else had yet, and #1 upon his rival's departure. Unfortunately being based in South Africa without any big promotional backing to help him jetset to glory, it wasn't to be. Over the next three years following the rematch, he fought three inconsequential opponents to retrieve and defend the worthless IBO strap Marquez had snatched from him.

By the time he met Yonnhy Perez at the dawn of the current thriving BW era, the moon of his prime had already ceased to wax and begun to wane. Toss in a full year's rust at the time and a lack of meaningful activity for even longer before that and it was a fool's errand going up against the heavy-handed and iron-jawed Colombian up-and-comer, even at home. :verysad (and he still gave Yonnhy a very stiff argument, raging against the dying of a light)

 

Great thread PTF

Mine would be Andries-Hearns

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxVdtIRVi4[/ame]


Dennis Andries was very tough, brave and underrated by many, he gave Hearns a tough fight. In the end Tommy really outclassed him and showed he carried his punch all the way up to LHW

 

I like Hearns vs Kinchen and I watch it from time to time. Hearns was past his best, but still had plenty left and Kinchen was on good form, too. Hearns wasn't able to really hurt Kinchen, although Kinchen did have Hearns in trouble here and there. Its a decent fight, some good boxing and it has its moments. Hearns gets a close decision.

Its also a significant fight. Hearns became the first ever five weight champ with this win and the very first WBO super middleweight champ. It might even have been the very first title fight ever sanctioned by the WBO, I'm not sure, but its certainly among the first WBO fights though.

In this fight Hearns became the first ever five weight champion in history just three days before Leonard beat Lalonde to become the second five weight champion in history. People don't talk about this fight too much, but its well worth a watch.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOmFREeC9hM[/ame]

 

Leonard vs. Lalonde is still one of my favorites. Leonard took a KD and looked like he might be wilting a bit before hurting and stopping Lalonde and showing off his Bolo punch.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU-CS7o878A[/ame]

An interesting note about this fight... BOTH the WBC 168 and 175 titles were on the line at the same time.

 

Great performance By Duran here:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T-cS0FDWO0[/ame]

Heres the Dejesus trilogy:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlD9UjDa9uM[/ame]

 

Also... Holyfield vs. Bert Cooper. Holyfield took the first KD of his career and appeared to be on his way out. Cooper was pounding on him... But the Holy one miraculously recovered and finished Bert off..
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-8ZyHDYTXI[/ame]

 

Lack of international TV to bring in attention and money, even for their biggest events...

Lack of quality sparring...

Lack of quality opponents... (or rather, their unwillingness to travel all the way there for meager paydays in often high risk/low reward scenarios)

Lack of world-class coaching - with all due respect to Mabuza's chief second Nic Durandt, who's one of the best down there (look at how far he brought the very limited Jeff Mathebula, who isn't half the fighter Mabuza was)...

:verysad