I didn't realise there were so many " poor " people with access to the internet obviously looking for " value " for their little bit of money. What you had with Hagler / Hearns was 2 guys recognised as being at the top of their respective game going straight at each other, no holds barred. Yet people seem to be more interested in fights that were nowhere near as explosive, but went on longer. Talk about penny pinching.
If it makes you feel better, I regard Douglas-Tyson and Chavez-Taylor I as being co-fights of the 90's. :good Chacon-Limon IV and Gomez-Pintor were probably my two favourite fights of the 80's.
All the fights mentioned were all great so there's no point repeating the list So some fights not already mentioned I really enjoyed were the two fights between Colin jones and Kirkland. Also mark kaylor's battles with Errol christie and Roy gumbs. Not forgetting frank fletcher against James hard rock green to name but a few. ok I know not elite fights but great fights worth watching many times
Somewhat lower profile affair was Caveman-LoCicero. Among heavyweights, it was clearly Holyfield-Dokes. Michael was known for a good chin, and while not a huge puncher, he still had that tremendously fast hook, and was so much bigger than the defensively challenged Evander. Holyfield was still thought of as a cruiserweight. This turned into a war, and I was certain the smaller, less experienced participant would be the one to eventually wear down, not having the heavyweight punch to prevail in a brawl like that. I was stunned when it was DOKES who finally cracked and fell. On the heels of Michael Spinks, this one really opened the floodgates for lighter weight fighters to move up. That PEDs would be such a part of that weight gaining and power increase equation wasn't realized yet. Duran-Barkley was along the same lines, especially after what Iran had just done to Hearns. But El Cholo was no party animal going into this one, and the shock knockdown in round 11 punctuated that.
Both are excellent choices. I did think about these two fights, but I don't think they had any real historical significance. But great, great fights all the same.
The thing with Hagler-Hearns is that beyond the first round, it wasn't that competitive. Hearns was failing to hurt Hagler by this stage and was looking a little rubbery. The only scare left for Marv was the cut.
Gomez-Pintor, Pryor-Arguello, Mancini-Kim, Sanchez-Nelson, Moore-Kalule, Chacon-Limon, Holmes-Cooney, Qawi-Davis, Frank Fletcher's fights with Jackson, Braxton and Green - yeah, 82 was smokin'.
Gomez-Pintor, Pryor-Arguello, Chacon-Limon IV, all within maybe a month of each other. I think Mancini-Kim was the day after Pryor-Arguello. 1982 has to be the best year ever in boxing. Since I guess I should come up with a pick I will give Pryor -Arguello a slight edge over Chacon-Limon, but not by much
And guess what? Because of Jose Sulamain and the WBC falsely using Mancini-Kim as an excuse for it, 1982 was also the final year in which all world title bouts were scheduled for the championship distance, Chacon-Limon IV being the final 15 rounder held by the WBC.
That is not really the case, there were plenty of world title bouts scheduled for more or less than 15 rounds pre 83...
It was still compettive enough in fairness. It certainly wasn't a Tyson smashing some frightened rabbit in headlights job. Now those are NOT worth a candle, unless of course you are a Tyson fanatic.