For me, it's just the sight of seeing such a brilliant fighter enter the ring as a shell of himself and look so helpless taking such a beating that makes it sad. It's the fact of his decline being so visibly exposed, the clear diminished ability, that's what's sad. The loss of great abilities. Not so much the idea that he, as a human being, "suffered a cruel beating" or whatever. Boxing is always cruel in that way.
Luis Resto vs Billy Collins. I was 8 years old when I watched this fight and I still get sad thinking about it. Poor Billy Collins never knew what Panama Lewis and Resto were up to. If you're not familiar with the story, you can find lots of information online.
Tyson v Williams.sad seeing Mike getting KOed by a fighter that Bruno and mason would of bounced off the canvas .the way he lay in the ropes at the end blood pouring from his eye looking total finished.Hard viewing for Tyson fan.
Donaire vs Walters made me sad Duran vs Moore went on way too long and was pretty upsetting near the end. Not really a fight but the Holyfield vs Belfort charade upset me to watch
For me, it might not be as famous as some of the others, but Spencer Oliver when he was knocked out by Sergey Dekov, I was 12 ish and I remember him being in the corner taking gas and air then a few minutes later lying down in the ring and his family in the ring crying. It was clear after the first knocked down he wasn’t there and was getting through it on instinct, as he mentally didn’t look there and it was a matter of time before something happened.
I got to know Billy’s dad some years after Billy’s death. He never recovered. I met him and we ended up spending several afternoons sitting on his porch talking boxing but the conversation would always drift back around to his son and he’d break up. I watched that fight once. I’ll never watch it again.
The Billy Collins story was & still is horrifying. Many other of the events mentioned in lots posts above seemed to have one common denominator………..poor refereeing. Some people complain today that fights are stopped too early. Surely it’s better that way, it’s a tough job. I could never do it.
I will not watch most of Holyfield's later fights. And I didn't even like the guy much. Even though you had the headbutting, steroid cheating, and the rest of it, Holyfield was still a very straightforward, tough man. Watching him, it's like you're seeing a guy who just doesn't understand why his body has to fail him, when all he wants to do is keep fighting like he did when he was young.
At the time of the fight, Roberto Duran against Kirkland Laing made me very sad. Duran looked slow, careless and washed up. While he did not take a major beating it was hard for me to watch. Little did I know that he had so much good boxing left in him.
I've watched the fight a few times. Each time I wish in vain for an alternate ending, one where someone discovers Resto's before he's able to inflict damage on poor Billy Collins, Jr. I also wish Billy's dad, or someone from the corner, could've administered swift and immediate vigilante justice to Resto and Panama Lewis. About your interactions with Billy's dad: It doesn't surprise me to hear how badly this assault affected him. In fact, my heart breaks imagining the guilt he must've carried for unwittingly and literally throwing his fighter (son) to the wolves. Despite Resto's pitiful crocodile tears and Lewis's insistence that he did nothing wrong, I believe hell could never be hot enough to give these two scumbags the punishment they deserve.
Thankfully no one was hurt, but Iran Barkley vs Gerrie Coetzee at heavyweight. It was cringey for everyone.
