Right place, right time

First one that came to mind, when I saw the thread!

 

Bruno v McCall

 

Ali v Liston

 

I don`t think Taylor was a natural welter, he couldn`t take a solid welter shot and he didn`t have enough power to fight a long welter with power like Espana and with the added weight Taylor was a little slower than at light welter.

 

Miguel Cotto vs Sergio Martinez
Sonny Boy Jaro vs Pongsaklek Wongjongkam

 

You have to remember that Leonard had not been meaningfully active for a very long time as well. He was definitely calculating, I think it he gamed Hagler in the other parts of the contract, including the ring size, the gloves, and 12 rounds as opposed to 15.

I agree that Leonard set the bar for being calculated, but I think the second Leonard versus Durand fight is an even better example based on pure timing. He gave up money to ensure that the fight happened immediately after learning how out of shape Duran had become.

 

Duran vs Laing / Gomez vs Nelson

 

Willard Johnson

and...

Dempsey Willard

 

Schmeling - Louis I

 

Pre 1950s/60s fighters, loads of them, wrong place wrong time...

i.e non American and not so many title options... loads of great fighters plying their trade expecting more. and as someone else said on the Zale thread Boxing is a Business based on Backers, Ownership and Nationalistic sway.

 

That mention certainly perks my interest. I have a feeling Gomez always struggles with Nelson at Featherweight tho it would be open to debate and an absolute barnstormer.

The drama for Gomez might be that his best ever performance at featherweight was his win over Juan LaPorte immediately before he fought Nelson. Given he may have been weight drained against Sanchez we would avoid this version.

Now there is no doubt at all Gomez was on the decline by the time of Nelson tho still a very capable fighter. Perhaps the best version would be to take the 82 Gomez who had just beaten Meza and slide him up to 126 next fight. Meza was his third win post Sanchez but his first over live opposition and he'd not yet have the Pintor war on his resume.

I might make a thread on this one Flash.

 

Spot on with all respect in the world for a courageous, monster punching, granite chinned, exceptionally conditioned warrior beast ..

 

Virgil Hill .. ten years earlier he loses to Saad, Mustafa, Qwai, Spinks, Johnson, Conteh and Galindez.

 

Qwai would never get close enough to Hill.
Hill had some fast footwork.
And Coneth not sure if he beats Hill

 

Alfredo Layne vs. Wilfredo Gomez
Bobby Joe Young vs. Aaron Pryor