This content is protected Avelar/Vásquez Jofre/Medel I Zárate/Zamora Olivares/Kanazawa Harada/Aoki Tatsuyoshi/Singwacha Ayala/Tapia I Davilla/Duarte II This content is protected Moon/Konadu I Rungvisai/González I Lee/Onizuka (Drawing a blank here) This content is protected Oguma/Park I Quiroga/Anifowoshe Oba/Chionoi Chionoi/Torres I Oba/González Oguma/Park III Arce/Hussein I Tanaka/Kimora Chang/Kittikasem Marquez/Conception I Oguma/Gonzalez I This content is protected Chang vs Tokashiki Yuh/DeMarco I Hernandez/Porpramook I González/Estrada Segura/Calderon I Tecuapetla/Yaegashi Carbajal/Arce Carbajal/González González/Sorjaturong This content is protected Moonsri/Novoa López/Alverez II Yaegashi/Ioka Yaegashi/Pornaswan
Too one sided, not enough action. I don't care about the fighters involved. Sure, it's historical but it's not better than say, Morrison/Rudduck. Ali in the 70s was royally boring.
Some fights I love between bantamweight and featherweight: Zarate-Zamora Gomez-Pintor Sanchez-Gomez Sanchez-Nelson Arguello-Olivares Chacon-Lopez Lopez-Ayala Becerra-Halimi II Marquez-Pacquaio I Morales-Barrrra I Marquez-Vazquez I, II, III Marquez-Austin Marquez-Johnson I Jofre-Medel I Jofre-Harada I Duarte-Dávila II Herrera-Castillo II Herrera-Borkhorsor Monshippoir-Sitchatawai Zamora-Sandoval Olivares-Castillo I, II Olivares-Kanazawa II Rose-Castillo Harada-Medel I & II Medel-Pimentel Zarate-Martinez Zarate-Dávila Ayala-Tapia I Hamed-Kelley Morales-Chi Gainer-Kelley II Cruz-McGuigan Barrera-McKinney Zaragoza-McCollough
Plenty of action, I thought. Definitely was historical. I agree with it being one-sided, put that's part of what made it good since all the sports journalists all picked Foreman, when he couldn't even win 1 round. Round 1 was a great round. Round 5 ended with action. Rope-a-dope was a brilliant strategy. I just don't agree with this at all. I enjoy watching how he evolved into the 70s, when he didn't have the insane athleticism, speed, and reflexes of his youth. It's almost like MJ when he played for the wizards. Or Tom Brady now, not good enough to carry the team so he has to do things differently. This led to some genius strategy and great fights. It also lead to Ali relying probably a little too much on his chin and toughness, because he took so many blows (and we all know what happened to him later in life) Just a matter of perspective.
Let me change my words, *late 70s Ali was royally boring. I won't ever watch the Young, Shavers, Norton (3), Dunn, Coopman and Evangelista fights again. It's physically drianing. Some others are unbearable too, Frazier 2 for example. Meh, I don't have it so high. There's others at HW which are clearly better imo.
Meldrick Taylor vs Julio Caesar Chavez, 1990, Marvin Johnson vs Matthew Saad Muhammad II, 1979. Billy Conn vs Joe Louis, 1941, Rocky Marciano vs Jersey Joe Walcott I, 1952.
Some of these are already on my watch list. I'm embarrassed to say that there are a fair few you've listed that I haven't got round to seeing. Some I saw so long ago I've forgotten much of them so it's almost like I haven't seen them.
Here's an updated list including all the fights mentioned so far in this thread - I think I've captured them all. That's 181 complete fights by my reckoning. The ones with the v before them I've seen (110). The ones without a v next to them I still haven't made time to see (71) [hangs head in shame]. Thanks @George Crowcroft for the lists and to @ChrisJS for the Bantam to Feather list of which there are many I need to see (some were already sitting on my watch list, others were ones I kept skipping by and a few I was blissfully unaware of). There's just not enough time in the day! Heavyweight [v] Dempsey v Firpo (1923) [v] Marciano v Walcott I (1952) [ ] Shavers/Lyle [ ] Brewster/Etienne [v] Foreman v Lyle (1976) [v] Holmes v Norton (1978) [v] Douglas v Tyson (1990) [ ] Bowe/Golota II [v] Thrilla in Manilla [v] Moorer/Cooper [v] Patterson/Ingo III [v] Foreman/Lyle [v] Bowe/Holyfield I [v] FOTC Cruiserweight [v] Holyfield/Qawi I [v] Toney/Jirov [ ] Spinks/DeLeon [ ] Huck/Afolabi 2 Light heavyweight [v] Moore/Durrele I [v] Saad/Johnson I [v] Saad/Kates [v] Saad/López II [ ] Williams/Sosa I [v] Harding/Andrias [ ] Cleverly/Fonfara [ ] Michalczewski/Hall II [ ] Williams/Czyz I [v] Galindez/Kates 1 [v] Galíndez/Rossman I [ ] Muriqi/Ahmad Super middleweight [v] Benn v McClellan (1995) [ ] Calzaghe v Kessler (2007) [v] Toney-Williams Middleweight [ ] Fullmer v Basilio I (1959) [v] Monzon-Valdez 2 [v] Lee v LoCicero (1981) [v] Hagler v Hearns (1985) [v] Duran v Barkley (1989) [v] Toney v McCallum I (1991) [v] McClellan v Jackson I (1993) [v] Pavlik-Taylor 1 Junior Middleweight [v] Santos v Medal (1984) [v] Pettway v Brown (1995) [v] Trinidad/Vargas [v] Durán/Moore [v] Moore/Macklin [v] Norris/Waters Welterweight [v] Ortega/Paret I [ ] Scott/Ortega I [ ] Fernandez/Ortega I [v] Palomino v Muniz 1 (1977) [v] Leonard-Benitez [v] Durán/Leonard I [v] Marquez/Pacquiao IV [v] Del a Hoya/Quartey [v] Basilio/DeMarco II [ ] Brown/Trice I [v] Basilio/Saxton II [ ] Bradley/Provodnikov [ ] Scott/Dupas IV [ ] Lueshing/Saunders II [v] Mosley/De La Hoya [v] Cotto/Margarito I [v] Ortiz/Berto I Junior Welterweight [v] Pryor/Argüello I [v] Cotto/Torres I [v] Curry/Brooks [v] Ward/Gatti I [v] Ward/Gatti 3 [ ] Ward/Burton I [v] Chávez/Taylor I [ ] Mamby/Watkins [ ] Maidana/Ortiz Lightweight [v] Canzoneri/Kid Chocolate [v] Ramos/Ramos [v] Duran/DeJesus 3 [v] Arguello/Mancini [v] Boza-Edwards/Elizondo [v] Chavez/Rosario [v] Márquez/Diaz I [v] Corrales/Castillo I [v] Mancini/Kim [v] Chacón/Frias [ ] Katsidis/Earl I [v] Durán/DeJesús II [v] Gatti/Robinson I [ ] Hatakeyama/Sakamoto [v] Rosario/Ramirez II [v] Mancini/Frias Super Featherweight [v] Chacón/Limón IV [v] Chacón/Boza II [ ] Salido/Vargas [v] Lopez/Lockridge I [v] Gatti/Ruelas [v] Barrera/Morales III [v] Boza/Limón [v] Limón/Naravette [ ] Nelson/Fenech 1 [v] Gomez/Arthur [ ] Vargas/Muira [v] Gatti/Rodriguez [v] Arguello/Escalera 1 [v] Argüello/Escalara II Featherweight [v] Saldivar/Winstone 2 [v] Hamed-Kelley [v] Arguello-Olivares [v] Sanchez-Nelson [v] Sanchez-Gomez [v] Chacón/López [v] Kelley/Dorsey [v] Gonzalez/Kelley [v] López/Ayala [ ] Fenech/Villasana [v] Pacquiao/Márquez I [v] Salido/Lopez II [ ] Paez/Dorsey [v] Salido/López I [v] Gainer-Kelley II [ ] Cruz-McGuigan Super Bantamweight [ ] Monshippoir-Sitchatawai [ ] Marquez/Vaquez 1 [ ] Vasquez/Marquez 2 [v] Vásquez/Márquez III [v] Barrera/Morales I [v] Zaragoza/Banke II [v] McKinney-Ncita 1 [v] Barrera/McKinney [ ] Zaragoza/Tatsuyoshi I [v] Gómez/Pintor [ ] Takahashi/Horikoshi [ ] Morales-Chi [ ] Zaragoza-McCullough Bantamweight [ ] Rose-Castillo [ ] Harada-Medel I [ ] Harada-Medel II [ ] Medel-Pimentel [ ] Zarate-Martinez [ ] Zarate-Dávila [ ] Olivares-Castillo I [ ] Olivares-Castillo II [ ] Zamora-Sandoval [ ] Herrera-Castillo II [ ] Herrera-Borkhorsor [ ] Marquez-Austin [ ] Marquez-Johnson I [ ] Becerra-Halimi II [ ] Avelar/Vásquez [ ] Jofre/Medel I [v] Jofre-Harada I [v] Zárate/Zamora [v] Olivares/Kanazawa 2 [ ] Harada/Aoki [ ] Tatsuyoshi/Singwacha [v] Ayala/Tapia I [ ] Davilla/Duarte II Super Flyweight [v] Moon/Konadu I [ ] Rungvisai/González I [ ] Lee/Onizuka [v] Quiroga/Aniwoshe Flyweight [ ] Oguma/Park I [v] Oba/Chionoi [v] Chionoi/Torres I [v] Oba/González [ ] Oguma/Park III [v] Arce/Hussein I [ ] Tanaka/Kimora [ ] Chang/Kittikasem [ ] Marquez/Conception I [ ] Oguma/Gonzalez I Light Flyweight [v] Chang vs Tokashiki [ ] Yuh/DeMarco I [ ] Hernandez/Porpramook I [ ] González/Estrada [v] Segura/Calderon I [ ] Tecuapetla/Yaegashi [ ] Carbajal/Arce [v] Carbajal/González [v] González/Sorjaturong Minimum Weight [ ] Moonsri/Novoa [ ] López/Alvarez II [ ] Yaegashi/Ioka [ ] Yaegashi/Pornaswan
A few others I've thought of to add to the list: Super middleweight: Frankie Lilles v Tim Littles 2 Middleweight: Jorge Castro v John David Jackson Middleweight: all the Frank The Animal Fletcher fights (if you like wild brawls without much science)