Your top 10 favourite rounds

That’s what I like about Al as well. There’s no ego in it whatsoever and he doesn’t get sidetracked away from the fight that’s in front of him.

 

Corrales-Castillo 1 round 10: Round 8 was already a ROTY candidate. It gets forgotten because of how dramatic and crazy round 10 was. This is my personal #1 fight of all time

Saad-M. Johnson 2 round 8: Saad had many exciting fights/rounds, but this round is my favorite as he was bloody and exhausted and just kept throwing and throwing until Pops dropped.

Saad-Lopez 2 round 8: Saad took a hammering to the body before rebounding.

Ward-Gatti 1 round 9: Gatti took a frightening amount of punches in this round and still more or less dominating the middle portion of it. Honestly Frank probably should have stopped it. I think Gatti’s history and reputation kept it from being stopped.

Holyfield-Cooper round 3: It looked for a second like Cooper might pull off the 2nd greatest upset in HW history but Evander came back with those right crosses and uppercuts.

Hagler-Hearns round 1: one of the most famous rounds ever.

Norris-Waters round 2: this one might not get brought up as often as other rounds, but it was a great round. Norris had dropped Waters in round 1, and he pulled a Terry Norris and hit him when he was down. Waters returned the favor in round 2 with a knockdown and a shot when Norris was down. Norris was a crisp combination puncher and landed a lot to come back from the KD. I remember Norris still getting rocked a bit late in the round.

Bowe-Holyfield 1 round 10: Another great comeback from Evander after being hurt early in the round.

McKinney-Ncita 1 round 11: This was a stunning comeback within the round, and Kennedy was also lucky that the ref didn’t call the fight as he turned his back on Welcome.

Foreman-Lyle round 4. Round 5 was great also. Rounds 4-5 is one of the best 2 round stretches ever, although it wasn’t the most aesthetically beautiful.

I’m probably forgetting some.

 

Some of my favourite rounds, if not the best ever.


#10. Mancini vs Frias, R1
Not a full round, but my favourite opener ever and extremely intense action from the start to final bell. Even if that was literally less than two minutes.

#09. Sahaprom vs Konadu, R1
Another opener, but not quite as short. I love watching Sahaprom on full offense here. Once he hurts Konadu, he really gets into his groove of things and Kay's into him with some hurtful bodywork and an awesome laser-like backhand. He was a monstrous offensive presence before he got overzealous.

#08. Yuh-DeMarco I
Take your pick from this fight. They're all 180 seconds of straight action.

#07. Mayweather-Corley, R4
Brutal action and a very high skill rate from Mayweather. People forget how explosive he was, and the technique and crispness he had was unbelievable. He was hurt here, and Corley was extremely aggressive and made it very fun.

#06. Laguna-Ramos, R8
Just beautiful boxing from Ismael. Working that 1-2-1 and weaving in and out of Ramos' spirited offence. I love this performance and you could really pick any of the rounds. I only picked the eighth because Ramos seemed a little more spurred on by the cut and it was very entertaining all-round IMO.

#05. Watson-Benn, R4
Excellent action, very fast paced and the shrewd technical adjustments Watson made under the relentless pressure Benn was putting him under.

#04. Benitez-Palomino, R14
I just absolutely love watching Benitez work off the ropes, in the pocket. Just tying in Palomino in knots with counters, pulls and constant momentum off the ropes.

#03. Morales-Barrera I, R5
A classic round, with unbelievable action from one of my favourite fighters ever and another whom I greatly respect. Both hurt, both swinging like mad and just incredible round.

#02. Muhammed-Lopez II, R8
I don't think this really needs to be explained.

#01. Avelar-Vazquez, R5
Just the most explosive, unfiltered, awesome three minutes I've ever witnessed in a boxing ring.

 

Agree entirely. It was irritating as he had so much extra time and it was a calculated act. It's a real shame for Castillo as he had a great shot at winning that without the blatant cheating but it's hard to deny Corrales that comeback from the state he was in, even if he had all that added time to clear his head.

It would have been a hard ref to have DQed him and irresponsible to make him fight on without the guard. The fairest thing, in hindsight, would have been to take the removal of the mouthpiece a second time as a sign of surrender. But the ref must have thought, as we all did, that Castillo would finish the job.

 

Hearns-Hagler 1
Jofre-Medel 9
Holmes-Norton 15
Satterfield-Summerlin 9
Norris-Waters 2
Jackson-Tate 5
Weaver-Coetzee 8

 

Looked an act of surrender to me. But it was an impressive come back. Not a bad tactic to spit the mouth piece. Surprised a lot of guys haven’t copies that.

 

Chavez-Taylor Round 10
Douglas- Tyson Round 9
Hagler-Hearns Round 1
Norton - Holmes Round 15
Fraizer-Quarry Fight # 1 Round 1

 

Perhaps a new rule that the ten count goes on until the mouthpiece is back in place would discourage it. If you're going to spit it out, you'd better be able to stick it back in sharpish with your gloves on.

It was definitely a deliberate ploy by Corrales and does take away some of the good feeling about how amazingly he came back.

 

For obvious reasons, it cannot be a favourite round but the 11th round in the second Eubank - Watson fight was just astonishing.

Michael fighting like a demon possessed, outstronging Eubank and putting the indestructible one down only for Chris to spit, snort then turn it round completely in one horrible dramatic instant with one monster punch. Both men seemed to be possessed of something other worldly in that round.

If only Michael had been a few inches nearer or further from the ropes, that whiplash doesn't happen and he may survive the fight and win a close decision. More importantly, he doesn't suffer those injuries and we can enjoy what was, for me, one of the greatest rounds seen in a British ring.

 

I think possibly it might be the most exciting round ever in a British ring, and top 10 most exciting fight ever in a British ring. You won't get a more dramatic round than that, it's a shame the fight had to end in tragedy because it truly was an amazing fight.

 

James Toney vs Vassily Jirov Round 12
Lyle vs Foreman Round 4
Danny Lopez vs Ruben Olivares Round 1
Gatti vs Ward 1 Round 9
Corrales vs Castillo 1 Round 10
Iran Barkley vs Robbie Simms Round 5
Yaqui Lopez vs Matthew Saad Muhammad Round 8
Jose Napoles vs Billy Backus 1 Round 3
Derrick Jefferson vs Maurice Harris Round 2
Bert Cooper vs Michael Moorer Round 1

There's probably some rounds i'm forgetting from Chacon, Gatti, Muhammad, etc. But these are from the top of my head, and rounds i often go back and revisit on Youtube.