Saddest moment in boxing

Kovalev being robbed by the dishonest judges in the first fight with Ward.

I felt a combination of anger and sadness, like I shouldn't follow my favorite sport anymore because of the corruption.

 

Sadly, G-Man’s bad karma caught up to him. I read an article back in the day that told stories of him mercilessly KO’ing sparring partners and intentionally running over flamingos in a South Florida parking lot. The article, which may still be available online, paints a very unflattering portrait of McClellan as a man.

 

In terms of sadness, Duran’s beat down of Moore is overshadowed by the assault of Billy Collins Jr. I was 8 years old at the time, and I’ve never forgotten what I watched. I refuse to say the perpetrators names, but I will say that I hope they rot in hell.

 

To some degree I agree with this...yet Gerald was easily my favourite fighter from the time (Mike Tyson being incarcerated/diminished). I was a teenager at the time but still was shocked at the article outlining his apparent behaviour. I dunno though...did he really deserve his horrific fate? Far worse people end up with far less or get off scot-free every day. Seeing him now is gut-wrenching.

 

The Norris fight really should’ve been the final nail in the coffin. A shutout with 2 hard KDs suffered.

Crazy that Ray chose to make another comeback 6 years after the Norris fight - I guess it allowed Ray time to forget the beating he took in the Norris fight and delude himself into thinking he could come back again.

 

The prophecy held no weight his words wernt true
An orthodox Christian had to show the world what was true and who spoke lies
Sad day for ya mini

 

As has been mentioned four or five times already, Holmes beating up Ali was the saddest thing I had ever seen in the boxing ring when I was a kid.

Watching Terry Norris destroy Meldrick Taylor was rough also.

 

Duk Koo Kim trying valiantly to stand and momentarily succeeding before collapsing with a fatal brain aneurysm.

Hard to get worse than that scene.

 

That was difficult to stomach, for sure. It was a tough, close fight, but I remember scoring it for Kovalev by two points ahead. The sad thing is that loss should have been Kovalev's career crowning victory. Through circumstances, his resume doesn't quite have the depth that a fighter of his tremendous caliber should have. So, he really needed that victory over an all-time great fighter like Ward to cement his greatness, and now he doesn't have that. There's hometown advantages in every country, unfortunately, but it seems especially difficult for an Eastern European or a Russian to win a close fight on American soil. Lomachenko vs Haney. Bradley vs Provodnikov. Fury vs Wilder 1 (even though Fury is from the UK).

It's like when they took away Pernell Whitaker's victory over Julio Cesar Chavez. Obviously, the Kovalev-Ward decision wasn't nearly as bad judging as that fight, but it's the same type of thing. Taking away a great fighter's best achievement through incompetence, bias, or corruption.

You also have to wonder if there are geo-political motivations at work here, too. There's a kickboxer named Artem Vakhitov who was stripped of the Glory Light Heavyweight Championship because of the Russian Ukrainian war. The guy is a tremendous fighter, but now he's had to switch over to MMA to make ends meet. Having a dominant Russian champion is bad for the narrative of the "big bad Russian" that's being pushed right now. As if a Russian prize fighter has any influence whatsoever over his country's foreign policy.

 

Agreed. It does seem as though he was always cheating given how his power evaporated but nobody knows for sure.

The problem is trying to pretend he didnt attempt mortal harm on others because that did happen. He says he didnt know and it was all his trainer...maybe. But a shame all around

 

And last night with El Gallo

 

Agreed. Took me awhile to accept what happened and even longer to accept that it may have always been happening. History helped though. RJJ cheated and he prolly cheated his whole career. Mosley too. Lots of guys including the latest Ryan Garcia. Hell Floyd wouldn't fight anywhere but Vegas cus he needed xylocaine and apparently "retroactive" saline drips.

Margs wasnt totally different but handwrap stuff is a dangerous business. Respect him as a fighter cause he was a warrior but am disappointed w his shortcuts