Give examples of when a fighter had the deck stacked against him but won anyway by fighting a perfect fight.
Former Marine paratrooper Tyrone "Butterfly" Crawley was brought into Levelland, Texas, to pad the record and boost the ratings of 22-0-0 hometown hero Rockin' Robin Blake. The 13-1-0 Crawley was feather fisted, with only three stoppage wins on his resume. The 5'11" Blake had power, height, reach, youth and an impressive amateur background. Blake was coming off knockout wins over Tony Baltazar and Melvin Paul. Mel Paul was responsible for the one defeat on Crawley's record. Standing stationary in mid ring, Crawley opted to trade punches with Blake. Hitting without being hit in return, the Butterfly actually managed to stagger Blake at one point. Stunned into silence, there was no protest whatsoever from the Levelland audience when the unanimous decision was announced in favor of Crawley. It was one of the most skilled displays of boxing I'd ever seen on television.
A more recent one is Haye vs Valuev; a chinny former Cruiserweight who gasses easily against a (admittedly dire) Man Mountain, in Germany, and he wins a decision.
Hopkins vs Pavlik is the one that springs to mind. After Hopkins had gassed against Calzaghe, many (including myself I am thoroughly ashamed to admit) believed he no longer had the stamina to beat younger, fresher men over 12 rounds. But B-Hop showed his ATG mettle when it mattered with THE perfect performance.
yes but Bramble tore Crawley apart. Blake was always a sucker for a right hand and didn't take body punches well I think mancini would ko him in 7.:rasta
Crawley's penultimate bout, a rare stoppage win over Herminio Morales, is on youtube (somewhat surprisingly, posted eight months ago), so there's certainly hope Crawley-Blake will eventually return to light. (Blake's matches against Jimmy Paul and Tony Baltazar are more recent additions to youtube.) Although Blake was easily Crawley's masterpiece, you can see something of how the switch hitting Butterfly operated with Morales. He could use his legs to move around the ring as well as anybody, but it's what he does when more or less planted in position which sets him apart from many contenders of his day. Quick and flexible upper body movement. He never won a world championship, in part because he was using boxing as a segue into a 20 + year career in law enforcement. (By the time he was 30, he was done punching for pay.) For Bramble, he claimed to have been weakened by having to make weight. At 140, he did look comfortable with little sacrifice in speed and reflexes, and probably could have competed at a world class level for years at JWW.
3 of the perfect fights i have seen fought are Fightign Harada vs Pone Kingpetch I Lionel Rose vs Fighting Harada Ruben Olivares vs Lionel Rose
When i think of awesome boxing clinics put on, I recommend every young Historian on ESB classic to catch Jesse James Leija's 2nd fight with the great Azumah Nelson. Leija looked great that night, I talked to Leija once on a local Boxing radio show and I mentioned how great he looked that night,and he told me that was the highlight of his career, and said that he was in the "Zone" That night. He looked like an Atg that night "noexaggeration" and the scorecards were closer than they should have been 117-110 117-109 114-113(absurd) I thought 118-109 were like it. Check it out! I know there have been many obvious perfect fights but i think this was a forgotten one against a great fighter.
Shane Mosley's destruction of Antonio Margarito was a shock. especcialy after Margarito's devistation of Cotto. Who had beaten Mosley...