Buildup, suspense, drama, technical, tactics, courage (on both sides), stakes, come from behind win = Leonard - Hearns I.
On film Alexis Arguello vs Aaron Pryor I Live on TV Juan Manuel Marquez vs Juan Diaz I Live at ringside Lee McAllister vs Godfreind Sowah
I have seen many great fights that come to mind. Some of them are unheralded and the fighters are not known to be great but I am assuming you are talking about live fights. Foreman/Lyle was very amateurish but had me shaking with excitement Hagler/Hearns was a great war and got right down to the nitty gritty Bobby Chacon vs Boza-Edwards and Bazooka Limon Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward 1 Jose Fernandez vs Walter Seely Mathew Franklin vs Y. Lopez Duran vs Leonard 1 Ali-Frazier 1 and 3 Danny Little Red Lopez had a few thrillers also Holmes/Norton was a good one towards the end of the fight Bennie Briscoe was not an ATG but I loved his style and enjoyed a few of his
Ditto in N.Y., n, when Graziano raged back to stop Zale for the middleweight title. Shy on tactics, not thrills.
The best fight i ever attended was Tyson/Holyfield I at the MGM, absolutly unreal atmosphere, it was like slow motion as i took in the crowd chanting HOLYFIELD HOLYFIELD after that 6th round knockdown & at that moment in time i felt sorry for Tyson as a human being what with the fickle crowd spinning on a dime & at that moment in time i thought that tyson must have felt the loneliest man on the planet, i was having one of my humanitarian moments.:yep The most dramatic fight i went too has to be Chavez/Taylor I at the Hilton, but recently Cotto/Margo..****in great & Pacman obliterating Hatton was totally awesome. i'am a junkie for live fights regardless of the 11,000 mile round trips as there's no place like the states for watching a fight live IMO, great & diverse crowds & knowlegable fight fans in the main who make for great company
I think you were pretty clear in asking about best fights you have seen live at an event that you attended, but am not sure that many have read your entire post??? 1. Willie "The Worm" Monroe UD over Marvin Hagler 2. "Joltin" Jeff Chandler TKO 9 Baby Kid Chocolate 3. Eugene "Cyclone" Hart draw "Bad" Bennie Briscoe (1st fight..I thought Cyclone edged it) 4. Dwight (Braxton) Muhammad Qawi TKO 6 Matthew (Franklin) Saad Muhammad 5. David Reid KO 4 Simon Brown
Wish I had been to more fights but out of the very few I've seen from ringside I would choose Calzaghe-Kessler probably. Quite a few good exchanges and I had Calzaghe by 3 rounds in the end, closer than many other people had it. Too bad Jones-Woods didn't come to the UK as was planned at one point. I would have paid big money to catch a glimpse of a prime Roy Jones! One of Jones's most underrated performances too. Also enjoyed seeing Calzaghe stop Byron Mitchell - prematurely or not - and David Haye destroying Enzo Mac.
It was not as clear as it should of been in the title, but the orignal post did have the phrase "if you have been to a bout, what is the Greatest?"