Most intelligent boxing display?

Benny Leonard, there was a fight where he was caught with a nice shot, so he complained to the ref about it being a lowblow to buy himself recovery time.

 

No, because he didn't engage at all. That's not how you win a title. He still won that fight btw, anywhere but the UK he would have taken that decision. Ali did box initially, but listen to a quote from the man himself:

It might have been a great show of heart, and to an extent ring generalship but Ali's plan went against the fundamental theories of smart boxing. Hit and don't get hit. Don't get caught on the ropes.

 

Mayweather - Hatton

 

Pascal vs Dawson

 

Do you consider talking **** during a fight apart of ring generalship? The way Ali always did it to his opponents or how Floyd told Mosley his jab sucked being examples.:think

 

sugar ray against hearns.........
leonard started good, but hearns came on in the mid rounds and used his reach to good effect. sugar ray patiently ate shots as his eyes almost swelled shut. but all the while working out how to get inside and infiltrate tommy's zone; then did so in explosive fashion in rounds 13 and 14........a superb display of tactical boxing followed by a savage stoppage

 

This. And probably Mayweather-Gatti and Mosley-Margarito of recent fights, but neither Floyd nor Shane had to contend with the monsters Sugar Ray had to deal with. Definitely Leonard and Ali.

 

Schmelling vs. Louis I
Mayweather vs. Judah

These were the two that immediately popped into my head.

 

Barrera - Marquez . High level boxing right there

 

Cotto vs Marg (first 8 rounds)

 

Christ only knows how anyone in their right mind could think Mayweather-Gatti or Mayweather-Corrales were acceptable answers to this question. Then again, this is the General Fanboy Forum.

Gatti was done by the time Floyd fought him, he was declined, cherrypicked, and weightdrained, and Floyd used him as a punchbag - absolutely zero brainpower required in that fight.

Corrales fought like a ****ing zombie, plodding forward as slow as you like, not throwing any punches, and looking like he had left his jab in the dressing room. All Floyd had to do was canter round the outside of the ring and pick him off. One of the easiest nights of his career, no need to change it up at any stage.

If the *****s are determined to answer "FLOYD! FLOYD! FLOYD!" to every single question asked, they could at least try to tailor the answer to fit the question, and here select a fight where Floyd actually had to utilize his ring IQ, like Hatton, Mosley, Judah or ODLH. For me, none of these fights required nor received a performance of such intelligence as to merit consideration for the most intelligent boxing display ever, but at least they would be semi-valid answers.

For me, these performances stand aloft from recent decades:

Toney-Nunn (it took JT about 7 rounds of punishment before he worked the excellent Nunn out, and turned the fight around through his will and skill, and eventually got a supreme stoppage win)

Toney-McCallum 1 (one of the most high-level technical fights I've ever seen)

Whitaker-Chavez and Whitaker-Nelson (Pea completely neutralized two of the greatest fighters of the era, performing a masterclass of all-round boxing, sometimes boxing on the backfoot, sometimes stepping inside, showing great jab, footwork etc)