2 Fight Series Where Neither Fighter is Great Twice

Well, how about Duran and Leonard one and two?
The first fight Duran was inspired like never before, because he hated Sugars success, and Leonard did not fight his fight.
The second fight, Duran just trained to make weight , and Leonard was as inspired as Duran was in the first.
As much as the first fight was a war, if these guys both met on their best nights, my God, it would have been armegeddon.

 

Griffin - Jones I & II.

 

Leonard fought his fight.He usually was a flat-footed fighter even though he had great footwork.Just look at the Benitez and Hearns 1 fights as he knocked both out utilizing a flat-footed style.In the Duran 1 fight,he just didn't utilize his natural advantage in footspeed.

 

Lewis vs Rahman I & II
Lewis vs McCall I & II

Both of those two fights, had completely different outcomes.

 

Corrales & Castillo series. Both were not as sharp as they were in the rematch though the second fight is an underrated scrap worth watching despite it being 4 rounds. Both were great especially the first but neither fighters were the same after the first and the rematch didn't have as many shifts in momentum.

 

I personally disagree. The Rock wasn't necessarily destroying Lennox before he knocked him out. He landed a couple good right hands, but Lennox was still handily winning. With McCall, he set up his shot perfectly, but the corrected Lewis that had been working with Manny Steward wouldn't have had the problem that Oliver exposed; even the younger Lennox Lewis was winning the first round.

In the first fight, Lennox had one move, the jab followed by a powerful straight (much like an early Manny Pacquiao) That's where McCall's gameplan of timing the right after the jab with something big proved to be so fruitful. Lennox had improved and added so much to his game that such a simple plan wouldn't have held any results.

I believe (especially vs. Rahman) that Lewis was the better fighter all four fights, but the Lewis that lost to Rahman and McCall wasn't due to a bad night.

 

Norris/Brown

 

I think the reason it didn't have as many momentum shifts is because Castillo fought a smarter fight than the first. Corrales wanted to sit and trade on the inside like the first fight, while Castillo would land his shots and then step back. It was a good fight, but Castillo seemed to learn so much more from the first fight than Corrales did.

R.I.P. Chico

 

mosley-dlh. i know mosley won both fights but he looked terrible in the second fight. even he was shocked he won.

 

Yep and RIP Corrales. Weight may have been a factor too because Castillo may have enjoyed a weight advantage. Corrales didn't seem to have that fire he did in the first imo. Not to take anything from Castillo because he did fight better in the rematch and he was controlling the fight before the knockout.

 

And Oscar looked great in the second. Perfect example!
:thumbsup

 

Matthew Saad Muhammad-Conteh. Conteh puts on a great defensive display going the distance in the first fight but looks shot in the rematch.

 

Lewis Rahman

 

Two pieces of mythology here.