Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson 1 was a terrible choice for fight of the year. Leonard-Hearns 1. Great fighters in their prime, great shifts in momentum and strategy, very inconsistent in terms of action. Hagler-Hearns. Terrific short fight, but I wouldn't rank it that high on my list. A lot of people say you had to see it live, which I can understand (although I've seen other fights taped and knowing the result that I consider easily better than Hagler-Hearns). Gatti-Ward trilogy. Fight one was excellent. Fight two was alright, a schooling, and fight three was pretty good, but also rather one-sided. I remember Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant calling De La Hoya-Quartey a "tremendous fight" and others here say it was a great fight. WTF? It was two exciting rounds and ten rounds of posing.
Really?? Tommy almost went through the ropes to the outside multiple times. His legs were gone. I think that stoppage saved Tommy from have to take a bunch more unnecessary punishment.
Gatti-Ward II and III...the second one was one sided in favor of Gatti...had it been another fighter, it would have been stopped in the third when Ward was getting waxed... and so was the third...the only thing that made it interesting in Gatti being knocked down in...I forget which round.
This is unfair to the fights/fighters of the past. A huge part of the excitement at the time during past fights was the fact that nobody knew the result yet. Taking away the "Live" element completely changes everything from an excitement point of view. There is a big difference when watching a fight that happened years ago compared to watching one at the same time as the rest of the world.
Good post, It's like a funny incident, you have to be there and see it live just not the same as already knowing whats going to happen and watching it
Over-rated fight for me is: Lacy vs Calzaghe as one sided a fight as a 1st round blow out! Under-rated fights are: Lennox Lewis vs Shannon Briggs and Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Emanuel Burton Steve