Masterclasses.

Mayweather vs corrales
Mayweather vs Gatti
Hopkins vs pavlik
Hopkins vs Tito
Rigo vs donaire

 

Wow, that's freaking insane.

 

Have to agree, most mentioned weren't what id call elite, and often the results were skewed by weight or missing peaks issues.
One of the best, and clearest wins against an elite fighter was fraziers domination of the incomparable ali in their first fight, but again ali was coming back from a long layoff. Nontheless, considering what ali was able to go on to achieve, he was definitely still elite when frazier met him, and frazier dominated ali and never let him into the fight.
Tysons annihilation of spinks would qualify as spinks was an elite light heavy and had beaten the lineal heavyweight champion.
Yes, he seemed terrified but that's not tysons problem.
Sugar ray leonards come from behind win against the brilliant hearns would qualify, depending on your definition of masterclass, they were both definitely elite and in their primes.
Douglas put in a masterclass to dethrone the elite tyson

 

This is why we need to clarify what masterclass means exactly.

To me it would mean a great master boxer fighting a good boxer and making him look terrible proving he is a master boxer by never/barely getting hit. I wouldn't class Leonard's or Douglas' wins as masterclasses

 

Here is a list of true masterclasses

Ali vs Liston I & II (barely got hit in the first 1 and got through a round blind I don't think he takes a clean shot in the rematch)
wlad vs mormeck (wlad took 4 punches maybe)
Tyson vs Spinks (you've seen the tape)
Fury vs Johnson/Chisora II/hammer (hardly gets hit)
SRL vs Duran 2 (dominated an ATG into quitting)

 

Roberto Duran has his shares of masterclasses in terms of sheer ferocity and skill. His performances against Dejesus III and Palomino are vicious but also masterful.

I'd also add Dwight Muhammad Qawi putting a beating on Matthew Saad Muhammad and Leon Spinks.

 

One of the smartest fights of his career.

 

:good

 

(skip the boring round 1)


[YT]KU-7OF-GZio[/YT]

 

If both boxers are landing then it's not a masterclass for either of them so pac-man vs jmm dosen't qualify

 

Did either fighter go the whole bout without really getting hit ???

If not then it's not a masterclass

 

Calzaghe-Lacy

 

I mean, none of these definitions are set in stone or anything, but my understanding of the common usage was that:

• world class means you are good enough to either be a title holder or be ranked consistently for a meaningful period of time (a year or more) in a given division's top 5-10. (sliding cap, higher or lower depending on relative p4p h2h strength of those ahead of you in the division).

• elite means you are the best or 2nd best or at a stretch (in a very strong division) 3rd best h2h active in your division and would be good enough to at least be a top-15ish contender if transplanted into virtually any era in the division's history, even its strongest ones to date.

• ATG means you're the best in the division clear as day (generally, with the odd rare exceptions where there happen to be two ATGs campaigning in the same weight class at the same time; it does happen) and rank among the best ever.

At any given time, in any given division, there are world class fighters. That is a fluid term and somewhat arbitrary in terms of p4p h2h worth. It just means you're a champ or top rated contender.

At any given time, in any given division, among the world class fighters, you could have anywhere from 0-several elites. (the more there are, the stronger you'd call the division; the fewer, the weaker)

At any given time, across the sport, you could have anywhere from zero to several of the active elites be ATG's. (the more there are, the stronger you'd call the era p4p and the state of the sport itself; the fewer, the weaker)