I was just reading about Jeffries-Corbett I, in which Gentleman Jim had compiled a huge lead on the cards only to get caught and stopped by a right in round 23 of 25... Got me thinking about those tragic fights where boxers put up their best or most iconic performance and still lose. The one that immediately comes to mind is Leonard-Hearns I, one of my favorites of all time because of the shock ending and the ring generalship clinic put on by Hearns in the early rounds. Tommy was electric... he ate some shots in the middle rounds, but he ****ing had him until Ray's rally in the 13th. A more recent example is Spence-Porter... Porter left it all in the ring and will probably never fight as well again... He just couldn't carry his focus and intensity into the championship rounds. What are some other classic cases of fights like this?
Moore v Durrell Walcott v Marciano Are two fights that come to mind. Walcott was brilliant till that 13 round
Joey Maxim vs. Sugar Ray Robinson Okay, maybe not Robinsons fight of his life, but I think it`s a good example.
Mike Ayala vs. Danny “Little Red” Lopez in 1979 in Ring Magazine’s fight of the year for the WBC featherweight title. Ayala down twice (taking a knee) and finally stopped in the 15th but up on one card and down on two when it was stopped in the 15th in Danny’s favor. Fantastic scrap. While he didn’t lose again until 1985, when he was stopped by Juan Meza in a challenge for the WBC 122-pound title, Ayala probably never fought on that level before or after the Lopez fight.
Jose Torres-Eddie Cotton Mickey Walker-Dave Shade James J Jeffries-Jim Corbett 1 Jeffries-Tom Sharkey Jake LaMotta-Laurent Dauthuille Nino Benvenuti-Luis Rodriguez
It's funny to see this thread, because today I watched the second fight between Alan Minter and Kevin Finnegan. What a fight! Both Kevin and Alan gave it their all and Minter won it by a 147 1/2 to 147 score. It was so very close. Finnegan was cut to shreds and still managed to hurt Minter twice during the contest. An even funnier note was all three of their 15 round contests was scored so narrowly for Minter each time.
Kelvin Seabrooks put up an amazing performance against Canizales and fell just short. Honorable mention to Edwin Santana for his performance against Greg Haugen and also Pascual Aranda walking into the buzzsaw named Antonio Esparragoza in title fights that nobody ever saw probably.
