other than the second Duran - Leonard fight, who else have you seen that came this far down in stature in one fight? I had never seen another fighter so utterly humiliated than the night Leonard humbled him Duran didnt seem to be doing that badly and I believe that the head games such as the Ali shufflle was the start of it, and the sticking out of the chin followed by the bolo fake out/jab to the face was the last straw Not even Floyd Patterson's 1st round ko loss to Liston was this humiliating. Can you imagine going back to the ring for a repeat? The only other time I had seen anything so dehumanizing was Hearn's KO of Duran. In my opinion, this was WORSE!
Just this past week I watched the bout between champ Luis Ibarra defending against Juan Herrera. A competitive bout until slowly Herrera took over and in the 11th round it was as if the cap on Ibarra's 'Will tank' came loose and slowly bled out as he was pounded to the canvas in a corner.
Sandy Saddler vs Willie Pep the dirty fighting dragged Pep out of his fight and left his balls and pride battered he started coasting and just wanted to be anywhere but there by the end of it he wasn't lying down but he had enough.
2nd Pryor vs Arguello fight. Arguello sat in the middle of the ring after getting knocked down, resigned to his fate. If some of you see this as less than brave. You didn't see any of those fights. Both of those fighters showed incredible toughness and will to win. The difference was Pryor was the better Jr. welter.
It gets under my skin watching shots bounce off Aaron Pryor in that fight. He just looks frustratingly durable and vigorous.
How so? My memory is he kept trying his damndest to close and catch Lewis out, and Lewis had to pound him into the ground. It's not like he didn't know Lewis could be one-shotted if caught properly, and it's not like he didn't know he had the power to do it if he could just land that lucky shot. Might as well keep trying.
Chavez after Whitaker showed he was beatable. He wasn't to graceful in subsequent defeats. Sort of a poor sport after being almost God like for most of his career.
I agree that he was a bad sport and that he was handily outpointed, but he still performed well even though he was no longer #1, he didnt seem to be broken
Excellent post. If exceptional courage means putting your body, your future and even your life totally on the line then anything not quite as committed shouldn’t default to less than brave. It doesn’t correlate with the weight of the accolade in the first instance. Pryor-Arguello II calls in the scenario of a rematch that followed a brutal KO/stoppage in the first fight. Alexis gave it a great shot second time around but Pryor was in the main impervious to his biggest punches and Alexis was a disturbingly easy target as before. . When Alexis went down the last time, it appears that his descent might’ve been semi elected also because there’s a chance he flash backed to the nightmare KO of the first fight, staying on his feet, taking so many brutal shots. Given same, it could be argued that it takes that much more courage than was required in the first fight to even engage in a rematch. I’ve always felt that Ray Leonard, although obviously hurt, also made a semi election to hit the deck for the first 2nd KD v Hearns II. Not to surrender but to gain some respite because a few more hits from Hearns while still on his feet might’ve ended it right there. Smart move actually. Anyway, courage in the ring and in other sports of similar acute risk can be hugely admired but the 100% selfless commitment can be rationalised away when taking into account the bigger picture of life. Courage in the ring is a real thing but with artificial parameters. Some guys fight AS IF they’re avenging a murder of a family member or their family is being held to ransom subject to their winning. Suffice to say, a very special breed and it’s a privilege to witness them rather than expect every fighter to necessarily uphold the same do or die mentality. Other examples where a boxer might or might not have taken in some or all of the traumatic memories of the previous defeat into the rematch and perhaps did quit due to being resigned to defeat or at least in avoidance of further damage or repeat damage:- Marciano v Walcott II (Marciano’s quick despatch of Joe might’ve also been driven by his not wanting go through the same punishment as fight I) Liston v Ali I Ali v Liston II De La Hoya v Chavez II (though Chavez was taking a good beating in the rematch itself also).
