OP_TheJawBreaker, Leonard-Hearns I certainly was not great in terms of continuous action, but was great in terms of drama and change of momentum.
@OP_TheJawBreaker I really want to see a list of your all-time favourite fights - a top 10 at least. I’m going to hazard a guess and say it will look very different to mine. I think what this thread shows is that what we consider great in a fight is highly personal. I’ve seen some of my favourite fights of all time mentioned as overrated (Sanchez-Nelson? Really? That’s a first!). I think @Saintpat hit the nail on the head with his post - you can argue that the only thing that matters is in the ring action (the operative word being ‘action’) and, of course, that matters but the event, the time, the context and the skill does play a big part too imo. Anyway, that’s just my two cents, for what it’s worth.
It was an astounding fight as was Hagler vs. Hearns Duran vs. Leonard one. How can people say these fights were not great. I think people are thinking they were overrated because of who fought. The fact is Leonard vs. Hearns one had shifts in tactics and both were so skilled they exchanged roles. That does not happen much,, and then Tommy came on later and got tired again and Ray took over. It was momentum shifts which rarely happen. Hagler vs. Hearns. If there is another fight where two guys go at it like that in round one again, I have not seen it much. And Duran vs. Leonard. Even though I think Ray could have made the fight easy, it was a great fight. Ray fought Duran and found himself in a war, which taught Ray a lesson which he applied to Hearns and Hagler and all the fights he fought later on.
In no particular order, here are some fights I enjoy so much: Thomas Hearns vs Marvin Hagler Ken Norton vs Larry Holmes Eder Jofre vs Jose Medel Merqui Sosa vs Prince Charles Williams 1 Matthew Hilton vs Buster Drayton Terry Norris vs Troy Waters Alexis Arguello vs Ruben Olivares Bennie Briscoe vs Rodrigo Valdez 2 Ron Lyle vs Earnie Shavers Wilfredo Gomez vs Rocky Lockridge Juan LaPorte vs Ruben Castillo
And that’s why it’s all subjective. A fight like Hagler-Hearns would be on a lot of greatest fight lists and near the top, but it’s been called overrated in this thread by a poster whose opinions I respect. Personally, I don’t really get how you think Foreman-Lyle is overrated but you have Lyle-Shavers on your favourite fights list. For me, Foreman-Lyle is a better version of that fight. But then I wholeheartedly agree with some of your other picks.
I don't get the rationale some have that a fight is "overrated" if what they consider proper technique isn't shown. Who the hell cares? Anyone whose heart didn't jump the first time they watched Foreman-Lyle doesn't have a pulse. That was pure edge of your seat fun, period. For example, I consider Chacon-Limon 4 to be the best fight I've ever seen, and both fighters showed a lot of sloppiness. Chacon threw almost exclusively right hands for any punch that had any meaning, and he threw them with his chin sticking out all the time. Limon fought like...... .well, like Limon, we've all seen his work.
Holyfield/Tyson I. It's definitely a great fight and had one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, but it had no business winning Fight of the Year from Ring Magazine considering how many true classics that happened in 1996.
Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey: the great 6th round and final round make many people forget how slow most of the fight was. Much of the fight was the two of them staring at each other and doing nothing. It wasn’t slow in action in a great chess match type of way where one guy makes a mistake and the other makes him pay. It was just two of them doing little.
I was about to say that….no way was this FOTY when you had Barrera-McKinney and Gatti-Rodriguez that year. Liles-Littles 2 & Kelley-Gainer 1 also took place that year. It wasn’t even the best HW fight of the final months of 96’, Bowe-Golota 2 was better.
Have a read of the @Saintpat post re FOTY choices. I think there were better fights from an action standpoint that year, but it was “The Fight of the Year” without a doubt.
This exactly. It's the sort of fight you can show anyone and have them on the edge of their seat. It's a popcorn fight, again with the Citizen Kane analogy, you don't have to be cultured on boxing to appreciate Foreman v Lyle, same deal for watching a fast and furious or marvel movie. They're fun for everyone as long as you aren't trying to view it for something it is not. Whereas to appreciate something like Citizen Kane, or Walcott vs Louis 1, you have to know the finer details and what makes these pieces of art so significant.
Going to have to agree with OP here: Hagler vs. Hearns. Great fight, no doubt, but not a top 10-er for me. Not "The War" to me, either. I think it was, as OP mentioned, bolstered by the clout of the participants and historical significance. Aside from Hagler getting stung once and cut, the result wasn't in doubt from my perspective. My first viewing of it was clouded by expectations and as a result, I was disappointed having seen other great fights by that point. I think it was awesome and amazing to see two all timers bang it out, but I don't consider it one of my personal favorite fights. I've seen other fights of repute before my time and really liked them such as Chiquita and Carbajal, or Lyle and Foreman, but Hagler-Hearns didn't quite live up to the immense hype for me. ed: I saw someone else say Dempsey and Firpo and I have to agree, because I've heard Bert Sugar talk about how great it was 1,000 times
