Barney Ross. An ATG who was world champion in 3 categories. His final fight was a glorious defeat and his finest moment as a boxer. Barney was the defending champion facing ATG Henry Armstrong when age caught with him right in the middle of the ring. From then on he was subjected to a merciless beating by Armstrong but he refused to go down; his answer to the referee and his cornermen begging him to give up was "a champion chooses how to go out". Afterwards Armstrong stated that Barney was the bravest man he ever fought. That night Ross ended the fight and his boxing career on his feet, never being KOed. This content is protected
Foreman vs Briggs. Like many others, I felt George won. Great performance to go out on. Equally impressive was that it gave Foreman the opportunity to show just how far he had come since Zaire - accepting what was only a technical loss (imo) with such grace and humility.
Ross was the man. I have a lot of respect for Barney but I haven’t watched a great deal of him. That quote is golden.
Good un. What a great way to finish for George. Not getting beaten up, knocked around. Disputed decision and walks away in to the sun.
Lennox Lewis last great victory for me, was Rahman 2. Blasting down the guy that had previously beaten you, and in such a dramatic way. BANG!
Plus, I felt that fight was one of the greatest exhibitions of a heavyweight jab. Period. Foreman won that fight with the jab imo
Hopkins v. Pascal Hopkins actually won a big fight while old as hell, rather than cherry picking a guy who had just lost to a journeyman, losing, and leaving it to the internet to praise his jab while ignoring that he got dominated in the power punching category.
Wins: Duran vs Lawlor. Great "turn back the clock" performance by an ancient Duran. Povetkin vs Whyte 1. Povetkin looking totally done sets up and lands a beautiful one shot KO. Jersey Joe Wolcott's final 2 fights with Ezzard Charles. Morales vs Pacquaio 1 (Morales had some other good performances after that, but that was his swan song imo) Losses: Holyfield's 2nd fight with Lewis. Lewis was absolutely prime and Holyfield had declined considerably and I thought he performed much better than the 1st fight. Patterson's 2nd fight with Ali. Stopped on cuts but Patterson was showing lots of heart and having some really good moments. Showing how effective his style was against boxers, and how his style didn't suffer as much from declining physical abilities as Ali's did.
Can't forget about Pacquiao vs Thurman. That was a helluva performance from the old warrior. Erik Morales turning back the clock against Maidana was also very astonishing.
