I'm sure everyone is familiar with the many wars in boxing history, the action fights, the Hagler-Hearns, the Pryor-Agruellos, the Thrillas. But what about the best fights which showcase the class, pedigree, and skill of its two combatants? What are your favourite chess match fights?
These are more like high speed chess matches with some good technical skills on display. Larry Holmes vs Ken Norton/Tim Witherspoon Sugar Ray Leonard vs Wilfred Benitez Marco Antonio Barrera vs Juan Manuel Marquez Mike McCallum vs James Toney 1 Donald Curry vs Marlon Starling 2 Salvador Sanchez vs Ruben Castillo Jose Napoles vs Hedgemon Lewis 1 Winky Wright vs Jermain Taylor
Masao Ohba vs Betulio Gonzalez Pernell Whitaker vs Buddy McGirt 1 Donald Curry vs Marlon Starling 2 Mike McCallum vs James Toney 1 / Donald Curry / Sumbu Kalambay 2 James Toney vs Michael Nunn Lupe Pintor vs Alberto Davila 2 Juan Manuel Marquez vs Marco Antonio Barrera / Joel Casamayor / Manny Pacquiao 2 Chucho Castillo vs Rafael Herrera 2 Gilberto Roman vs Santos Laciar 1 & 2 Harold Johnson vs Ezzard Charles / Archie Moore / Henry Hank Emile Griffith vs Joey Archer 2 Johnny Tapia vs Danny Romero Devin Haney vs Vasyl Lomachenko
I think Ruben Olivares vs Chucho Castillo 1 deserves a mention. High level boxing but also a fast paced fight.
I always had a weird obsession with Hopkins-Calzaghe for this reason. Calzaghe trying to force Hopkins to take more steps than he wanted to; Hopkins trying to diminish Calzaghe's output. Both of them experts in these areas. I thought it was so close.
Man, I was gonna tell you about the fight I had at the school chess club. The dude kept touching his pieces and saying adjusting. After the tenth time I realised he was doing it to annoy me so of course it started to annoy me. Touch ... adjust. Touch ... adjust. Touch ... adjust. And he was putting the pieces back skew on purpose so that he'd have to adjust the m again! Touch ... adjust. Touch ... adjust. Touch ... adjust. Anyway long story short, I punched him in the nose.
In a strategic way, Chavez-Taylor. Both men stuck to their strategy...Taylor sticking and moving, scoring points and banking rounds, and Chavez physically breaking down his opponent with effective aggression. It went until two seconds of the last round, and, agree or not, Chavez's strategy finally paid off. Leonard-Duran I, where Duran did everything in the playbook to take the bigger, stronger, faster, younger man off his game.