Please vote for the most flawless performance....

Jones vs Toney, because both were top5 pound for pound and Jones did not even manage to lose a single round. Even if Toney was weight drained (which he always was, or fat, or unfocused, or didn't want to win, etc), that might have made the difference between a close loss and a close win, but not a landslide defeat.

Many of the others, like Ali vs Williams and Mayweather vs Gatti are extremely impressive, but against clearly lesser opposition.

Calzaghe vs Lacy was an impressive domination as well, especially given that most thought Calzaghe would be murdered. That fight should've been stopped no later than the 9th.

 

I'm gonna say based on quality of both fighters coming in Chavez destroyinga prime Rosario takes it for me ... he simply took Edwin apart ... it was brutal ...

Ali fought a weak, old Williams...

Robinson was losing half the fight till Jake weakened from weight loss ..

Gatti (RIP) didn't belong in the same ring with Mayweather ...

Tito was exposed as a one dimensional fighter by Hopkins and never showed he was not after ..

MY number two is Jones dominance over Toney, a fight that nearly ruined Toney's career ...

 

Hopkins-Tito for me,Tito was on a roll coming to this fight beating guys like Reid,Vargas and crushing Joppy in his middleweight debut and was arguably the best fighter pound for pound at the time,most observers thought that Hopkins would be just another victim of Tito and the few that picked Hopkins said he had to make it an ugly fight to win,but Hopkins did the unexpected and put on a brilliant display of his skills,beating Tito to the punch and never letting Tito land anything significantly,winning every round and finishing the fight like a champion with a brilliant KO of the undefeated Trinidad finally proving he was one of the best fighters of his generation.

 

I don't think so. I think Whitaker-Haugen is a better performance than Whitaker-Ramirez II, which is a tad overrated because it was the revenge fight, righting the wrong. There were rounds in the Ramirez fight where Pea was content to just cruise it, and not much happened. Pea punished Haugen more, and against Nelson he was forced to fight at the top of his game and did so... sensationally.

I would also nominate Kalambay v McCallum I in this discussion.

 

What about Hopkins - Pavlik?

 

I'm eternally dubious about all this talk of how Calzaghe was supposed to be a sacrificial lamb in that fight.

Yes, the American media were hyping Lacy because he was a Yank, he had a punch, and therefore the same tired old cliches about the new Tyson were chucked about.

But were that many insiders really so convinced that Lacy would trample Joe?

These facts were undeniable:

- Calzaghe had the better resume

- Calzaghe was the more experienced, more seasoned, more proven pro

- Calzaghe was the longer-reigning champion

- The fight was essentially a home fight for Calzaghe

- (key point) Calzaghe had pretty much dominated then stopped Omar Sheika in 5, while Lacy struggled woefully to outpoint Sheika. There were actually murmurings that Sheika deserved the decision - and that's a fighter of the calibre of Sheika remember, not another world champion or top 5 smw


I think because certain sections of the US media hyped up Lacy in the build-up and because Calzaghe was so so much better than Lacy on the night, all this stuff about Lacy being a white-hot favourite has been retrospectively overcooked.

 

I NEVER say this or write it because I'm an arrogant ass most of the time, but I have to say that I couldn't possibly agree more with this post. Very insightful, with a lot of points that aren't brought up very often. Lacy being a favorite was solely because of the media, not actual boxing insiders.

 

if we're talking sweet science then plenty of wlad performances fit the bill, the chagaev fight was hardly wildly exciting but it was pretty dominant considering chagaev was just about the best guy out there for wlad to fight

calzaghe - lacy was a clinic aswell, and his style made it pretty exciting at the same time. i'm not familiar with all of the fights in the poll so i wouldn't want to vote for it though

 

You could use excuses for most of the ones listed: Foster was beaten up by every good heavyweight, Cleveland Williams should never have been awarded a title shot, etc.

 

Out of those listed, I'd have to go for Jones or Chavez I think.

 

chavez vs rosario,slowly destroyed rosario

 

Ali-Williams is the best for a piece of pure, effortless class.

Hopkins-Trinidad is the best for just doing a systematic, complete job on your opponent.

 

Mosley vs Margarito?

 

There were some knowledgeable guys picking Calzaghe (MDWC for one), but fact remains that the majority of the people picked Lacy to kill him. In hindsight, you can always degrade a performance, like Tyson being past his best against Holyfield because of the layoff, looking bad against Mathis, etc etc, but going into the bout he was a massive favorite... not to the extend Lacy was, but you get the point.

You say that Calzaghe had the better credentials going in, well perhaps so, but his opposition wasn't all that, either; his best opponent was an aging Eubank. Many saw him as either untested, overprotected or a loss waiting to happen.


Regardless of whether Jeff was overhyped, it remains a 120-107 shutout win over the #2 guy in the division. How many on that list can say that?

 

Although I have never seen the full fight, only brief highlights, apparently Ralph Dupas put on an absolute clinic over the favoured Gil Turner at the Montreal Forum back in 52` I think it was. Going by the limited footage of the bout it seems like this was indeed a complete shutout by Dupas and he sure looked mighty impressive in there, he along with Lionel Rose have two of most pleasing boxing styles to the eye I have ever seen. And speaking of Rose his one-sided domination of Fighting Harada was nothing short of masterful, he handily won against an all-time great fighter on his own turf and did so in style, a terrific performance by Lionel that was.