I think Carl Froch went out with back to back KOs over heavily hyped George Groves ...he can get an honorable mention
Lennox Lewis finished his career with a stoppage win over Vitali Klitschko, who was the next dominant heavyweight champ and a Hall of Famer. To me, that's maybe the greatest last fight of any heavyweight champion ever. The fact that Lewis tore the whole side of his face off, that Vitali was a late sub many levels above Lennox's original opponent, and Vitali didn't even make it past six rounds (given he was a fighter who was never down on the cards in his career), just made it more impressive. Lewis won the Gold Medal in his last amateur fight with a stoppage win against a future Hall of Famer (Bowe) and he finished his pro career with a stoppage win over future Hall of Famer (Klitschko) ... and Lewis beat every man he faced as a pro in between those fights. Simply Amazing. Aside from others previously mentioned (like Marciano and Froch), I was also greatly impressed by Jermain Taylor's last fight. Taylor dropped Sam Soliman four times and won the IBF Middleweight Title. I thought Taylor was going to get killed. He'd been brutally stopped by Froch and Abraham. Soliman was coming off a win over Felix Sturm to capture the title. It appeared Soliman was going to finish Taylor off. And it was a pretty joyous night. To me, that evening felt like when Duran beat Moore; it was that unexpected and a night when a former champ briefly regained some of his previous glory. I'd been watching him from the amateur days and always rooted for him, but it seemed Taylor's career was destined to end badly. Happily, it ended on a really high note that night. Salvador Sanchez deserves a mention. He won his last fight, a featherweight title defense against future Hall of Famer Azumah Nelson (although none of us knew that at the time - Nelson was pretty green, still). So does Ike Ibeabuchi. His last win was a convincing knockout over future champ Chris Byrd. That win really added to the "what if" factor around Ibeabuchi that lasted for decades. Those spring immediately to mind. Lewis and Taylor mainly.
Totally agree about Lewis v Klitschko. People talk about that fight like Lewis was holding on for dear life and got away with cutting up Klitschko by lucky chance. I didn't see it that way at all. That was as legit of a cuts stoppage as any I've ever seen. And I thought Lewis took charge over last 2 rounds and the momentum gap was widening rapidly in favor of Lewis. Vitali shot his best wad in the first two rounds and then began slowing down and getting caught with more frequent shots. If anything, if that fight continued I saw Lewis scoring a 10 count KO. Of course you can knock Lewis for not doing the rematch, and it's fair criticism, but honestly what obligation did Lewis have for that? He handled his business the first time around and was the last man standing despite being old and not in the best of shape (which is another over exaggerated theme of that fight).
great choices ... . Packey was coming off a 2 year lay off and carrying around a lot more weight than previously in his career which made his performance impressive as Mike was in prime , but coming off a lose to Bartfield i believe... but to be fair to Mike , an equal case could be made for him so I believe the fight is recognized as a Draw ...... @BitPlayerVesti did make a great case for Packey if I remember correctly Me personally from what Ive read on it .... I would say draw as well ..... BUT a win works and doesn't take away at all from " has to rate up there with one of the best honestly."
It is listed on Boxrec as a NWS win. I think that's on the basis that more reporters scored it for McFarland than for Gibbons. I've seen footage, I can't recall exactly what portion of the fight is available, but it was significant. By my eye, of that footage, Gibbons was just edging it. I say that as someone who thinks McFarland is often underrated & more often overlooked.
Lot of the good ones already mentioned such as Salvador Sanchez, Rocky Marciano, Lennox Lewis, Ike Williams, Ernesto Marcel, Michael Carbajal. Besides those guys: Jimmy McLarnin against Lou Ambers, and a month before that he also beat Tony Canzoneri. Eddie Bookers against Holman Williams
that was changed on Box rec .... I dont think more reportes scored it for McFarland necessarily .. If you look into it ,, its well considered a Draw and rightfully so .... there's only a hand full of us here that bring him up .. well since I've been on this site at least .. I've posted some info and articles on here in the past on him .......
Edwin Valero ended his career with a successful defence of his LW belt by way of KO (same result as all his other fights !) over top contender Antonio de Marco Soto.
How do you mean changed on Boxrec? It still shows as a McFarland win. I consider it a draw too, personally.
