On the brink of Pac vs Cotto I've been thinking of other cases of great fighters moving up and fighting bigger, elite opponents and I've come to the conclusion that these kind of fights almost always go the distance. Am I correct in this assessment? How many examples can you think of where a smaller fighter moved up and fought a bigger one and the fight went the distance? How many where the smaller fighter got knocked out? How many where the bigger fighter got knocked out?
The best examples of a good smaller man beating a good bigger man that I can think of are Duran-Leonard I, Hopkins-Tarver and Holyfield-Bowe II. No stoppages. Hearns-Hill too. Obviously there are hundreds of examples of the bigger man stopping the smaller man though.
Like what? Arguello vs Pryor springs to mind but can you think of many more? Tito vs Hopkins and Hears vs Hagler too
Fitzsimmons vs Corbett springs to mind as a smaller great KO ing a bigger one. Spinks wpts v Holmes, Moorer v Holyfield, Holyfield v Tyson is another KO. Fenech Nelson was a draw. In fact, Roy Jones Jr and Chris Byrd both stepped down in weight and were KOd. Basically, imo, it all depends on the individual fighters and circumstances. In reality, it is realistic to expect any possible result. But, i will say that sometimes fighters with a rock solid chin or awesome power will step up and lose that power or chin. Not always though.
Well Hatton's not on the level of some mentioned but Pacquiao himself moved up and slayed Hatton where he stood.
Bob Foster vs Joe Frazier Michael Spinks vs Mike Tyson Wilfredo Gomez vs Salvador Sanchez Carlos Zarate vs Wilfredo Gomez Manny Pacquiao vs Marco Antonio Barrera Juan Manuel Marquez vs Joel Casamayor None of them went the distance.
what about cases that did do the distance? RJJ vs RUIZ Hopkins vs Tarver Pavlik vs Hopkins SRL vs Hagler Mosley vs ODLH Mosley vs Winky Wright JMM vs Floyd Henry Armstrong vs Ceferino Garcia SRR vs Jake Lamotta many times Duran vs Leonard Duran vs Hagler
PH|LLA, I see how you are arriving at this assumption; but I'm sure there are numerous examples to the contrary. De la Hoya vs Chavez, Norris vs Taylor, Benn vs McClellan, and Toney vs Barkley immediately came to mind. I think Toney may have tested the waters at 168 before Barkley, so that may not count. Then again, Pacquiao has fought at 147.
:good Marco Antonio Barrera vs Erik Morales III Marco Antonio Barrera vs Naseem Hamed Azumah Nelson vs Pernell Whitaker Roberto Duran vs Iran Barkley Thomas Hearns vs Virgil Hill Michael Spinks vs Larry Holmes