What are the opinions you genuinely hold that go WAAAY against the boxing history mainstream? The views that you might even expect to annoy other people in how different they seem? I'm not talking milquetoast, generic controversies ("Oh, I think Hagler won the Leonard fight, don'tcha know.") I'm talking genuine, out-of-the-ordinary beliefs that shock normal boxing fans when you come out with them.
I still think Wilder basically KOd Fury in the first fight and the ref was way too lenient and slow to handle that. Whether it was bias, being paid off, incompetence, whatever the reason he really messed that up. It's mind boggling rewatching it that neither the corner nor the ref decided to stop it. Imagine replacing Wilder with prime versions of Foreman or Tyson or Louis. How many refs do you think are going to let things continue knowing how vicious they are?
If Gene Tunney had not retired when he did, I think not only Max Schmeling would have beaten him, but I believe Jack Sharkey would have as well, if given the chance. And I don't think Gene Tunney even belongs on a top 30 all time Heavyweights list.
I don’t know if it’s heresy but Lou Bizzarro knocked Roberto Duran down clean and the ref, Duran and, bizarrely, Bizzarro all just acted like it didn’t happen. The Mike Tyson who lost to Buster Douglas wasn’t appreciably any different/underprepared than he was in most of his post-Spinks bouts. The real difference was he fought an able, motivated guy and got his ass kicked. And Sandy Saddler beats Willie Pep 3 out of 4 or 99 out of 100. He was flat-out better than Willie, and showed how much so by knocking him slap out and then making him quit like a dog twice. Muhammad Ali ate Sonny Liston’s soul. Sonny didn’t take a dive in either fight but he quit (like a dog) the first time when he clearly could have continued (but would have been stopped) and took the easy way out when Ali scored a flash knockdown in the rematch. He just didn’t want no more.
That Ali never truly beat Frazier. That second fight was a farce with how much the ref was letting Ali get away with all the clinching and grabbing behind the neck. He did make a bad call in favor of Frazier in the second round but based on Frazier's track record there was no way he'd be stopped just then and there. For Thrilla in Manila you have conflicting sources saying whether or not Ali wanted to quit before the 15th, wouldn't fault the ones closest to him denouncing it as BS perhaps even as revisionist history but the fact was Joe wanted to continue and it was Eddie Futch who stopped the fight. Ali wanting to quit is definitely believable considering he collapsed immediately after the results were called. I believe in Joe enough that he could have pulled a miracle had he gone out for the 15th.
I don’t know that this is a heresy but Ken Norton should be 3-0 over Muhammad Ali (according to my scorecards) and not 1-2 as the official results have it. Which means Muhammad Ali lost 3 times to a man who was KO’ed in double quick time by Earnie Shavers and Gerry Cooney and doesn’t deserve the title ‘The Greatest’. That should belong to Joe Louis.
Ricardo Lopez is the most overrated boxer that I can think of at the moment If you only go by resume then Ortiz should rank higher than Duran at 135 Mickey Walker is not top 10 in any single division. (I rank him highly p4p obviously) Neither Harada vs Jofre fight was a robbery and Harada ranks higher as a bantam and p4p. If I think of any others I'll edit this.
Flame suit on...Muhammad Ali lost on purpose to Leon Spinks the first time. Tommy Hearns was still a bit green in fight 1 vs Ray Leonard. Tommy was an overpowering offensive force with his uncommon height etc. He was a bit like Foreman in Zaire.
I'm with you on most of this. I don't think Frazier had the power at that point to KO Ali. The heat Wilted him but there was a possibility that if Muhammad Ali came out for the 15th round he would have collapsed from a heat stroke. Similar Sugar Ray Robinson against Joey Maxim. As We Know Ali did collapse when the fight was called.