"Great" fights you consider overrated?

Yep, Mickey was from that crowd of 1-2 then duck stylists. He sure did make a nice career out of it though.

 

Man,some people are hard to please.

Gatti-Ward 1 not that good???

I thought it was amazing.It even had the usually calm and measured Manny Steward commentating for HBO cheering like a drunk in the cheap seats at the end.For skill and significance it might not be up there but for pure heart nothing beats it.

Also I reckon all three Barrera-Morales fights rocked particularly the first and third,and the Thrilla in Manilla I reckon was closer and more competitive than the FOTC.Just great all of them.

Fights like these are what make me a fan of boxing.Despite all the bull**** and corruption surrounding the sport great fights like these ensure the sport will always remain.

To answer the thread I have to agree with a couple of others that Duran-Leonard 1 wasn't actually that pleasing on the eye despite the hype and the undoubted greatness of the two fighters involved.

 

I'm not hard to please. It was a great fight, but just not among the elite fights of all-time. I've explained why. It wasn't a great fight for the first 5-6 rounds. Nothing to do with skill. It simply lacked action for the first half of the fight. It was an ordinary fight over the first 5-6 rounds. Gatti outboxing Ward, and Ward plodding forward hardly throwing punches. It heated up to become a great fight.

So, all in all......Corrales-Castillo I was a war from the beginging until the end. Ali-Frazier III, Holyfield-Bowe I, Pryor-Arguello I and Morales-Barrera I. Lots of punches being thrown from both fighters, fierce pace, and flush power punches landing regularly. Gatti-Ward I only had that for about 40% of the fight.

 

happy new year fight fans - my new years resolution is to become a regular poster on here - got to say Thrilla In Manila is the one I'd pick as the most over rated fights - it was absorbing yes, and I'm not saying it wasn't great (just not the GREATEST FIGHT EVER which it always seems to be called - I prefer to remember them both when they were both young peak and in manila they both were about stone over their prime fighting weights and in relative decline anyway. Think it was only really the fact that they were declined to so similar (almost parallel) degrees that allowed for the intensity of the struggle. I do find it unfair to judge two once great fighters on the basis of a fight in which they were both old and overweight, even if these deficiencies were on the night backed by heroic resolve and will power. That fight was simply a testament to their stoic refusal to back down from each other no matter how old and sluggish they were getting by that time. Their first fight in 71 was was amazing - that was much more like it!!

 

It's a matter of opinion.

Gatti won the early rounds but he was recieving some tremendous punishment to the body at the same time which is what slowed him up to allow Micky to come on strong late.Plus Ward ate some big shots and showed an enormous chin to take them and keep pressing forward. Hence I thought it was a great fight all the way.

Holyfield-Bowe 1 was a classic but was fairly one sided in comparison to Gatti-Ward. Bowe won probably 9-3 which people tend to forget in light of the classic 10th round.Still it deserves to be rated amongst the best ever.

 

Having an iron chin helped a bit too I suppose.

 

I am not sure if this has been mentioned yet but I always found that Frazier-Quarry I never lived up to the billing and I don't think it should of been FOTY (though I am at a loss for a fitting candidate from that year). It had an excellent first round but after that Frazier basically took over and gave a gassed Jerry a bad beating.

 

Yeah, I prefer to think of that fight as a "not that bad" level fight. Certainly not that good, let alone great. Both men have been in far better fights. Hell, I think Mayweather VS Burton was three times the fight. Joe Frazier was asked about that fight and he went off on how the event was supposed to be so big and he didn't see a mark on either fighter and just couldn't understand that. Gotta love Joe.

 

Bowe V Holfield 3 was awesome

 

Leonard-Hearns I. Leonard looked lost and Hearns overtrained. The officiating was wretched. The press was worse. I don't ever recall seeing the press try harder to sell a lemon than they did in the aftermath of that fight. Duran's surrender didn't take away the memory of Leonard taken to school, so they spun the come-from-behind story in a desperate attempt to save their golden boy's reputation.

 

Hi Rooster. :good

Leonard was awesome. I love to watch him fight.