Greatest Level of Skill Shown in a Fight from Both Fighters

What is the definition of skill? A combination of athletic ability and technical prowess? You strip a boxer of all his mental attributes and go with what's left?

This is fundamentally unfair, imo, because some physical attributes like handspeed and reflexes add considerably to the perception of how skilled a fighter is, while 'durability', for instance, another physical attribute, would not be considered.

I think of fighters like Hopkins and Archie Moore when I think of 'skilled', men who could dominate while fighting with a speed deficit and sometimes being at a clear physical disadvantage overall.

 

I'll give two weird shouts -- Holmes-Witherspoon and Duran-Palomino for some infighting goodness.

 

ODLH vs Shane Mosley

 

...deleted

 

Calzaghe vs Reid?

 

The last fight between Jack Johnson ,and Joe Jeanette , the film is a little grainy ,but the quality of skills shown is undeniable.

 

Leonard Duran

 

Archie Moore vs. Harold Johnson V.

Honorable mention could be Chavez-Taylor, especially in terms of Shake's lament.

 

When I saw the title to this thread, my initial reaction too was Leonard-Benitez. A tremendous blend of of sharpness, speed, defense, feints. A truly beautiful match to watch. I would also give kudos to the second Pintor-Davila match and the Rose-Harada bout.

Scartissue

 

These are some that stick out in my mind, though I'm sure there's plenty of others that I've forgotten.

Pernell Whitaker vs. Buddy McGirt I
Donald Curry vs. Marlon Starling II
Mike Mccallum vs. James Toney I
Mike McCallum vs. Sumbu Kalambay I & II
Ayub Kalule vs. Sumbu Kalambay
Kid Gavilan vs. Billy Graham III
Ismael Laguna vs. Ken Buchanan I & II
Roberto Duran vs. Sugar Ray Leonard I
Vicente Saldivar vs. Howard Winstone II
Ray Leonard vs. Wilfred Benitez
Joey Giardello vs. Billy Graham II
Miguel Lora vs. Raul Perez
Yuri Arbachakov vs. Chatchai Saskul
John Conteh vs. Jorge Ahumada

 

My picks aswell

You could also have Chang vs Zapata and Oguma vs Park.

 

Of the fights I've seen in real-time it was Pac vs Marquez II

 

Some others...


Ezzard Charles vs Walcott, all footage

Ezzard Charles vs harold Johnson

Tiger vs Giardello 3

Nino Benvenuti vs Emile Griffith 1

Miguel Canto vs Chan-Hee Park 1

Guty Espadas vs Alfonso Lopez 1

masao Ohba vs Susumu Hanagata 2

Horacio Accavallo vs Efren Torres 15 min H\L

hilario zapata vs Fidel Bassa 2

Jiro Watanabe vs Payao Poonterat both fights

santos Laciar vs Gilberto Roman first two fights

Emiliano Villa vs Wilfred Benitez\Ayub Kalule

Veeeraphol Sahaprom vs Daorung Chuvatana

Ike quartey vs Crisanto Espana

Alan Rudkin vs Lionel Rose\Walter McGowan 2

Howard Winstone vs Baby Luis

Carlos Ortiz vs Ismael Laguna 1 and 3

Sugar Ramos vs Davey Moore

Jose Napoles vs Clyde Gray

Eubank vs Watson 2

James Toney vs Reggie Johnson

Victor Galindez vs Richie Kates 2

 

Leonard v Hearns for me.