Manny Pacquiao beating Keith Thurman Juan Manuel Marquez beating Manny Pacquiao Larry Holmes beating Ray Mercer Bernard Hopkins beating Kelly Pavlik Mike McCallum beating Jeff Harding Bob Fitzsimmons beating Philadelphia Jack O'Brien Roberto Duran beating Jorge Castro Thulani Malinga beating Nigel Benn Antonio Tarver beating Danny Green Archie Moore beating Harold Johnson Eder Jofre beating Vicente Saldivar Vitali Klitschko beating Tomasz Adamek Shane Mosley beating Antonio Margarito Daniel Zaragoza beating Wayne McCullough Nate Campbell beating Juan Diaz Floyd Mayweather Jr beating Canelo Alvarez
Thanks i went for fighters atleast aged 35 or above, people often talk about Duran beating Barkley. But often forget he beat Castro at 46 years old amazingly and thats after over 100 fights.
Some great shouts here DP. I particularly like the Fitzsimmons reference, because - 1. Jack O'Brien was an ATG; and 2. Bob was 41, which I'd consider roughly equivalent to being 48/49 today. Amazing win.
Yes great list. Duran one of those guys that, you could never really take lightly, what ever his age.
BTW speaking of Castro vs Duran they both had over 100 fights at the time i believe, that must be some sort of record for the modern era regarding the amount of fights in a single contest.
BTW @Fergy here's some great losing efforts from fighters aged 35 and above. Herol Graham losing to Charles Brewer Daniel Zaragoza losing to Erik Morales Roberto Duran losing to Hector Camacho Evander Holyfield losing to Nikolai Valuev/Lennox Lewis 2 Larry Holmes losing to Oliver McCall/Michael Spinks 2 Glen Johnson losing to Chad Dawson 1st time/Carl Froch Ken Norton losing to Larry Holmes Nonito Donaire losing to Naoya Inoue 1st time Tim Witherspoon losing to Ray Mercer
Norton vs Holmes is a great. Easy to forget that Norton was 35 (perhaps Norton’s true YOB hadn’t been circulated as at the time- Ken claiming 1945 previously). It was a razor thin decision loss imo and it was against no less than a virtual prime ATG in 28 yo Holmes. And it figured as an ATG fight which should’ve won the gong for 78 rather than Ali vs Spinks.
Good post. That's why I'll always be in Ken's corner when some claim that he was out of place on 'Champions Forever'
Biggest injustice in FOTY history how Holmes vs Norton didn't win the FOTY is ridiculous. It didn't even win ROTY either if you can believe that. Holmes vs Norton is in most peoples top 10 Heavyweight fights of all time, I doubt Spinks vs Ali wouldn't even make my top 50.
Maybe Joe Brown could scrape under the bar, he was making his 10th defense ( then a record ) and was in his 35th year, was reckoned to be old back in the sixties, and he turned back the fierce challenge of our own Dave Charnley a very strong and resolute southpaw prone to give any LW a hard time, for Brown to contain and rumble with the much younger Charnley was to be admired, to wit, the Rings fight of the year in 1961, not the most illustrious of wins granted, but Old Bones is rarely mentioned in the forum, and I thought I would address. stay safe guys.
Some great performances by aging fighters other than who has been mentioned, IMO, would be: Jesse James Leija v Panchito Bojado - JJL really schooled the streaking Bojado in this one. And at 38 years of age. Frankie Duarte v Bernardo Pinango - Duarte was almost 33 and had years of substance abuse behind him when he finally received his title shot against Pinango. Duarte decked the champ while Pinango also had 3 points deducted for various offenses and they still managed to steal this from Duarte. Pure robbery. Jesse Burnett v Leon Spinks - In his mid-30s Burnett was beating Victor Galindez and Tony Mundine, but it was this bout that had me shaking my head. At the age of 36 he takes on former heavyweight champ Leon Spinks and fights the fight of his life, but loses a decision that I felt he deserved. I still call this one a robbery. Joey Giambra v Florentino Fernandez - although he was still only 30 for this fight, Joey Giambra was an old 30. Not like today's standards where they fight twice a year, Joey had packed in over 70 fights dating back to 1949 (and even did a stint in the service during this time) and was at the tail end of his career when he took on the very dangerous Florentino Fernandez, who had lost a split decision to Gene Fullmer for the middleweight title several months back. Joey pulled it back and stopped the hard punching Fernandez in 7 rounds - having cut him to pieces.
Bob Fitzsimmons had an unreal career, especially has a heavyweight and light-heavy. He was just shy of 35 when he won the title from Corbett. Until Jersey Joe won the title at 37, Fitz held the distinction of the being the oldest man to win the championship. He gave Jeffries all he could handle in losing the title to him, then proceeded to decimate the heavyweight division, scoring spectacular knockouts over the likes of Tom Sharkey and Gus Ruhlin. In his rematch with a prime Jeffries, according to some sportswriters he gave Jeffries a worse beating in the first round than Dempsey gave to Willard a generation later. Were it not for Jeffries, Fitz could have been the dominant champion for the better part of ten years. Fitz, then in his early 40s,won the lightheavy title from George Gardner and ultimately lost it in a gallant effort against another ATG in Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. An amazing man!
