Greatest Showing of Bravery ever

In the two fights of Freddie Mills vs. Gus Lesnevich much courage was shown.

 

Balboa getting in the ring with Ivan "The Amerikiller" Drago, after what he did to Creed.

Armstrong gulping down his own blood, so he won't be stopped.

Douglas holding himself together emotionally and executing against Tyson.

 

It's funny how Ali has to feature in virtually every discussion. I'd like to know why Ali showed more bravery than, say Frazier against Foreman? Fire away...

 

He didn't ... I'd be more inclined to offer him going out blinded against Liston than getting up from Frazier's hook.

 

The Frazier showed his ability to take a mighty punch of course. But it wasn't as if he was totally getting a pasting. The fight, in Ali's own mind, was up for grabs in the 15th.

 

Well, according to many around here, Ali got chewed the eff up. No, he didn't get pasted, no it wasn't up for grabs in the 15th and yes, it's rare that the winner seems to finish worse off than the man that he just beat.

 

What about some of the beatings that Big George took in his second career just to fulfil his dream.

I remember, in particular, his face swelling up to grotesque proportions.

 

Because he's more popular of course and draws the most devoted of fans

 

Yeah, but this isn't the general forum.


I suppose there's not much wrong with someone saying " Ali showed great bravery getting up from that hook, how he did it I don't know". But there's a 1000 better examples of bravery. Even one or two from Ali himself.

 

Mickey Walker against Max Schmeling.
Davey Moore against Roberto Duran.
Arthur Abraham against Edison Miranda - first fight.
Arturo Gatti against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Patterson against Sonny Liston - going into the ring with Liston the second time.

Well, there are dozens.

 

Yeah, you're probably right. Ali getting up was probably instinctive as well. But it's one of the most unreal things I've seen, though. That might be why it's so vivid in everyone's mind. In terms of bravery I think him fighting for 10 rds with a broken jaw outstrips that.

The beating LaMotta took towards the end of his last fight with Robinson... But that borders on stupidity. Willard is a good call also. What in the earth made him go out to round 2? Frazier refusing to stay down against Foreman... There are lots of them. They are tough guys, pro fighters.

 

McKinley vs Barrera
Frazier vs Foreman 1

 

Some of my picks:

Ali fighting Norton for the first time, when Norton broke his jaw. Everyone disagrees about when it happened (Ali said second round, Norton said one of the last rounds, Eddie Futch, who was training Norton, said somewhere in the middle) but whenever it did happen one thing that's sure is that it had a huge break in it, and Ali kept getting hit there and kept fighting.

Meldrick Taylor getting turned into hamburger by Julio Cesar Chavez over the course of 12 rounds but fighting right to the last seconds.

Arturo Gatti in most of his fights. Standouts include winning the title for the first time bloodied and with both eyes swelled shut, Getting turned into a bloody mess by Angel Manfreddy and still wanting to go despite his corner tossing in the towel, the three fights with Mickey Ward, (in at least one of them he broke his hand midway through and kept using it).

Diego Corrales in a bunch of his fights, most notably against Castillo when he came back and against Mayweather, who pasted him and knocked him down at least half a dozen times but he still kept coming.

The Thirlla in Manilla. Both Frazier and Ali.

Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor. Both guys showed it, but particularly Arguello, who got his ass handed to him in the early rounds, came back, and at the end refused to go down until after the fight was stopped, even though he should have been KO'd about 15 seconds before he let himself sink to the canvas.

LaMotta's refusal to go down against Sugar Ray Robinson.

I don't think anything beats Jess Willard though. Dempsey broke his face in so many places that Willard never looked the same again afterwards. Everyone remembers the brutal first round, when most of that happened, not many people remember that Willard insisted on fighting into the 5th or 6th round.

 

evander holyfeild fighting a up and up battle with the bigger, stronger and extremely talented riddick bowe for the first time. i remember in the 9th round he was getting rained on very heavily and he just did all he could already battered, hurt and behind on points(i think), what more could a man do.

joey gamache always known as fighter that to me may not have had the biggest punch or the bigger frame in his weight but he showed a gutsy effort against a past prime but still frighteningly dangerous julio ceaser chavez. gamache went up and up with chavez in the last three rounds before the ref stopped the fight he was outgunned, out muscled and i wouldent be shocked if he had some broken bones and a bruised liver. but he met chavez punch for punch in the middle of the ring and on the ropes. i dont how good gamache really was compared his popular status at the time but he sure was brave.

angel manfredy was knocked down and hurt from diego coralles and you could tell that he was using every second of his count to breath and try to recover as much as he could. you could tell that manfredy knew that the ref would stop the fight if he dident punch back, so manfredy just kept moving his arms for the sake of the fight continuing and just neglecting any defense from what i remember. its was a great win for corrales but manfredy's will to do anything to keep the fight from being stopped was very admirable.

 

From a historical significance point of view, one could offer the example of Braddock defending against Joe Louis. Braddock could have easily drawn the colour line, but he still faced Louis.

He put the belt that he had come back and worked his ass off for, facing potential death in there with Max Baer, up for grabs against a bigger, more talented, quicker handed and infinitely better puncher in Joe Louis ... fighting champion, man of integrity, whatever you want to call him ... considering the social times and circumstances, that's what I'd call a brave man.

Yes, I know that the $250, 000 that Braddock said he could earn from the Louis fight, as opposed to just $25, 000 to defend against Schmeling must have been a motivating factor, in addition to Gould's 10% future gate negotiation .. but that doesn't negate the fact that despite crippling arthritis, Braddock still did his utmost to punch out Louis. He dropped him in the first, only to become prey to Louis' arsenal as he suffered 23 stitches and had his tooth punched through his mouthpiece into his lip ... Louis said of Braddock, "the most courageous fighter I ever fought" - I'm inclined to agree.