How do you define a great fight?

Great fight is where both fighters put it on the line to try and win. That is a must.

A good level of skill, tactics, drama and in general an aggressive manner by either fights makes for a great fight.

A great fight is also probably where the audience don't reckon it will last much longer but does, provides the unexpected.

 

Ebbs & Flows!

 

There isn't a set definition, but I weigh various criteria:

1.) Sustained action
2.) Shifts in momentum
3.) Suspense
4.) Multiple knockdowns/fighters getting rocked
5.) Drama
6.) Skill

I've always believed that Diego Corrales vs Accelino Freitas was a great fight, and that's probably not an idea that many posters here would endorse. The punching power of both men created an atmosphere of constant danger, and as Freitas' success in sticking and moving faded before Corrales' pressure and power, we had great ebb and flow. While it didn't contain the type of death-defying action as Freitas' fight with Jorge Barrios, it was a fight that stands out sharply in my mind, the mind of a boxing-freak who has seen ???thousands of fights over the span of nearly twenty years of hardcore fandom.

 

You'll know it when you see it

 

Near undefinable for me as sooooooo many variables can be involved. It could involve great action, it could involve great skill, it could involve various combinations of both. A fight could be elevated because it involved two ATG's at their best even if it lacked a bit in other factors. It might be a surprising unexpected performance, a surprising upset or both. A great old fighter exceeding expectations in his last great showing even if he loses.

For me it's all about personal perception.

 

Oh, it could also be a fight containing numerous momentum swings where one is never sure of the winner until the end. Also a fight where one fighter is seemingly done for all money yet somehow prevails.

 

Two guys putting out their all and showing heart and displaying great skills. Like someone else said, you know it when you are watching it. A certain intensity comes with every great fight. Hagler vs. Hearns, Arguello vs. Pryor. Foreman vs Lyle, Ali vs. Frazier. Something could happen at any moment kind of thing.

 

In this order:
1. Both fighting to win no matter what
2. Great action throughout the most part
3. We really don't know who will win
4. Significance
5. Knockdowns
6. I'm drunk while viewing

 

To me Tyson-Ruddock II. (two young hard punching fighters, lots of power punch and toughness through 12 rounds).

 

A great fight can happen without great fighters

Ward vs Gatti
Chacon vs Edwards
Holyfield vs Bowe 1
Holyfield vs Cooper
Foreman vs Lyle
Ali vs Frazier 1-3
Rosario vs Ramirez
Trice vs Brown
Hearns vs Leonard
Hearns vs Hagler
Dempsey vs Firpo
Marciano vs Walcott
Paq vs Marquez


To name a few had all the drama, ebb and flows

 

Ricky Hatton, James Toney, Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe "Very few super-heavyweights have been as good as Bowe", Muhammad Ali showed up against Foreman GOOD inside fighting! Floyd Mayweather is a underrated inside fighter aswell...

 

GREAT fight? That's easy. You take a BAZOOKA and aim it at a Schoolboy or a lion of Caijamalpa

 

Last great fight I watched? Joshua vs Klitschko

1. Even matched opponents
2. Close even fight throughout

 

Pryor/Arguello is my standard when I think of the term 'great fight' The word great gets overused these days.