I was having a argument with my friend the other day about it. So guy's any fighter in your opinion in which fight did they become a certified legend?
I was just going to talk about Ali. IMO he sealed his name as an ATG in the Rumble in the Jungle. Foreman was seen as invincible at the time.
Ali with Frazier. Pernell is Chavez.. He won easily. Pacman with Oscar. Leonard with Hearns. Hearns with Duran. Holyfield with Tyson. Hagler with Hearns. It is a win which cannot be ignored added to other wins of similar magnitude. Ray beat Benitez and Duran and Hearns. won 2 titles..
Foreman was seen as unbeatable but Ali in many ways exposed him. Against Frazier Ali came out of nowhere to beat a surging top level opponent. It's a bout Joe was grinding round after round wearing Ali down. In round 11 Ali was really hurt and exhausted but out of nowhere he came back to win the bout. Anyone sitting on the fence regarding Ali's ATG status became a believer after this bout.
The Bowe trilogy made Holyfield/Bowe great and the Ali triology made Frazier great. The Sharkey fight for Dempsey. The Joshua fight for WK. The first Charles fight for Marciano. The Foreman fight made Ali great. The Ali fights made Norton great. The Lamotta fights made both Robinson and Lamotta great. The Greb fights made Tunney great.
Aaron Pryor after Alexis Arguello Azumah Nelson after Jeff Fenech Carlos Monzon after Rodrigo Valdez Roy Jones Jr after James Toney Salvador Sanchez after Wilfred Gomez Sandy Saddler after Willie Pep
It is a good question. This has always fascinated me. One thing which fascinated me more were the guy who were thought to be great and then completely fell apart. Donald Curry comes to mind. I remember Merchant and Tompkins on HBO saying he is a future great and it is great to watch this and then 2 years later he has two losses and what happened. The ones who fell apart but were thought to be great fascinated me so much. There is something to be said for guys who had a loss and came back and still were great. Something about modifying their style and getting better and being strong enough to persevere.
