last great heavyweight fight

Especially the first two fights.

 

Brewster - lyak is a war that started slowly and erupted into a great battle between two heavyweights.

Alternatively vitali - sanders began as a war before calming down into a beating.

Skelton v Rogan was top class. Sexton v Chisora 2 was a good battle. I loved Haye v Ruiz live at the arena.

In terms of fights at the top level it's probably vitali v sanders then vitali v lewis. Wlad is too dominant to have great fights.

 

Great match-up stylewise but overrated fighters, especially Bowe who turned out to be nothing special and washed up before 30.

 

Holyfield is a legit top 10 heavyweight all time, while Bowe is perhaps top 25.. Both were prime or at least for the first match. Both were in great shape.. Both fought their hearts out. Their rivalry turned into a trilogy.. You haven't seen that complete combination in most or any of the fights that followed over the past 20 years..

 

Lewis vs Vitali K

Wlad vs Sam Peter

 

there were a couple good scraps at heavyweight in recent years like huck-povetkin or vitali-chisora or haye-chisora or adamek-walker..hell even haye vs ruiz was entertaining..but i wouldn't call them great...the last great one IMO was brewster-lyakovich...i also consider this the last great heavyweight title fight...classic back and forth brawl but it ruined both of them in the end

 

tua and ibeabuchi was a good scrap, set the heavy weight total punch record, and individual record, which still holds today, 975 punches in 12 rounds by ike - increadible

 

I was being a bit harsh.

It was a unique set of circumstance. Holyfield was considered a place-holder and an over-achiever. If you had told anyone in 1992 that Vander was to be a top 10 all time heavy, they would have laughed you out of the conversation. Bowe seemed to be the real thing, tall, great amateur background, Futch trained and very skilled. He turned out to be a bit fragile with a short shelf life.

Still, their skillsets and physical assets meshed well for some great fights. It's rare any generation gets this, no matter what the talents available.

 

Sullivan Kilrain was the last great heavyweight fight ever fought. Back when men were men, and didnt need to wear wimpy gloves.

 

:huh

 

Agreed.

Funny how often we get that with the heavies---once they dig deep to stay in there and it's really their strong competitive nature keeping them in to absorb punshment.

but Brewster was not 100% going into the fight. But he really should not have to be to get the win. But he was doing a Saad Muhammad tough fight after tough fight thing and eventually they do lose a tough one.

What a tightrope Lyakovich walked with that dedicated body punching. It sure paid dividends but 1 counter left hook could have ended the contest. So often we get heavies that just will not take a risk like that because of that impending potential disaster. Instead, we the fans get an uninspired path of least resistance type effort. Easier physically and easier mentally. But Lyakovich sure didn't do that against Lamon but that same skillset was absent against Briggs.

Great fight and hats off for both to dig that deep to make it to the end.