1. locche v Fuji 2. Mayweather v ODLH 3. Toney v Barkley 4. Benitez v Hearns 5. Ali v Terrel If you have any, talk about it here
Ali vs Cleveland Williams. And some of the willie pep fights, especially the one against Jackie Graves, where he aparently won the third round without throwing a single punch.
Ali v Williams should not be here. It's just that williams was recently gunshot so that fight shouldn't be here
Hilario Zapata vs a number of foes; Torres, Olivo, Tomori II, Nakajima II, Penalosa, Vorasingh, Lucas, etc. All were made to look incredibly poor in title fights as Zap just danced around like a maniac. Whitaker's was awesome all the time, but his peak was either in the Ramirez rematch, the aforementioned Nelson fight, or the Pineda fight at 140. Just an insane defensive radar with the reflexes to work it properly. Lora was horribly hard to hit in his fight with Zaragoza. Like an uncoiling spring with his movement. Benitez's work off the ropes at the end of the 14th vs Palomino was awesome. I hope there's a full fight where he fights like that. I've always enjoyed the parrying work that Gerry Penalosa used. Particularly in the De Leon fight, where he was constantly having to readjust due to Ponce's workrate. Maybe not his best defensive performance, but a damn good one. Miguel Canto vs Kimio Furesawa is another great one.
I like offensive powerhouses that use exquisite defense. Give me GOMEZ vs Zarate & DURAN vs. Moore. A master vs a novice.
George, you beat me to Benitez-Palomino. What a terrific display from Benitez. I mentioned Starling-Honeyghan as that was one of the best counter-punching displays while fighting behind the tight peek-a-boo style I have ever seen. I will also add in Ralph Dupas v Gil Turner. Poor Gil was at the end of his career and fighting a ghost like Dupas was not the way to go out. Also, about a year ago I saw the Eddie Perkins v Ryu Sorimachi fight and Perkins put on one of the best displays of hit and not get hit I have ever seen. And he did this at the age of 37. Man, would I love to see earlier fights of Perkins.
I don't think so bro, Even a boxing historian agreed that saying that was ali's best performance is like saying larry holmes best performance is his fight with ali.
Winky Wright’s performance against Trinidad was a fine display of defense. Miguel Lora looked spectacular defensively against Alberto Davila in their first fight. Canto’s fight against Avelar is also a great defensive showing.
Always enjoyed watching Anselmo Moreno’s work against Darchinyan. Great showing that made him look like Pernell Whitaker.
