Most dominant performances in fights between legit and ‘still prime’ ATGs

It can be on film or not, up to you.

‘Dominant’ could be a points win if it was a win by a wide margin officially or if one fighter won so clearly that the official scoring only appeared much closer than the action in the ring. Or they won by a KO/TKO, obviously.

I think my own criteria around ‘still prime’ is pretty strict without being straight-jacket restrictive but you can define it however you want… so let’s get some debate going.

 

I’ll start off with an obvious and easy one that I can’t see there being much contention over:

Wilfredo Gomez TKO5 Carlos Zarate

Both ATGs?
No doubt. One was the world’s best bantamweight (proven the year before beating the other world’s best, Alfonso Zamora) and all-time top 10 of his division. The other is a multi-weight world champ who is universally recognised as the best and most dominant super bantamweight ever.

Both still prime?
Definitely. Zarate was 26 and 54-0 (53 KOs) coming in and coming off the back of crushing Zamora and dominating his division. Gomez was only 21 but already proving to be a dominant champ at 122.

Dominant performance?
Hell yeah. After a cautious opening two to three rounds, Gomez battered Zarate from pillar to post in the 4th and 5th, knocking Zarate down three times and getting the fight stopped.

 

Another one to help with the criteria:

Pernell Whitaker UD12 Azumah Nelson

Both ATGs?
Absolutely. Whitaker was two thirds of the way through his unification of the lightweight title and is pretty universally recognised as one of the top 10 lightweights ever as well as being a multi-weight world champ; Nelson was already a two-division champ at feather (top 20-25 all-time) and super feather (top 5 all-time), going for a third divisional world title.

Both still prime?
Yes. Whitaker was 26 and 22-1, with his only defeat a controversial points loss to Jose Luis Ramirez which he had avenged to partially unify the title; Nelson was a relatively young 31 with a record of 31-1, the only defeat when he was 13 fights into his career against ATG featherweight Salvador Sanchez and was on an unbeaten 18-0, near-eight-year win streak.

Dominant performance?
Yes. Whitaker won the first 6 rounds on all three judges’s scorecards. Nelson rallied late but the scores were made to look closer due to a point deduction in the final round for Whitaker (a round which Nelson also edged). Still, it was unanimous and there was zero debate over the winner.

 

Totally agree, Greg. This is a top example.

 

You’re quite right - I wasn’t suggesting that it was possible.

I meant ‘performances’ in the general sense of expecting multiple answers to the thread. I’ve added ‘in fights’ and removed ‘two’ from the title so the meaning is clearer:
Most dominant performances in fights between legit and ‘still prime’ ATGs.