Punchers Best Performance

We got the best of worlds. Jamaica was definitely brutal and stunning but I also really like Foreman's "alternate" dismantling over Joe in their rematch. Looking more like the young, fast progressing Foreman starting out (say v Chuvalo). Measured, patient but still with ridiculously over powered fists. Even what poor Joe absorbed in that fight was insane. I'll admit though, by fight's end, George looked a bit huffy puffy. Still, an excellent performance.

Joe Louis v Max Baer. Perfection. Louis' own fight to match Ali v Williams. Aside from super fast hands, mobility not so often displayed and textbook executions, perhaps that bit more impressive because he KO'd a guy never KO'd before, Baer known for incredible resilience. I could be wrong but Baer may not have hit the deck prior to that fight. It's said in the commentary but they often don't get their facts right (see Wepner's "reputed" first KD at the hands of Ali.

 

Vic Darchinyan vs. Cristian Mijares. I believe that was a Linear Championship fight that most pegged as being competitive going in. Darchinyan was seen as this mutant crab-styled banger, while Mijares was a purer boxer with a decent punch. If I remember correctly, the Showtime commentators had all sorts of bits about how Mijares may have been the best defender in the sport, had huge ring IQ, and was basically a boxing purist's dream. The Aussie transplant dominated, from what I recall, knocking Mijares down in the first and then out in the ninth. Mijares had a good seventh but that was about it. He had little answer for that straight left.