Inspired by the Leonard-Duran I thread ... what exactly are the five best fights of all time? Let’s limit ourselves to fights that are on film ... no way to measure how great a scrap was because someone who was there said so — especially since that person from those days clearly hadn’t seen all that was to come later and probably very little of what had happened before since you had to be there in person. Rank them 1-5 if you feel so inspired, but in general which five fights would you say are considered the best ever? (I know a lot of people will say Hagler-Hearns but really it’s one round and the rest isn’t all that, but feel free to disagree.) Come up with your own criteria, but to me it has to be top-level guys (can’t be two 4-round pugs no matter how much action), there has to be some degree of skill involved (not just a sloppy slugfest) and while it may not have to be a title fight, it needs to be significant to its day at the very least. I have a few in mind but want to see what you have to say.
I would not put the Hagler / Hearns fight as it was to short. For the best fights at the highest levels. I will go with long fights with sustained greatness. 1 Duran - Leonard 1 2 Ali - Frazier 1 3 Leonard - Hearns 1 4 Marcaino - Walcott 1 5 JCC - Taylor 1 Honorable mention Gatti - Ward 1, Corrales- Castillo.
Not sure why some of these parameters need to be in place. Example - 'sloppy slugfest' is a bit loaded. Can you give an example of one that you think wouldn't qualify ? To my mind, some of the greatest of all time were slugfests and potentially sloppy by their nature. Marciano-Walcottas a slugfest. It was also a great fight. Was it sloppy? I've no idea. So is the 5 greatest of all time on film (except for the type of fights you may not personally like)? Or just the 5 greatest on film? Anyway, I'll take a crack at this...
This is my personal list. Remarkably, all the fights below took place in the space of 6 months (apart from Saad-Lopez 2 which I snuck in just because I couldn't leave it off!) 1. Pryor-Arguello 1 2. Chacon-Limon 4 3. Gomez-Pintor 4. Chacon-Boza 2 5a. Sanchez-Nelson 5b. Saad Muhammad-Lopez 2 This is my attempt at a more historically significant list (great matchups that were also great fights): 1. Ali-Frazier 1 (a unique historical moment - two legitimate claimants to the world heavyweight title and both undefeated. Plus the fight lived up to the hype) 2. Leonard-Hearns 1 (Maybe the greatest welterweight title fight of all time? Great shifts in momentum. One fighter establishing his greatness over a future great) 3. Duran-Leonard 1 (How many other matchups are there on film of 2 all-time p4p top 20 fighters in their primes? Fantasic competitive matchup and a landmark victory for Duran) 4. Harada-Jofre 1 (two all-time great bantamweights in a great fight meeting at their peaks - doesn't get much better) 5. Pryor-Arguello 1 (not as historically significant as the fights above it but for pure action at a very high skill level, this is hard to beat. My personal no. 1)
Idk about them being the greatest or whatever but these are my favourite 1. Kusuo Eguchi vs Katsuaki Eguchi Aside from the action, the fact these are twins is ****ing mental 2. Bowe vs Golota 2 3. Koo Chang vs Tokashiki 4. Gatti vs Ward 1 5. Chavez vs Taylor 1
I'd have to give it some thought, but the 2 that jump to mind for my tastes are Foreman-Lyle and Moore-Durelle I.
Probably my 5 favourites Nelson Vs Wolgast Dempsey Vs Firpo Louis Vs Schmeling II Walcott Vs Marciano Patterson Vs Johansson III
I said come up with your own. For me, Foreman-Lyle would fall into the sloppy slugfest category although it has that fascinating quality like a car crash you can’t take your eyes off of.
My personal is 1 ward vs Gatti 1 2 hearns vs haggler 3 Dempsey vs firpo 4 Pryor vs Arguello/Dempsey vs Willard 5 Zale vs Graziano
Really hard to narrow down. I have probably 20-30 that I could have 2-3 new inclusions if I answered this question every day. 1. Pryor-Arguello I - I think this is the best Chacon-Limon IV Gomez-Pintor Morales-Barrera I Saad Muhammad-Lopez II 5 very honorable mentions: Chacon-Edwards II, Saad-Muhammad-Johnson I & II, Corrales-Castillo I, Vazquez-Marquez III Some of my absolute personal favorites would be Trinidad-Vargas, Marquez-Pacquaio IV, Olivares-Kanazawa II, Sánchez-Gomez My list has a lot of the same as @Jel list.
Good point, when making a list like this it really is about your favorites in general #1 Ali Frazier 1 , It captivated the world. #2 Duran Leonard 3# Morales Barrera , I just love these guys 4# Duran Barkley , this one had it all #5 Too many good ones to name