The greatest fights in history on film

I've been creating a list of the greatest fights in boxing history on film organised by weight class and am about 80 fights in. Originally was limiting this to 100 fights but have updated the thread now to allow for more fights as it felt unnecessarily reductive to do that.

Will be adding to this list as I go as I've quite a few gaps, particularly at the lower weight classes. Any obvious ommissions?

Heavyweight:
-Dempsey v Firpo (1923)
-Louis v Conn I (1941)
-Marciano v Walcott I (1952)
-Marciano v Charles I (1954)
-Patterson v Johansson III (1961)
-Frazier v Ali I (1971)
-Ali v Frazier III (1975)
-Foreman v Lyle (1976)
-Holmes v Norton (1978)
-Douglas v Tyson (1990)
-Bowe v Holyfield I (1992)
-Moorer v Cooper (1992)
-Morrison v Ruddock (1995)

Cruiserweight:
-Holyfield v Qawi I (1986)
-Toney v Jirov (2003)

Light heavyweight:
Moore v Durelle I (1958)
Saad Muhammad v Johnson I (1977)
Saad Muhammad v Johnson II (1979)
Saad Muhammad v Lopez II (1980)
Harding v Andries (1989)
Sosa v Williams I (1995)

Super middleweight
-Benn v McClellan (1995)
-Calzaghe v Kessler (2007)

Middleweight:
-Basilio v Robinson I (1957)
-Fullmer v Basilio I (1959)
-Lee v LoCicero (1981)
-Hagler v Hearns (1985)
-Duran v Barkley (1989)
-Toney v McCallum I (1991)
-McClellan v Jackson I (1993)

Light middleweight:
Santos v Medal (1984)
-Pettway v Brown (1995)
-Trinidad v Vargas (2000)

Welterweight:
-Ross v McLarnin III (1935)
-Basilio v DeMarco I (1955)
-Basilio v DeMarco II (1955)
-Basilio v Saxton II (1956)
-Palomino v Muniz 1 (1977)
-Duran v Leonard I (1980)
-Leonard v Hearns I (1981)
-De La Hoya v Quartey (1999)
-Moseley v De La Hoya (2000)
-Margarito v Cotto I (2008)
-Marquez v Pacquiao IV (2012)

Light welterweight:
-Pryor v Arguello I (1982)
-Chavez v Taylor I (1990)
-Ward v Augustus (2001)
-Ward v Gatti I (2002)
-Gatti v Ward III (2003)

Lightweight:
-Armstrong v Ambers I (1938)
-Ramos v Ramos (1970)
-Arguello v Mancini (1981)
-Mancini v Kim (1982)
-Ramirez v Rosario II (1984)
-Robinson v Gatti I (1998)
-Corrales v Castillo (2005)
-Marquez v Diaz I (2009)

Super feather/junior lightweight:
-Arguello v Escalera I (1978)
-Arguello v Escalera II (1979)
-Chacon v Limon IV (1982)
-Chacon v Boza-Edwards (1983)
-Nelson v Fenech I (1991)
-Gatti v Patterson I (1995)
-Gatti v Rodriguez (1996)
-Gatti v Ruelas (1997)
-Barrera v Morales III (2004)
-Morales v Pacquiao I (2005)
-Casamayor v Corrales I (2004)

Featherweight:
-Saldivar v Winstone 2 (1967)
-Lopez v Ayala (1979)
-Sanchez v Gomez (1981)
-Sanchez v Nelson (1982)
-Kelley v Dorsey (1992)
-Gonzalez v Kelley (1995)
-Kelley v Gainer (1996)
-Hamed v Kelley (1997)
-Marquez v Pacquiao I (2004)

Super bantam/jnr featherweight:
-Gomez v Pintor (1982)
-McKinney v Ncita I (1992)
-Barrera v McKinney (1996)
-Morales v Barrera (2000)
-Vasquez v Marquez I (2006)
-Marquez v Vasquez II (2007)
-Vasquez v Marquez III (2008)

Bantamweight:

Super fly/jnr bantam:
-Quiroga v Aniwoshe (1991)

Flyweight:
Chionoi v Torres (1968)

Jnr flyweight:
-Carbajal v Gonzalez I (1993)
-Sorarotung v Gonzalez (1995)
-Segura v Calderon I (2010)

Strawweight:

 

Yeah, no doubt. To be honest, 100 was just a benchmark when I started so happy to exceed that number.

 

Thanks man. Sometimes the memory just neesds a bit of a jog. Forgot about some of these ones!

 

Amended the thread title as I agree with Russell that limiting it to 100 was unnecessarily reductive. The more great fights the better!

 

Thanks for these - some interesting picks!

I guess when I started the list I was trying to limit it as much as possible to "objectively" great fights rather than my own personal preferences, but the nature of these lists is highly subjective so it's probably impossible to do that.

But I have some criteria of my own that I use. For example, as much as I enjoyed Chavez v Rosario I would argue that it was a great performance from Chavez rather than a great fight per se, although I thoroughly enjoyed watching it too. I think a bout has to be highly competitive and at least in the balance for much of the fight to be considered great. If one guy is dominating another then I have tended to ignore it.

Shifts in momentum are a large part of what helps to make a fight great. If the outcome is clear enough from the start and stays that way, it's a lot less exciting (to me at least) than if the fight turns in the other fighter's favour at some point. So, again, a fight that I've enjoyed watching such as Duran v DeJesus 3, whilst competitive, only ever feels like it's going to end one way - a win for Duran - and it does.

 

Thanks for these, particularly for Rossman v Galindez. Presume you're referring to their first fight in 1978? Will watch it and then add to the list at the top of the thread.

Sanchez v Gomez - I've seen this one many times and Sanchez really does dominate Gomez even though it remains competitive throughout. Great fight or just a great performance from Sanchez?

One thing I was also weighing up, and your post was perfectly timed bearing this in mind, was whether or not to include incomplete fights or not. I've started another thread that included Basilio v Robinson 1 and 2 because I could only find highlights of these films online and was wondering if the full versions actually existed and were available.