The Top 10 Heavyweight fights ever....

Hi There - thought you might be interested in this article from the v2Journal which highlights the top heavyweight fights of our lifetime.

Let us know what you think.....

http://v2journal.com/16/post/2013/10/10-heavyweight-fights-you-must-see-10-to-8.html

http://v2journal.com/16/post/2013/1...hts-you-must-see-in-your-lifetime-7-to-5.html

http://v2journal.com/16/post/2013/1...hts-you-must-see-in-your-lifetime-4-to-2.html

http://v2journal.com/16/post/2013/1...s-you-must-see-in-your-lifetime-number-1.html

Here is the number 10.....

# 10 - Floyd Patterson W KO 6 Ingemar Johansson, World title, 1961

The skinny: This was the third meeting between Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson, and their first two fights, which had both seen the world title switch hands, had been all about two punches; firstly, Johansson's right hand, nicknamed 'Ingo's Bingo', which had devastated Patterson to a shock defeat in 1959 as he found himself floored six times in the third round, and then Patterson's own dazzlingly fast left hook, which had left his Swedish opponent out cold in the fifth round of their rematch a year later. Now, the men who'd shared very, very different experiences of the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki (Patterson sped his way to Middleweight gold, while Johansson briefly became a national disgrace in Sweden after being disqualified for "not trying" in the Heavyweight final against Ed Sanders) would slug it out for a third time to see who really was the better man.

If the spectators, punters and writers were unsure of which man that was before the opening bell, then they can't have been much more confidence after a topsy-turvy opening three minutes - Ingo's Bingo was thrown, Patterson couldn't pull back quickly enough from it, and down the champion went. Patterson shot up quickly. Too quickly you could argue, as he was still all over the place as Johansson pushed for the finish, with the clearly physically stronger and more imposing Swede half left-hooking, half shoving the lithe Patterson down again moments later. Patterson made it up once more, and this time, as Johansson chased him to the ropes to try and end things, found an angle to bonce off them and deliver a beautifully-crafted, short left hand to the point of the Swede's chin - and this time, it was Johansson on the deck, and Johansson who was forced to eat another solid left after beating the count in order to see out the round.

Johansson's head was still groggy in the second despite the sixty second break - a right from the champion had him holding on, but Patterson too was feeling flustered, his desire to finish things as quickly as possible resulting in him swinging so wildly that he turned himself full circle and fell to the canvas. With both men fighting at a pace most Heavyweights can't even dream of, it was Patterson's blurring hand speed against the inside mauling of Johansson, who looked much more at home at close quarters. Johansson, finding it increasingly hard to find Patterson's bobbing and weaving head with the jab, was sent reeling by a good left hook towards the end of the third, but managed to put the American in reverse for the first time in a while in the fourth, rocking him with a nice left-right combination to the body and then head. Undeterred, Patterson replied with a real bit of class at the end of the round, using his stunning hand speed to fire off three clean body shots followed by a perfect right to the jaw, and then doing the same just moments later, only this time finishing with a left.

But Johansson was sucking it up, and when the challenger from Gothenburg started to get his jab going again in the fifth, doubling and tripling it to good effect, Floyd must have been wondering what he had to do to get rid of his rival - even more so in the early goings of the sixth when he was stopped in his tracks by a big left. However, a quick right uppercut stopped the rot and then, out of nowhere, came the finish. Patterson leapt in with his famed left - it didn't land right on the money, but still forced Johansson to lean in to Patterson for a clinch. And when he did, Patterson saw his chance, and took it. Two quick rights up close landed to the head, and down went Johansson. He came desperately close to beating the count, but wasn't quite ready to defend himself and fight as the referee reached 'ten', signalling the end of a great fight and an even greater trilogy.

Why it's here: Before this fight, Floyd Patterson had already grabbed one slice of boxing history, having become the first man to regain the Heavyweight title when he squared his series with Johansson at 1-1. One other, though less welcome, distinction he held was being the man who took more counts than anyone else in Heavyweight title fights - 17 of them, to be precise. However, as he himself said, "If I hold the record for being knocked down more than any other Heavyweight champion, then I must also hold the record for getting back up." And indeed, those powers of stubbornness and will were on show in this wildly exciting fight. All three of their bouts were riotous affairs, but it was this third and final chapter which gave the series closure, and gave Patterson arguably his finest night in boxing.

 

I was disgusted there was no Fury v Pajic which Hennessy described as the Haggler Hearns of heavyweights, so it must be true!