there have been so many contendors: rahman lewis mosley margarito quintana williams pacquiao-barrera 1 jones-tarver 2 jonson jones trinidad-hopkins (looking back now it isn't but back then it was) hopkins tarver (hopkins total dominance) mayorga-forrest 1 and 2 john-marquez pacquiao-delahoya hatton-kostya trinidad-wright (the way winky won) pavlik hopkins baldomir-judah Pac beating MAB in 2003 was the greatest for me based on MAB still being in his prime and the JUMP pac made
what about hopkins-pavlik? for me it was probably pacquiao-de la hoya, I thought manny would be completely shut out by the jab and destroyed by the bigger man. Not the case. I know oscar is shot but at the time, for me, it was huge.
Pacquiao vs Barrera- Barrera had the right strategy. Barrera attempted to put pressure on his inexperienced, willing to trade, opponent. This opponent showed how wrong this strategy was, but hardly anyone would have believed unless proven otherwise. Barrera adapted, and actually moved into the correct game plan. Barrera was just too wrecked to carry it out, and that's if you believe he could have.
I'm not trying to say this wasn't an upset. I didn't predict it. The only reason that I didn't choose this fight is because I recall a conversation that I had with a friend of mine just before this encounter. A friend of mine asked me if I thought that Rahman had any chance going into this fight. I told him that Rahman was a tricky challenge. The only fights Rahman had lost, at that point, he was winning. The only fight I saw Rahman losing, against Corey Sanders, he won. Just to make it clear, I thought Lewis would win. I was just giving Rahman a chance. That was not as big of an upset as Douglas over Tyson in my mind.
i never predicted it but i did have a small 20 pound bet on rahman after it emerged that lewis had been in hollywood some 9- 10 weeeks before the fight a moment of madness. i regretted placing the bet for weeks. probably the best investment i have ever made
Pac MAB 1. I pick that because of the status of the guy defeated and the manner of the defeat. The Lewis fight was ended abruptly with one huge punch whereas Pac completely dominated Barrera.
