Which was the most impressive title winning performance in heavy weight history?

It was a perfect job.Hail !

 

If you're gonna heavily weigh how each fighter was perceived going into a fight and add points to the underdog's winning performance, Douglas-Tyson would be superior.

 

They did.

But the incorruptible WBA said that they saw nothing wrong!

 

Bowe in his title win against Holyfield and Douglas shocking title upset against Tyson were undoubtedly both great performances but it's kinda weird that they were also career best performances of a quality that they were never able to reach or match again.

 

Tyson KO2 Berbick. "And weeee, have a new era, in boxing!" Loved that line from Barry Tompkins. The most aesthetically pleasing knock out of all time. Berbick going down 3 times from one shot to the temple. Incredible!!!

Dempsey KO3 Willard. A real giant killer Dempsey was. A super hero type KO you only see in comic books...and Dempsey fights!

Foreman KO2 Frazier. Battle of undefeated KO artists. Brutal destruction.

Liston KO1 Patterson. Similar to Foreman-Frazier but Patterson had already been KO'd. Still an incredible destruction of a great fighter.

Bowe W12 Holyfield. Another battle of undefeated fighters with each trying to prove something to the world. Action packed from start to finish. Would've loved to see Bowe finish off Holy in the 11th.

Louis KO8 Braddock. The Cinderella Fella put his whole heart into it, but most times, Jim, the butcher kills the slab of meat.

Ali KO8 Foreman. 10 years after first winning the championship. Stuff legends are made of.

 

One of the other most memorable things that happened during that fight was actually in between rounds where you get to hear a totally flustered Angelo Dundee, who was Berbick's trainer for that fight, shouting angrily at one of the other seconds "the sponge!!where's the fu**ing sponge!!?". LOL! like that was going to revive and save Berbick. Just goes to show, even the greatest, most renowned trainers can do nothing in matches where one fighter is so clearly outclassed and up against a seemingly force of nature like Berbick was on that night.

 

Yes, that was awesome! I believe Dundee went 0-3 against Tyson if I'm not mistaken. Similarly, he went ballistic after the 1st round when Pinklon Thomas challenged Tyson in 1987. The ringside physician was taking too long inspecting Pink and Dundee yells, "Get the f*ck away from this man...Gaw-D*MN-it!!!"

Dundee also pulled the torn glove stunt after the 6th when Pink was gassing against Tyson. Another panic attack occurred between rounds of the Lewis-Tyson bout where Emanuel Steward flipped out. "You gotta hit this motherf*cker, Lennox. Quit f*cking around with this n*gga and get him outta here! You got a dead man in front of you!"

Dude, this is another topic all by itself...

 

Lewis/Rahman 2 deserves a shout. Lewis may well have been the favorite going in but it was an impressive three and half rounds, an emphatic KO and a sweet moment of revenge.

 

I wouldn't disagree,his actual performance was high class, regarding the question that's been asked by the OP it takes some beating.
I wasn't saying Ali's performance was the most superior of them all, just that it's often overlooked because of the issues around both Liston fights, particularly with Liston.

 

There was never anything considered suspicious in this bout. The only controversy was the error regarding time keeping in the final round. By then Page was completely on top.

Page's right hand was always very highly regarded and packed big power. More power than any part of Thomas and Dokes arsenal. Thomas had solid power but nothing amazing. Dokes once he started planting his feet had quite good power as well. Page put more on Coetzee than Thomas did. I disregard the Dokes fight because Dokes was still affected by a cocaine binge less than 2 days prior. You could see Dokes was a long way from being himself, a long long way.

For a while Page was considered to have the best combination of speed and power in the division. He dropped Evangelista with a flashing right hand while up on his toes dancing away from him and battered the ranked Monroe into submission. Some big right hands ended Tillis. His right hand was considered with Coetzee's the best in the division at one point and i would rate it a bit more powerful than Witherspoon's.

Regarding the actual fight between them, well Coetzee put up a great battle and hit Page with right hands that had finished other fights. Page really did ship some huge right hands but he took them with aplomb. He also dished out plenty of big right hands of his own in an extremely bitter battle. Page fought flat footed all night and really sat down on his punches. He had also put in a rare good training camp. You can clearly see the feeling in there. i wouldn't consider Coetzee out of sorts at all. He was his normal flawed big hitting self. Coetzee would have beaten most heavyweights that night. Page was only narrowly ahead on points.

The reason Page got the shot was because Bey (who had beaten him in a close one) refused to fight in South Africa due to apartheid so Page got the gig.

 

Yeah I liked Tompkins. Him and Sugar Ray did the Tyson-Tucker fight. Leonard had some good quotes in that fight as well, like right after Tucker rocked Tyson with that uppercut in the 1st..."This man, Tucker, may have found out a weakness (in Tyson). He may have seen something. Technically speaking, no one gave Tucker a CHANCE...but there are miracles here!"

And of course Tompkins in the 12th round with seconds left, "Tyson ends this one with a flurry. And so does Tucker!"

Good stuff.