...........What are your picks for the fight of the year? Let's start at, say, 1980, just for a nice round number. Mine: 1980: Saad-Lopez II 1981: Sanchez-Gomez 1982: Chacon-Limon IV 1983: Chacon-Boza II 1984: Ramirez-Rosario II 1985: Hagler-Hearns 1986: Holyfield-Qawi I 1987: Hilton-Drayton or Duarte-Davila II 1988: Pass 1989: Duran-Barkley 1990: Chavez-Taylor I 1991: Quiroga-Anifowoshe 1992: Bowe-Holyfield I 1993: Gonzalez-Carbajal I 1994: Randall-Chavez I 1995: Pass 1996: Gatti-Rodriguez 1997: Pass 1998: Gatti-Robinson I 1999: Pass 2000: Pass 2001: Pass Pass for pretty much the rest of them. Help me out here.........
For the last 3 decades, these are The Ring's choices. I'll say which ones I agree and disagree with, and which others were more deserving IMO. 1977: This content is protected W12 This content is protected Strongly disagree. Matthew Franklin/Saad Muhammad's first bout with Marvin Johnson is one of the best fights I've seen. 1978: This content is protected W15 This content is protected Bruce Curry-Monroe Brooks and Larry Holmes-Ken Norton were better fights. 1979: This content is protected KO15 This content is protected Probably need to see some more fights in 1979. Lopez-Ayala was excellent, but so was Saad's rematch with Marvin Johnson. 1980: This content is protected KO14 This content is protected No argument. 1981: This content is protected KO14 This content is protected , Leonard-Hearns I was great for its skill level, drama, and shifts in momentum. For action, it's rather overrated. William Lee-John LoCicero was a great action fight that year. 1982: This content is protected W15 This content is protected , No argument. Either this or Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello I. 1983: This content is protected W12 This content is protected No argument. 1984: This content is protected KO4 This content is protected I need to see more fights in 1984, but this was a terrific bout. 1985: This content is protected KO3 This content is protected , No argument. 1986: This content is protected W15 This content is protected Haven't seen this one in full. Not sure if this is more deserving than Evander Holyfield-Dwight Qawi I. 1987: This content is protected W12 This content is protected What other really good fights took place in 1987? Leonard-Hagler was a good fight, but fight of the year? 1988: This content is protected W12 This content is protected Haven't seen this one. 1989: This content is protected W12 This content is protected Not a bad choice. This was a terrific fight, so was Evander Holyfield-Michael Dokes. 1990: This content is protected KO12 This content is protected No argument. 1991: This content is protected W12 This content is protected No argument, although I can see the case made for James Toney-Mike McCallum I. 1992: This content is protected W12 This content is protected I Bert Cooper-Michael Moorer was probably a little more fan-friendly. 1993: This content is protected KO7 This content is protected I No argument. 1994: This content is protected KO9 This content is protected Not quite sure if this is more deserving than Frankie Randall-Julio Cesar Chavez I. 1995: This content is protected KO7 This content is protected Very good fight. I personally thought the third Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield bout was a great fight. Excellent in-fighting, and just when it seemed that Holyfield was done, he almost took out Bowe in round 6. Then Bowe takes out Holyfield 2 rounds later. 1996: This content is protected KO11 This content is protected (fight #1) Awful choice. Great event. Good fight, but Marco Antonio Barrera-Kennedy McKinney was considerably better. Andrew Golota-Riddick Bowe II, even with the ending, was a better fight. So were Arturo Gatti-Wilson Rodriguez, Frankie Liles-Tim Littles, and Kevin Kelley-Derrick Gainer I. 1997: This content is protected KO5 This content is protected I prefer Naseem Hamed-Kevin Kelley. 1998: This content is protected W10 This content is protected (fight #1) No argument. 1999: This content is protected W12 This content is protected (fight #1) Haven't seen these fights. I loved Derrick Jefferson's fight with Maurice Harris though. 2000: This content is protected W12 This content is protected I No argument. 2001: This content is protected W10 This content is protected No argument, but Ezra Sellers-Carl Thompson was a terrific fight. 2002: This content is protected W10 This content is protected I No argument. 2003: This content is protected W10 This content is protected III James Toney-Vassily Jirov and Michael Gomez-Alex Arthur were better. 2004: This content is protected W12 This content is protected III No argument. 2005: This content is protected KO10 This content is protected I No argument. 2006: This content is protected KO10 This content is protected No argument. 2007: This content is protected KO 6 This content is protected II No argument. Kelly Pavlik-Jermaine Taylor I was great though.
Pretty solid list. Here are some fights to fill in the gaps. 1988: Lopez-Lockridge or Williams-Czyz I 1995: Sor Jatourong- Gonzalez 1997: Hamed-Kelley or Gatti-Ruelas 1999: Ayala-Tapia 1 2000: Yeah, you got that one. 2001: Ward-Burton 2002: Gatti-Ward 1 2003: Toney-Jirov 2004: Barerra-Morales III 2005: Corrales-Castillo I (although, I still vascillate between this fight and Cotto-Torres) 2006: Sitchatchawal-Monshipour 2007: Vasquez-Marquez II By the way, if you get a chance to see 1994's Lee-Onizuka fight on youtube, then do so. It's a worthy choice for 1994 FOTY consideration.
