Boxing Junkie gives you 10 fights that all true boxing fans absolutely must see.
Boxing fans have been treated to a long list of ring battles they’ll never forget.
To whittle these classics down to the 10 best was essentially an impossible task. So what we decided to do was choose 10 that we know will satisfy the craving you have for some insane in-the-ring action.
Sit back and enjoy.
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Archie Moore vs. Yvon Durelle I
Date / site: Dec. 12, 1958 / Montreal
Result: Moore KO 11
Moore vs. Durelle might be the best example of resilience in the history of the sport. The 40-something “Old Mongoose,” defending his light heavyweight title, went down hard three times in the opening round and once more in Round 5 at the hands of his rugged Canadian challenger. It wasn’t a matter of “if” Moore would lose his title but “when.” Well, when never came. Moore somehow tapped into a deep reservoir of energy, turned the tide and put a fading Durelle down four times before referee Jack Sharkey finally counted him out 49 seconds into Round 11. Moore, an all-time great, had many special performances. None of the others could top this.
Promoter Bob Arum started with a Muhammad Ali card in 1966 and hasn’t slowed down since.
Promoter Bob Arum has been there and done that. Many times over.
Top Rank, Arum’s company, issued a news release Tuesday acknowledging his 54 years in boxing. He went directly from being lawyer in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to promoting his first card on March 29, 1966.
The featured fighter on that show? Muhammad Ali, who outpointed George Chuvalo in Toronto.
Ali was originally scheduled to face Ernie Terrell in Chicago but the Illinois State Athletic Commission refused to license Ali over his stance against the Vietnam War, which forced Arum to look elsewhere.
Then, less than three weeks before the scheduled fight date, Terrell pulled out and was replaced by the Canadian Chuvalo. The fight then landed in Toronto.
“It was a memorable, crazy time in our country,” Arum said. “After we were kicked out of Chicago, [Maple Leaf Gardens owner Harold] Ballard told us we could bring the fight to Toronto, and he was a man of his word. More than 50 years later, Ali-Chuvalo in Toronto is still the most difficult promotion of my entire career.”
Arum promoted 27 Ali fights and few thousand others. Among the fighters he worked with: Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Johnny Tapia, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Roberto Duran, George Foreman, Oscar De La Hoya, Timothy Bradley, James Toney, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Alexis Arguello, Michael Carbajal, Miguel Cotto, Emile Griffith, Carlos Monzón, Terence Crawford, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Tyson Fury.
Said Arum: “It has been one hell of a 54-year ride. I am honored to have promoted many of history’s greatest boxers. I could have never foreseen this 54 years ago. I look forward to many more memorable nights at ringside.”
Check out the Top Rank-Bob Arum numbers:
2,079: Fight cards promoted 824: Shows on ESPN family of networks 655: World title fights promoted 517: Shows promoted in Nevada 412: Shows promoted in New Jersey 219: American cities in which Top Rank has promoted 195: Shows promoted in California 154: Shows promoted in Texas 129: Shows promoted on HBO 92: Foreign or international cities in which Top Rank has promoted 73: Shows promoted on ABC 72: Shows promoted in New York State 69: Shows promoted in Arizona 63: Shows promoted in Puerto Rico 52: Shows promoted in Mexico 49: Pay-per-view shows promoted 47: Shows promoted in Illinois 42: States in which Top Rank has promoted boxing 41: Miguel Cotto fights promoted 41: Shows promoted in Pennsylvania 38: Michael Carbajal fights promoted 38: Shows promoted in New York City 37: Oscar De La Hoya fights promoted 36: Johnny Tapia fights promoted 35: Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights promoted 33: James Toney fights promoted 32: Erik Morales fights promoted 31: Shows promoted in Florida 28: Iran Barkley fights promoted 27: Muhammad Ali fights promoted or co-promoted 26: Foreign countries in which Top Rank has promoted, plus Puerto Rico 25: Freddie Roach fights promoted 24: Shows promoted in New Mexico 23: World heavyweight title fights promoted 22: Terence Crawford fights promoted 20: Marvelous Marvin Hagler fights promoted 20: Manny Pacquiao fights promoted 19: Juan Manuel Marquez fights promoted 14: George Foreman fights promoted 14: Shows promoted in China 13: Thomas Hearns fights promoted 10: Alexis Arguello fights promoted 10: Ray Mancini fights promoted 9: Timothy Bradley Jr. fights promoted 8: Roberto Duran fights promoted 7: Sugar Ray Leonard fights promoted 7: Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. fights promoted 5: Carlos Monzón fights promoted 5: Emile Griffith fights promoted 4: Mike Tyson fights promoted 3: Tyson Fury fights promoted 2: Larry Holmes fights promoted 1: Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon jump promoted 0: Shows (so far) promoted by Top Rank in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.
In “Our Favorites,” each of the Boxing Junkie staffers gives you his three favorite fights to fill the void left by canceled live fights.
Boxing Junkies must be going through withdrawals right about now.
The fans are accustomed to several servings of their favorite sport each week. These days, with the spread of the coronavirus worldwide, there is a gaping void because live cards are being postponed or canceled every day.
What is a boxing fan to do?
Well, with your suffering in mind, we decided to put together “Our Favorites” to help you get your fix of the sweet science. Boxing Junkie staffers Michael Rosenthal, Norm Frauenheim and Sean Nam will give you their three favorite boxing matches, three favorite boxing movies and three favorite boxing books.
Today: boxing matches.
MICHAEL ROSENTHAL
Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III
Date / site: Oct. 1, 1975 / Quezon City, Philippines
Result: Ali TKO 14
Ali said after his third fight with his arch rival that “It was like death. Closest thing to dyin’ that I know of.” That gives you an idea of the brutality of the Thrilla in Manila. Ali and Frazier gave and took hard punches at a feverish rate in spite of the stifling heat in the arena, which Frazer guessed reached 120 degrees. They both grew weary but Frazier declined more rapidly than Ali, who handed out a vicious beating in Round 14. The great Eddie Futch, Frazier’s trainer, stopped it there to protect his beaten fighter. Thus ended arguably the greatest heavyweight fight ever.
Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns
Date / site: April 15, 1985 / Las Vegas
Result: Hagler TKO 3
Hagler vs. Hearns had to the most-action packed fight ever pound-for-pound … er, round-for-round. The fighters, two of the biggest punchers of all time, gave fans a classic opening stanza in which hard, accurate punches flew at a breathtaking rate. Hagler continued to attack with one thing in mind in Round 2 and Hearns – trying to box at times but unable to keep Hagler off him – returned fire. Then, in Round 3, Hagler landed a right to the side of Hearns’ head and then a straight right that took him out. Never was more mayhem packed into two-plus rounds.
Archie Moore vs. Yvon Durelle I
Date / site: Dec. 12, 1958 / Montreal
Result: Moore KO 11
Moore vs. Durelle might be the best example of resilience in the history of the sport. The 40-something “Old Mongoose,” defending his light heavyweight title, went down hard three times in the opening round a once more in Round 5 at the hands of his rugged Canadian challenger. It wasn’t a matter of “if” Moore would lose his title but “when.” Well, when never came. Moore somehow tapped into a deep reservoir of energy, turned the tide and put a fading Durelle down four times before referee Jack Sharkey finally counted him out 49 seconds into Round 11. Moore, an all-time great, had many special performances. None of the others could top this.
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NORM FRAUENHEIM
Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns I Date / site: Sept. 16, 1981 / Las Vegas Result: Leonard TKO 14
From rock-and-roll to vintage cars, classic is an overused word. It’s another sales pitch. But there’s only one Leonard-Hearns I. It’s a standard, a reference point for what classic really means. It was a fight in which the welterweights switched styles. The boxer, Leonard, became the stalker. The puncher, Hearns, became the boxer. Leonard won. So did everybody who watched.
Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo I Date / site: May 7, 2005 / Las Vegas Result: Corrales TKO 10
Some fights are dramatic. Some violent. Castillo-Corrales was more. The lightweight bout was spontaneous combustion. The first nine rounds were Fight-of-the-Year worthy. Then, boom, the 10th. Castillo knocks down Corrales. Castillo drops him again. Then Corrales lands a right and follows with a blinding succession of blows. It’s over. Corrales never won again. He died two years later, to the day, in a motorcycle accident.
Michael Carbajal vs. Humberto Gonzalez I Date / site: March 13, 1993 / Las Vegas Result: Carbajal KO 7
They were Lords of the Flies. Still are. Two little guys came up big in a bout that led to rematches and a million dollars for each, a money milestone still unequaled for 108-pounders. Carbajal got knocked down twice, in the second round and fifth. He looked finished. He wasn’t, knocking out Gonzalez in the seventh with a right-left combo with deadly efficiency.
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SEAN NAM
Mike McCallum vs. James Toney I
Date / site: Dec. 13, 1991 / Atlantic City, New Jersey
Result: SD D 12
Skill these days seems to be a byword for being cute in the ring, but as veteran McCallum and rising star Toney showed in their middleweight title bout in 1991, skill at that time meant mean business. Altogether, both fighters threw more than 1,700 punches in their highly technical, but entertaining donnybrook. There was some controversy on the scorecards – the fight was ruled a draw – but make no mistake: There were no losers.
Timothy Bradley vs. Ruslan Provodnikov Date / site: March 16, 2013 / Carson, California
Result: Bradley UD 12
Some fights simultaneously enthrall you and make you wince. This was one of them. For a fighter who had just outboxed Manny Pacquiao (albeit controversially) and would go on to dominate Juan Manuel Marquez in his next bout, Bradley decided to go toe-to-toe against Provodnikov, a relentless pressure fighter from Siberia. Bradley, who was dangerously wobbled several times, managed to get the slight nod on the scorecards. But the damage both fighters incurred? Only they know.
Roberto Duran vs. Iran Barkley Date / site: Feb. 24, 1989 / Atlantic City, New Jersey
Result: Duran SD 12
It was Roberto Duran’s last hurrah before his inevitable decline. And what a show he put on that blustery night against a deadly threat in Iran Barkley. It didn’t matter that Duran had been somewhat irrelevant the previous five years. Or that he was a career lightweight now trying to make his mark at middleweight. When the bell rang, Duran was in vintage form, showing all the guile and chutzpah that formed his reputation over the previous decade. It was a close affair, however. A late knockdown courtesy of three well-timed right hands helped Duran seal the fight in his favor.
