Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The best 9 minutes of boxing in the last 30 years!

I think my Tyson comment came across wrong. Although I think he's kind of a freak now, I didn't mind watching his 2 minutes fights at first. For whatever reason, before he came along, it seemed to me that boxing was different and legendary. It's no different than basketball for me. Back then, I liked watching the Celtics as I grew up in New England. I remember the classic days of Bird, McHale, Ainge, Perish etc and others around the league. After that era, I lost interest completely. It's weird, it seems sports before and after the late 80s were different. Maybe there got to be too much showboating, and the me me me mentality. I don't know.

the berto ortiz fight the other night was damn good.

Leonard would spend 2 minutes and 30 seconds of each round running away, and in the last thirty seconds would flurry with pitter patter punches that didn't even get Marvin's attention. To the idiot judges, that rendered Marvin's work each round as irrelvant, as Leonard "finnished strong".

Makes my head hurt just to think about it.

Brian.

Larry Holmes was also a good boxer in his day . Norton vs Holmes was a good match.

Berto finally ran into somebody who could exploit his weaknesses. Suprised it took so long for someone to finally capitalize on it.

Brian.

Norton vs. Holmes is probably my favorite boxing match ever, next to The Thrilla In Manilla. Norton and Holmes are two of the most under rated heavyweights in boxing history. Both those guys were absolutley fantastic.

Brian.

You're probably right. The best 3 rounds of action ever seen in professional boxing. But for my money, the fight that defined heavy weight boxing was "The Thrilla, in Manila" Ali- Frazier #3. Both fighters poured their whole career into that one foght. Neither were the same after. Two amazing warriors. Both lost, and won, in my opinion. Two amazing individuals.

This thread is very depressing to me as I see/realize that fight, which I also watched with my dad, was twenty six years ago?!?! To me THAT has always been and will always be the best fight ever.

I stopped watching boxing in the 80s as well and have never found MMA or any variations entertaining, at all.

For all Tyson's disgusting and pathetic personal failings and faults I will never forget the first time I watched one of his 'fights'. I'm one year older than Tyson. He was probably 18 at the time I saw his first fight. It was a late night broadcast and he was still pretty unkown. I had never heard of him before. Not even sure if his fight was the lead on the card. In any event, at the time he had apparently never gone beyond the third round in a fight and was undefeated, all by TKO. The commentators made some comments just prior to the fight that there was some doubt about whether or not he had the stamina to go beyond three rounds. I heard all that and thought, "I need to watch this guy". For four rounds I kept thinking to myself, "What in the world is so great about this guy?" I mean he was doing nothing impressive at all. The bell rang for the fifth and he walked across the ring with a decidely different demeanor. When he reached his poor unsuspecting opponent, he hit him so hard and so fast, it literally put fear in MY heart. And I was watching the fight on TV!! The second to last punch was a body shot that had his opponent bend over and his last punch was an upper cut. The guys nose literally exploded! The way he hit the ground I honestly thought he was dead. I remember thinking, "My God, I just watched an animal beat the life out of a human." Tyson, who wasn't even winded during the post fight interview said in that painfully distinctive voice something along the lines of "People were saying I couldn't go more than 3 rounds. So I told myself I'd let it go 5 and show them I could."
I made sure the doors were locked that night.

Holmes was tough. I think he was stuck in an era of mixed up fans and he was always trying to win over the fan base. Holmes was the bad guy-especially after he beat a washed up Ali. The crowd still wanted the showmanship of Ali and the toughness of Foreman. Holmes peaked at a bad time - immediately following legends and nobody wanted to accept his contenders. After Tex Cobb lost to Norton (questionably) and lasted with Dokes, I thought he had a chance against Holmes. Wrong! That was a classic beating and I actually wanted Cobb to go down and stop the beating.

Hagler was the first "cool" athlete with a bald head that I can remember. Jordan gets the credit for paving the road, but Hagler set the stage. I wonder what Larry Bird (my favorite pro athlete of all time) would have looked like bald?

That fight was the most spectacular display of willpower, perservierence and plain old guts that you will ever see. I can't think of another fight that's anywhere close to as exciting, or as violent. Both those guys sustained life altering amounts of punishment in that fight. They both should have retired after that fight. Ali keeping on for years after that is what directly lead to his current state.

Brian.

I agree Brian

I've always found Tyson more interesting as a character study than as a boxer. It's a clear example that someone can attain all the wealth and fame in the world, and still be a walking train wreck. If you've never seen the documentary "Tyson", it's a must watch. Tyson is VERY open and candid about his personal problems, and you definetly come away with a better perspective on the man. It won't change your opinion of him, but it will help you understand how he became so screwed up in the first place.

For all his faults, Tyson was a beast in the ring. The beating he put on Michael Spinks was a masterpeice of violence.

Brian.

If Holmes had come 10 years earlier or 10 years later, he would have been a household name. Instead he picked up where Ali left off, and his every move was compared to Ali. Even beating Ali didn't make it go away - it just made it worse. Larry Holmes is the Rodney Dangerfield of boxing. Always has been, always will be.



C'mon dude - what about Ernie Shavers??

Brian.

My father and I went to the local college auditorium for the closed circuit TV broadcast of the first Leonard vs. Duran fight.

My father is of Spanish descent and he and I were huge Duran fans.

I remember we were sitting next to a lady who was a hugely emotional Leonard fan. She would scream wildly whenever Leonard did anything and she would literally cry and wail when Leonard got hit.

We put up with it for quite some time but after a while all the Duran fans were being just as vocal as her.

That was a good fight and the outcome was very satisfying for us.

Professional boxing was ruined by Don King. End of story.

Everything there is true, but what REALLY killed boxing is five different belts, and an unwillingness of top ranked fighters to fight each other unless it is for one of the five belts. Just think if there were only one champion for each weight like back in the day, and top ten contenders had to fight each other to earn a title shot. Now days it has become a choreographed dance. Thank you Bob Arum and Don King.

All of 'em...would have gotten their azzes kicked by this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Marciano

You're spot on. At one time, EVERYONE knew who the heavyweight champ of the world was. My mother knows who Ali and Tyson are to this day. Ask someone now who the heavyweight champion is, and they don't know. The fact that there are currently three guys holding heavyweight world titles doesn't make it any easier.

At this point, I'm pretty sure anyone on this forum could grab a pair of gloves and win an alphabet soup title. It's that preposterious.

Brian.

I love Rocky, but he would have gotten his brains beat out by the next generation of heavyweights that came after him.

Brian.

Well I could go a round or two before gassing out.