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"Super Fights" That Lived Up to the Hype
The problem is that hardly anyone expects "The Golden Boy vs. The Pretty Boy" to live up to the hype. Styles make fights, and the consensus among hardcore boxing fans is that Floyd is simply too fast, skillful, and defensive minded to fall victim to Oscar and his lethal left hook. I happen agree with that prediction. So as much as I'd like to see Oscar put Floyd on his ass (or at least get him to trade and make it interesting), I expect 12 rounds of the cFloyd hitting but never hurting Oscar en route to a boring unanimous decision win (or a b.s. draw/loss at the hands of the judges.) I really hope I'm wrong.
Occasionally, these endlessly-hype "super fights" actually do make good on their promoters' promises -- and here's a sampling to prove it. If tomorrow's Cinco de Mayo showdown comes anywhere close to these jems, it'll be worth every penny of the $54.95 I'm shelling out to watch it. (For those with a short attention span, I've only inlcuded clips of each fight's final round.)
(Note: Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor I should probably be on here, but given what's since happened to Taylor, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.)
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1
Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns - 4/15/85
The best eight minutes in the history of boxing. |
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2
MUHAMMED ALI VS. GEORGE FOREMAN - 10/30/74
The "Rumble in the Jungle" cemented Ali's legend forever. But that brilliant rope-a-dope strategy may have also been what eventually cost "The Greatest" his health. |
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3
THOMAS HEARNS VS. RAY LEONARD - 9/16/81
This fight had everything: dramatic shifts in momentum, a stunning finish, and two of the most physically gifted fighters ever to step into a ring. Anyone who doubts "Sugar" Ray's toughness, or Hearns ability to box and just uncork his lethal straight right, needs to watch the entire fight. Perhaps the greatest welterweight fight of all time. |
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4
MUHAMMED ALI VS. JOE FRAZIER - 3/8/71
Madison Square Garden. Two former friends who now hated each others guts. A phenomenally gifted icon vs. a tough-as-nails South Carolinian with something to prove. The first fight in the greatest trilogy of all time. |
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5
Alexis Arguello vs. Aaron Pryor - 11/12/82
The elegant South American champion-statemen vs. the wild-eyed, wild-fisted Cincinatti street tough who up until this fight had never gotten the recognition he so desperately craved. But one fight can change a career. This epic battle is as well known for its riveting action as it is for one famous moment between rounds, when TV cameras picked up Pryor's trainer, "Panama" Lewis, asking an assistant for a different water bottle, "the one I mixed." No one will ever know hether that second bottle helped alter the outcome of the fight, but Pryor's absolute (and controversy-free) domination of Arguello less than a year later silenced all doubters. |
