Bad Left Hook Best of the Decade - Fight of the Decade
by Brickhaus on Feb 5, 2010 12:22 PM EST
in Boxing's Best of the Decade
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PrintNow that 2009 has wrapped up, we can take a look at the best of the decade that just was. Only one more poll for fighter of the decade after this one. Over the course of a decade, you get a ton of great fights, but here are a few that really stood out. Only 9 fit on the poll, and I went with fights that have Youtube reels, so if your favorite isn't on here, I apologize.
I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up in about a week.
Erik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera I (February 19, 2000)
Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti I (May 18, 2002)
Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko (June 21, 2003)
Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao I (March 19, 2005)
Chico Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo I (May 7, 2005)
Somsak Sithchatchawal vs. Mahyar Monshipour (March 18, 2006)
Michael Katsidis vs. Graham Earl (February 17, 2007)
Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III (March 1, 2008)
Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz (February 28, 2009)
Others for consideration (in no particular order): Felix Trinidad vs. Fernando Vargas, Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez II, Jean Marc Mormeck vs. O'Neill Bell I, Jorge Arce vs. Hussein Hussein I, Bernard Dunne vs. Ricardo Cordoba, Sergei Lyakhovich vs. Lamon Brewster, James Toney vs. Vassiliy Jirov, Israel Vazquez vs. Jhonny Gonzalez, Jamie Moore vs. Matthew Macklin, Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Torres, Acelino Freitas vs. Jorge Barrios, Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward III, Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales III, Micky Ward vs. Emmanuel Burton (Augustus), Tomasz Adamek vs. Paul Briggs, Kelly Pavlik vs. Jermain Taylor I, Miguel Cotto vs. Shane Mosley, Michael Katsidis vs. Czar Amonsot, Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez I, Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez II, Carl Froch vs. Jean Pascal, Erik Morales vs. In Jin Chi
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As amazing as Chico Corrales-Jose Castillo was..
..I had to go with Morales-Barrera. That was just a simply astonishing war that saw both guys box to the very best of their potential. Gatti-Ward was an all-out war, but this was somehow more than just that: the actual boxing on display was amazing. I think the very best fights are the one where the momentum swings don’t happen just when one guy stops punching and the other guy starts, but when both guys are exchanging punches almost simultaneously. That’s what happened with Morales and Barrera: as soon as one guy got hit, he’d throw back, invariably leading to some of the best trade-offs in boxing history. No fight can rival Corrales-Castillo for drama, and few can rival Gatti-Ward for sheer brutality, however this one had enough drama, brutality to go with the abundance of skill on show to go down as one of the greatest fights ever fought.
"The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic"
I Voted
for Morales v Barrera as well.The Gatti-Ward and Castillo-Corrales were wars but Morales v Barrera was a war with excellent technique and skills too.
I appreciate the toe to toe wars but i like to watch the sweet science on display more.It’s great when you get both together!
Yep. All fair points.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Agreed with both of the above--Barrera/Morales--don't
know if I’m aware of all criteria (and there might not be any beside “what was the best fight”?) but I think of Barrera and Morales being on a higher plane as fighters that Chico, Castillo, Ward, or Gatti. Anyway, all the fights listed were great.
by Don From Prov on Feb 5, 2010 4:01 PM EST up reply actions
I couldn't choose between the Barrera/Morales fights;
or the Corrales/Castillo fights, and who could pick against Ward/Gatti….
So I forgot the fight itself, because they were all great, and went for the one that meant most to me. Lennox’s last fight, and the last GREAT fight we’ve seen at heavyweight (was it really that long ago?!!)
I voted with my heart, and voted Lewis vs Klitschko.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
I had just finished writing a list of must-see fights for a friend of mine when I saw this post.
HE’s just starting to really get into the sprt, so I rec’d a load of fights for him, and the list was thus;
Marco Antonio Barrera vs Erik Morales (trilogy)
Riddick Bowe vs Evander Holyfield (trilogy)
Ricky Hatton vs Kostya Tszyu
Joe Calzaghe vs Mikkel Kessler
Mikkel Kessler vs Librado Andrade
Micky Ward vs Arturo Gatti (trilogy)
Rafael Marquez vs Israel Vasquez (trilogy)
David Tua vs Ike Ibeabuchi
Lucien Bute vs Librado Andrade (first fight)
Kelly Pavlik vs Edison Miranda
Ricardo Cordoba vs Bernard Dunne
Tomas Villa vs Rogers Mtagwa
Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manny Pacquiao (both fights)
Razor Ruddock vs Tommy Morrison
Marvellous Marvin Hagler vs Tommy Hearns
Prince Naseem Hamed vs Marco Antonio Barrera
Prince Naseem Hamed vs Steve Robinson
Prince Naseem Hamed vs Kevin Kelley
Roy Jones Jr vs Bernard Hopkins
Roy Jones Jr vs James Toney
Roy Jones Jr vs John Ruiz
Roy Jones Jr vs Antonio Tarver (trilogy)
Bernard Hopkins vs Kelly Pavlik
Bernard Hopkins vs Oscar De La Hoya
George Foreman vs Ken Norton
Kelly Pavlik vs Jermain Taylor (both fights, especially the 1st)
Juan Manuel Lopez vs Rogers Mtagwa
Antonio Margarito vs Miguel Cotto
Miguel Cotto vs Ricardo Torres
Kostya Tszyu vs Zab Judah
Ricky Hatton vs Jon Thaxton
Kostya Tszyu vs Vernon Forrest (amateurs)
Michael Katsidis vs Graham Earl
Marvellous Marvin Hagler vs Sugar Ray Leonard
Chris Eubank vs Michael Watson (tragic, but a phenomenal fight)
Victor Ortiz vs Marcos Maidana (you’ll be able to see why I don’t think Khan can beat Maidana….)
I also know he will read this, as I linked him the post, so any more great fights would be appreciated. :)
(Also, I know some on the list weren’t great fights in their own right, but I think all were momentous in their own right… Kessler/Andrade for example was one of the most amazing displays of “courage/determination/just plain fucking hard-man-ness” I’ve seen from a boxer who has taken a beating for 12 rounds… How Andrade stood up to that I will never know. I also appreciate that Margarito/Cotto would not make a lot of lists now for obvious reasons, but it was, in isolation, still a great fight.)
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
I suppose a better way of putting that would have been;
I’m looking for all sorts of fights, brutal KO’s, wars of attrition, contentious decisions, the whole shebang. :)
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Anyone getting into the sport, there are three fights that should go on their "must watch" lists
- Hagler-Hearns
- Ali-Frazier I
- Corrales-Castillo I
Others that you might want to add for various reasons:
- Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Meldrick Taylor I (Great fight with the most controversial ending of all time – really a better example of what you’re going for with Bute-Andrade I)
- Nicolino Locche vs. Paul Fuji (probably the best defensive showing I’ve ever seen)
- Emmanuel Augustus vs. Courtney Burton (controversial decision + classic drunken master clowning)
- Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan (for the pure brutality of it, and knowing what happened after)
I’m not the best person to recommend older fights, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about Robinson-Basilio I and II and Pep-Saddler II.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Sorry, I should have mentioned;
I think he’s already watched every Ali fight he can find, hence I didn’t include Ali/Frazier.
I can’t believe I forgot Corrales/Castillo… Mental fart there.
Benn/McClellan I think he has watched but could be wrong.
Chavez/Taylor another great shout. I wasn’t really going for anything except a display of a fight that went a bit crazy with Andrade/Bute, but I can see your thinking. I think Bute/Andrade will be one that is discussed for years, as one man runs out of gas and the other has taken horrific punishment but just keeps on coming…. kind of like Margarito/Cotto. In fact, stylistically it’s quite similar too. Different ending though… :)
In fact, fuck him, I’m now going to have to go and find a couple of those fights myself!! :)
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Same reason I haven't included any Tyson or Lewis fights.
I couldn’t believe it when he said he’s never watched David Tua!!
I’m gonna HAVE to slap him round the head when I see him now….. ;)
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Do you think Benn/McClellan is a better fight than Eubank/Watson?
Not trying to be contentious, just asking. I’d take the Eubank fight over the Benn fight personally, but wouldn’t argue with anyone who said different.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
either/or
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I'll add a few
MODERN:
mcclellan vs jackson 1 – just brutal. awesome fight and epic knock out
foreman vs. lyle – the hagler vs. hearns of the heavyweights. awesome fight.
saad muhammad vs. yaqui lopez 2 – you can watch just about any saad muhammad title defense and be entertained, this is the best of the bunch imo.
jorge castro vs. john david jackson – one sided outclassing, beat down, then….
tyson vs. ruddock – some savage shots landed in this one. jaw dropped a few times watching it. great great fight.
mancini vs. kim – top 3 of greatest fights of all time imo. tragic ending of course but still a must see.
OLDIES:
marciano vs. walcott 1 – great come from behind win. grueling fight. classic ko
marciano vs. charles – another great fight. rocky scores ko with his nose literally
dempsey vs. firpo – only 2 rounds but a damn good 2 rounds.
zale vs. graziano – great back and forth fight..brutal ending.
louis vs. conn – tiny billy conn was schooling louis, until he got really really brave.
i can go on forever. im at work so i’ll stop here before im busted.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
**
marciano vs. charles – another great fight. rocky scores ko with his nose literally hanging off
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
You Beat Me To It :)
I was gonna mention this as a great oldie.Jersey Joe is one of my favourite old timers.What a KO by Rocky in the 13th!!
Tyson V Ruddock is another beauty.Not often mentioned in best of lists.
Don Curry v Mike McCallum was good as well.Brutal KO.
yea tyson vs ruddock is very underrated. its one of the best heavyweight fights ever imo.
curry vs. mccallum was great. mccallum vs. jackson was great too.
speaking of underrated. mike mccallum. probably the most underrated fighter in history.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
Yes,‘The Bodysnatcher’.
I’ve only seen 4 or 5 of his fights and one of those (against RJJ) was late on in his career but he always seemed to be very methodical and just went about his business in an understated way.
Most any Saad Muhammed title defense (including the brutal losses to Braxton)
or Danny Lopez defense. The wild and great wars that were fought among Bobby Chacon, Bazooka Limon, Conrelius Boza Edwards, and Rolando Navarrete.
by Don From Prov on Feb 5, 2010 4:13 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah,
i haven’t seen them fight but i have heard about that round robin of fights,especially Chacon v Limon.
yup.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
i was there actually.
cried a bit on the way home too. haha. kostya was my favorite fight at the time.
he ate one too many of vinces right hands that night.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
It must be great to say you were there to witness a great fight live.
I have yet to have that experience:).
Yeah i felt for Kostya too.He was one of my favourites of the modern era-loved his style,boxing stance,etc.
Did he underestimate Phillips a bit,or what?
oh yea for sure he underestimated him.
vince was coming off a loss actually. it was a voluntary defense and it was a year or so after vince was nearly killed by ike quartey. everyone thought he was pretty much shot after that. he was a boozer and had drug problems as well.
kostya just had no defense back then and just ate right hand after right hand. vince had a murderous right hand as well.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
Kostya never got a rematch.Do you know what the story was behind that?I suppose his management just wanted to take another route after that war!
I wasn’t watching boxing as seriously at that time so i don’t know what the situation was.
Kostya wanted it but Vince lost the title to Terron Millett
who lost it to Zab.
Matt, sonofapsycho — Tszyu-Phillips was tough as a muthafucker hey fellas? Brutal exchanges from the get-go – love that fight !! I spoke to Kostya at the gym right after he returned home. He was messin’ around with amino acids for the first time before the fight but took defeat like a man. Great bloke Kostya, absolute freak in the gym.
"Anytime you go thirty rounds with a guy, try to kill each other, and have the utmost respect for each other, no one understands that, but guys who have been to war understand it." - Micky Ward on Arturo Gatti.
How's Things Goatsnake?!
I bet he was.
Strong as a bull too.I read he could benchpress about 120 kilos which is a lot for a 140lb man.
I give Hatton all the credit in the world for his win against Tszyu but i think the fight would have been closer and the outcome could well have been different had it taken place nearer Kostya’s peak and on neutral ground (in the U.S.).
i voted for barrera morlaes 1 maybe the fight that cemented my love of the sport, all 3 fights were great and damn they really hated each other guts, too bad they didnt have 24/7’s back then for their fights, and chaos do you know any legit websites that sell these classic fights youtube doesnt do it for me, plus ive been burned in the past buying fights of ebay, i bought a dvd collection of ali’s fights and none of the dvds worked waste of time and money you know
If you download Realplayer (which is free);
and any decent video clipping software, you can simply open all the ’part’s of a video in different tabs, wait for them to buffer simultaneously, download them to Realplayer and edit them so they merge into one… takes about 15 minutes total to get the video downloaded and in one piece ready to watch.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
I did Dunne/Cordoba earlier
Did Barrera/Hamed the other day, as well as recently doing Ibeabuchi/Tua, Lewis/Klitschko, Hamed/Robinson, and loads of snooker matches too…
:) Realplayer is the best thing I ever downloaded.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
do you have a mac or a pc, i know editing software for vids is easier to come by on the macs so ive heard, and how is the quality of the footage is it grainy like most old youtube fights or doest it hold up
It's a youtube video, downloaded and spliced together.
If you download them in the highest res possible, they come out good. I’m no technical whiz and I did ok.
I use a PC, FWIW (which is very little, in my mind…)
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
My Personal Favourites (including the ones already listed in the article)
are: Holyfield v Bowe 1+2
Holyfield v Qawi 1
Ali v Frazier 1
James Toney v Vasily Jirov
Gatti v Gabriel Ruelas
Gatti v Ivan Robinson 1+2
Gatti v Manfredy
Paul Williams v Sergio Martinez
J M Lopez v Rogers Mtagwa
Duran v Iran Barkley
Hagler v Hearns
Hearns v Leonard
Ray Mancini v Duk Koo KIm
Paulie Ayala v Johnny Tapia 1
Robinson v La Motta (Valentine’s Day Massacre)
Acelino Freitas v Jorge Barrios
Paul Spadafora v Leonard Dorin
Aaron Pryor v Alexis Arguello
Salvador Sanchez v Azumah Nelson
Salvador Sanchez v Danny Lopez
Marvin Hagler v Mustapha Hamsho 1
Marvin Hagler v Bennie Briscoe
You're right;
I definitely should have had more Gatti fights in my list.
I thought I’d includd Pryor/Arguello, but obviously not.
Duran/Barkley is a great shout.
I preferred Williams/Margarito and Williams/Wright to Williams/Martinez, but can definitely see it the other way too.
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Gatti-Robinson..
Jesus those were two brutal fights. My personal favourite Gatti fight is the knockout of Wilson Rodriguez when Gatti’s eye was basically completely shut for 5 rounds. That was just astonishing, I think the doctor tried to stop the fight in between at least 3 rounds before Gatti came back to knock Rodriquez out.
"The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic"
by Oli Goldstein on Feb 5, 2010 4:34 PM EST up reply actions
I thought long and hard about Corrales / Castillo and Barrera / Marquez, but in the end I went with the fight that simply thrilled me the most the first time I watched it, and that for me was Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III. Maybe it was the party atmosphere I enjoyed while watching the fight, but for me that one stands out amongst many many classics. Honorable mention for me goes to Toney / Jirov, which was an important fight for me in terms of getting me back into the sport after an non-boxing oriented phase in my life.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
I think the issue for me with Barrera/Morales and Marquez/Vasquez;
was simply that they were TOO damn tough… there was jaw-dropping galore at the way they fought, but with not so much of the “fuck me it could end at any moment” suspense that I get from watching fights at a higher weight….
Those little bastards were/are so tough, so hard, that I never expected them to submit, never expected them to get stopped. (I know they did, but I expect you take my point)
In a way, the fact they were so good, and so durable, detracted from the fights as a spectacle at the time. I know that sound stupid, but I know what I mean… :D
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Heh
I didn’t even notice that only one fight I have on the poll happened above lightweight.
Had I noticed that, I probably would have dropped Katsidis-Earl in favor of Toney-Jirov.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I know what you're saying
It’s a question of which you enjoy more: the threat of instant demolition by that one bomb or volume of exciting punches that are less likely to result in a KO. I prefer the latter, and you prefer the former.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
Don’t think anyone’s metioned it yet but Emmanuel Burton(Augustus) v Micky Ward was also a great inside fight on ESPN.
Um...
Might want to post a highlights reel of Lewis-Klitschko that isn’t nothing but Vitali’s connects, posted by a dude with a Soviet flag as his YouTube icon. Judging by that video, Vitali was destroying Lewis, but his flesh spontaneously combusted him into defeat.
I didn't see another highlight video
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
how could i forget..
prince charles williams vs. merqui sosa 1.
part 2 is amazing as well but their first fight was just epically brutal and amazing.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
A Few More
Holyfield v Michael Dokes
Gatti v Tracy Harris Patterson
Lennox Lewis v Ray Mercer
M A Barrera v Kennedy McKinney
Hagler v John Mugabi
Alexis Arguello v Rueben Olivares.
some good ones there.
mercer was robbed in the lewis fight.
ive probably seen mugabi and hagler over 20 times. great great fight.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
.
by sonofapsycho on Feb 6, 2010 12:48 AM EST up reply actions
I'm Don't Think Mercer Was Robbed
in that fight but it was obviously very close (as the MD to Lewis showed).Mercer was no doubt one of Lewis’ toughest opponents,along with Vitali Klitschko.
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