The 11 greatest heavyweight FIGHTS OF ALL TIME
Most lists of sporting greatness roll off the tongue in dazzling order. top three footballers of all time: Pele, Maradona, Di stefano. Golfers: Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan. tennis players: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer.
But as we count down to anointing the first undisputed world heavyweight champion for two decades, the task here is to catalogue the 11 greatest heavyweight fights ever. Why 11? We are leaving vacant one last place in a fabled dozen just in case tyson Fury and oleksandr Usyk inspire each other to join in the making of a classic in the saudi Arabian desert this saturday night.
So here we go…
11 DEONTAY WILDER v TYSON FURY STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, DECEMBER 1, 2018
THE Bronze Bomber was regarded as the biggest puncher since Mike tyson while compiling a long undefeated record which had restored the heavyweight crown to the Us for the first time in almost a decade. the Gypsy King of Manchester had seized the other belts with a brilliant dethroning of Wladimir Klitschko.
A wary opening exploded into action mid-fight as Fury opened up, only to be dropped by a Wilder special in the ninth. He rose and re-established his superior boxing only for higher drama to engulf the last round. A huge Wilder right flattened Fury. He admitted he was unconscious as instinct dragged him to his feet long enough to survive for a draw. Wilder screamed that referee Jack Reiss had gifted a long count. Fury cried robbery by the judges. An epic trilogy was born, with Fury winning by stoppage in the second fight then, in the third, knocking Wilder out in the 11th.
10 ROCKY MARCIANO v EZZARD CHARLES YANKEE STADIUM, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 17, 1954
THREE months earlier Marciano had outpointed Charles in the first of their two fights which were a fulcrum of Rocky’s achievement in becoming the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated (after 49 victories).
Their second fight was unforgettable. Marciano powered his way through the early rounds. But as he stepped back from battering the Charles biceps in his way of bringing his opponents’ hands down so he could go for the kill at the end of the sixth, one of his nostrils was seen to be split open. With the blood flowing Marciano was warned the fight was on the verge of being stopped.
He came out for the eighth to knock out Charles with a barrage of blows and remarked: ‘I like my world title too much to lose it on account of a little blood.’ History and the Rocky movies were born.
9 MIKE TYSON v BUSTER DOUGLAS TOKYO DOME, FEBRUARY 11, 1990
THE Greatest Upset. James Douglas arrived in Japan as 42-1 underdog and regarded as a tickover opponent before Iron Mike fought evander Holyfield.
So complacent was the biggest puncher ever that he partied into the night before the fight. Unbeknown to the undisputed champion a family tragedy had reinforced Douglas. Buster’s mother Lula Pearl passed away shortly before he left America and he had told her on her deathbed: ‘I promise to win the world title for you.’
He duly dominated the early rounds but was floored in the eighth by a tyson uppercut. the referee began his own count after the timekeeper began the official tolling, giving Douglas extra time to stagger upright.
Two rounds later a tiring tyson was dropped by a four-punch combination. As he groped on the canvas for his gumshield he was counted out. Iron Mike’s promoter Don King instantly lodged a protest about the long count which reprieved Douglas. It was four days before the Greatest Upset became official.
8 MIKE TYSON v EVANDER HOLYFIELD MGM GRAND GARDEN, LAS VEGAS, NOVEMBER 9, 1996
Undisputed cruiserweight champion Holyfield moved up to heavyweight in 1990 with his sights set on tyson. He was kept waiting six years by Iron Mike’s shock defeat by Buster Douglas followed by his incarceration in prison. An early burst seemed to justify tyson’s 1-5 odds but Holyfield took control. Iron Mike as good as buckled in the 10th and was unwisely sent out for the 11th in which referee Mitch Halpern called a halt. this was the fight which signalled the beginning of the end of tyson’s reign of terror. His demise deepened in the rematch when he infamously bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear.
7 EVANDER HOLYFIELD v RIDDICK BOWE THOMAS AND MACK CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NOVEMBER 13, 1992
HOLYFIELD called himself the Real Deal and wanted to authenticate that by halting the rise of the much bigger Riddick Bowe. But this was Big Daddy in his prime, before he would go to fat. Bowe’s power made life difficult for Holyfield, although the older champion partly held his own with elite ring-craft and courage.
That even carried him through a 10th round which is enshrined as one of the greatest three-minute stanzas. Bowe went for the kill with brutal combinations, only for Holyfield to hit back with staggering blows. the 11th was even more damaging for Holyfield, who went down from two massive right-handers. to everyone else’s astonishment he regained his feet and launched his own offensive, although that was not enough to
prevent a unanimous decision against him. Holyfield regained his belts in a rematch, then Bowe won the third.
6 ROCKY MARCIANO v JERSEY JOE WALCOTT PHILADELPHIA MUNICIPAL STADIUM, SEPTEMBER 23, 1952
THE real Rocky had been denied several world-title shots but eventually broke a seeming conspiracy against him by adding the legendary Joe Louis to his KO hitlist in his 42nd fight. Jersey Joe was ordered to bring his refined skillset to his championship defence. Walcott even managed to inflict in the opening round the first of only two knockdowns ever suffered by Marciano. He continued to elude the heaviest of Rocky’s blows while landing enough punches to be ahead on all three cards going into the 13th round. Marciano’s corner told him he needed a knockout and he duly obliged.
5 CASSIUS CLAY v SONNY LISTON CONVENTION HALL, MIAMI BEACH, FEBRUARY 25, 1964
THE young Cassius Clay had yet to change his name and Liston was held in awe — his forbidding reputation was enhanced further by spells in prison and alleged links to the mafia. The first major sighting of Clay in full-on ranting mode included calling Liston ‘a big ugly bear’ and driving to his house at 3am to scream taunts at his bedroom window.
Come the fight Clay’s dancing elusiveness and hands as fast a featherweight’s added to the bear-baiting, reducing Liston to bewilderment. Cut and humiliated, bruised and befuddled, the monster stayed on his stool when the bell rang for the start of the seventh round.
Forget the wild allegations of fixes, torn shoulder muscles and mob meddling. A superstar was born. By the time Liston hit the canvas in the first round of the rematch, from what was labelled The Phantom Punch, he who would become The GOAT was known to the world as Muhammad Ali.
4 JACK JOHNSON v JAMES J JEFFRIES RENO, NEVADA, JULY 4, 1910
SO disturbed were the self-proclaimed moral majority in the US by an African-American being world heavyweight champion that the cry went out for a Great White Hope to reclaim the crown. Jeffries came out of retirement to answer the call.
As a temporary open-air arena was erected in Reno the New York Times asserted: ‘If the black man wins thousands and thousands of his ignorant brothers will interpret this as justifying claims to much more than mere physical equality with their white neighbours.’ Shameful but prophetic.
Jeffries went under in the 15th round, his corner throwing in the towel to concede the only defeat of his career. White America felt humiliated and race riots erupted. There were at least 20 deaths and many injuries. Such was the social impact that this fight stands as a major landmark in the struggle for racial equality.
3 GEORGE FOREMAN v MUHAMMAD ALI KINSHASA, ZAIRE, OCTOBER 30, 1974
THE Rumble in the Jungle was watched by a record one billion, such was the fascination of seeing whether an aging Ali could confound the strength which made Big George one of the most feared of all champions. The frenzy that greeted them was intensified through a five-week delay caused by an eye cut sustained by Foreman in training.
Come Zaire’s sweltering night of nights in the global spotlight, untold thousands swarmed into and around the stadium. Ali confused Foreman by opening up with southpaw jabs instead of his orthodox left lead. Then, instead of trying to shuffle his way out of danger he invited Big George to come and attack. The secret of his brilliant strategy had a name: Rope-A-Dope. Foreman punched himself out. When his last desperate effort got through to that famously resilient jaw in the seventh round Ali whispered in his ear: ‘That all you got, George?’ When Ali landed a right cross of his own in the eighth, Foreman crashed to the canvas and failed to beat the count. Astonishingly The Greatest — as now a threetime world champion and against all the apparent odds — had become even greater.
2 MUHAMMAD ALI v JOE FRAZIER QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES, OCTOBER 1, 1975
DON KING entitled this epic conclusion to the Ali-Frazier trilogy ‘The Thrilla in Manila.’ It certainly was. A full 15 rounds of unrelenting brutality.
Frazier desperate to ram down Ali’s throat the ‘Uncle Tom’ insults mouthed at him during their preceding battles. The Greatest willing to go to hell and back to preserve that adulation. By the end of the 14th — a round of unspeakably graphic mutual destruction — both were out on their feet. Ali in such distress that he told his trainer Angelo Dundee: ‘This the closest I’ve ever been to dying.’ Then demanded that his gloves be cut off. In the other corner Frazier’s trainer eddie Futch beat them to the retirement. Smokin’ Joe’s eyes were swollen shut. Frazier never forgave Ali for the racist barbs, nor Futch for refusing to let him go out for the final round blind.
1 JOE FRAZIER v MUHAMMAD ALI MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, MARCH 8, 1971
The ‘Real’ Fight of the Century knocked Jack Johnson v James J Jeffries off that perch. new York’s fabled Garden witnessed the epic which brought boxing out of a cloying measure of disrepute and into the fascination of the public at large. Polarising the American population on its way to the ring.
Ali was on the comeback trail after being stripped of his world titles for refusing conscription to fight in Vietnam. Frazier’s support for the war endeared him to government and right-wingers.
Ali started sharp and mobile to open up a lead. But Joe came back Smokin’ to stagger Ali more often than he was hurt himself in the middle rounds. Frazier was leading on all three cards going to the final round, which he began by inflicting with his trademark left hook the first knock-down of Ali’s career.
The Greatest staggered upright and survived a torrid 15th round, albeit to suffer his first defeat by unanimous decision. Ali’s courage improved public perception of him as a war dodger. Boxing was suddenly the hottest show on Broadway.
Over to you, Messrs Fury and Usyk. The world is watching.