Classic fights I've watched recently

[handsofstone]

Sonny Liston vs Eddie Machen


Liston outpoints Machen over 12 in a Heavyweight eliminator, game effort from Machen, he was sharp, came to win and had success with his quick left hooks, in truth though he just wasn't big or strong enough to put a dent in Liston who was by far bigger, stronger and landing the hurtful power punches, his jab excellent as ever and his own left hook was able to tag Machen time and again

Credit to Machen though he never looked hurt or on the verge of being stopped, he just wasn't doing enough to win rounds despite making them close enough, Liston did lose 3 points for 2 low blows to close the scores a bit but all in all it was a comfortable win for Liston in the end

Machen fought this fight with an injured right hand and rarely threw it in the fight. Even still he did very well. With two good hands who knows?

Machen was a good fighter, ive seen the fights with Liston, Patterson and Frazier, didn't he complain of stinging eyes after the Liston fight similar to Clay??

[Nile4000]

Donald Curry vs Milton McCrory

Curry came out measured and sharp. McCrory was trying to box, Curry was finding almost every opening possible and punching mostly with precise single shots. Left hook rocked McCrory pretty good in the 1st round. The 2nd began about the same. In the middle of the round McCrory threw jab, Curry countered it with a spectacular left hook, down went McCrory. He stood up, but it was a very hard knockdown, Mills Lane could have easily stopped it, but he didn't. The fight continued to the immediate end, Curry landed big right hand, down went McCrory again. He was obviously not in the conditions to stand up, but Lane still counted him out. Curry became an undisputed welterweight champion.

Curry was punch perfect that night.

I thought he was destined for greatness, but alas not.

Unfortunately. And Curry was lucky he didn't fight Milt a couple of years earlier. May have been a different story.

[Sweet__science]

Watched Toney vs McCallum 1&2
Great fights liked the version with Marvin Hagler commentating!

[chrisjs1985]

Watched Toney vs McCallum 1&2
Great fights liked the version with Marvin Hagler commentating!

I love those fights. So much skill and craft in the ring. How did you score them? I felt Toney won both but a draw was ok based on rounds. Toney definitely won his rounds bigger.

[handsofstone]

Gene Tunney vs Georges Carpentier(highlights)


Tunney wins via controversial stoppage after Carpentier fails to come out for the 15th and final round after getting nailed with a left downstairs right at the bell in the 14th, only 11 mins available so hard to tell how the whole fight played out, Carpentier looked the aggressor while Tunney counter punched and looked to be shading it, he had Carpentier down twice in the 10th, first with a left/right then again with a left hook

Carpentier took an absolute shellacking in between the KDs, unbelievable that he was never KO'd in the round, he even came back firing before getting decked again, dubious ending though, you could see clearly in the 14th that it was a low blow which crumpled Carpentier to the canvas, he had to be dragged to the corner by his seconds and mustve been bad to not come out for one more round

[DrDuke]

Felix Trinidad vs Fernando Vargas

A truly classic fight. It was excellent on paper with two undefeated champs facing each other and everything reflected on the fight itself. Tito was more solid skill-wise, he also was more rational and had quicker hands. He dropped Vargas twice with left hook in the 1st round, but with his measured approach he didn't went desperately for the kill. Still Vargas should have been given a credit for surviving that terrible for him round. Then Trinidad was developiong the success, he was faster and Vargas just managed to place some good shots from time to time, but overall he was losing.

In the 4th Vargas' timing had finally brought big success. Fernando dropped Tito with a well-placed left hook. After Trinidad got up and fight continued there was an exchange, where Tito landed a low blow. That wasn't the first one, so Jay Nady deducted a point from him. That's how Vargas managed to avenge a 10-7 round. Fernando then took over, he won the next round as well.

However, Trinidad was able to regroup. Since the 6th he was clearly winning. There was two point deductions, for a one for every side, but that was just the unnecessary stuff from Nady. He deducted the second point from Tito, where it wasn't deserved, then Nady probably realised his mistake and took a point from Vargas in another undeserved situation, just to equal the unnecessary deduction of Tito.

So, overall Trinidad was clearly better from the 6th. Vargas was courageously surviving and tried to fight back from time to time, but still he was losing, he probably took only the 11th. And in the 12th Tito landed a perfect right cross - left hook combination, Vargas went down hard. He got up, but another left hook made him go down again. After that Fernando was very wobbly, Trinidad ran at him and finally dropped him with right hand, no less hard one, than those left hooks. The fight was over, Tito won it in a spectacular fashion.

[Sidney Carton]

Felix Trinidad vs Fernando Vargas

A truly classic fight. It was excellent on paper with two undefeated champs facing each other and everything reflected on the fight itself. Tito was more solid skill-wise, he also was more rational and had quicker hands. He dropped Vargas twice with left hook in the 1st round, but with his measured approach he didn't went desperately for the kill. Still Vargas should have been given a credit for surviving that terrible for him round. Then Trinidad was developiong the success, he was faster and Vargas just managed to place some good shots from time to time, but overall he was losing.

In the 4th Vargas' timing had finally brought big success. Fernando dropped Tito with a well-placed left hook. After Trinidad got up and fight continued there was an exchange, where Tito landed a low blow. That wasn't the first one, so Jay Nady deducted a point from him. That's how Vargas managed to avenge a 10-7 round. Fernando then took over, he won the next round as well.

However, Trinidad was able to regroup. Since the 6th he was clearly winning. There was two point deductions, for a one for every side, but that was just the unnecessary stuff from Nady. He deducted the second point from Tito, where it wasn't deserved, then Nady probably realised his mistake and took a point from Vargas in another undeserved situation, just to equal the unnecessary deduction of Tito.

So, overall Trinidad was clearly better from the 6th. Vargas was courageously surviving and tried to fight back from time to time, but still he was losing, he probably took only the 11th. And in the 12th Tito landed a perfect right cross - left hook combination, Vargas went down hard. He got up, but another left hook made him go down again. After that Fernando was very wobbly, Trinidad ran at him and finally dropped him with right hand, no less hard one, than those left hooks. The fight was over, Tito won it in a spectacular fashion.

But what if Vargas had fought with loaded gloves like Trinidad did?

[DrDuke]

But what if Vargas had fought with loaded gloves like Trinidad did?

Apparentrly the story was just blown up and there was no severe violation from the side of Trinidad, because his hands were wrapped contrary to the rules of the single State, but it was ok for any other one.

[chrisjs1985]

Felix Trinidad vs Fernando Vargas

A truly classic fight. It was excellent on paper with two undefeated champs facing each other and everything reflected on the fight itself. Tito was more solid skill-wise, he also was more rational and had quicker hands. He dropped Vargas twice with left hook in the 1st round, but with his measured approach he didn't went desperately for the kill. Still Vargas should have been given a credit for surviving that terrible for him round. Then Trinidad was developiong the success, he was faster and Vargas just managed to place some good shots from time to time, but overall he was losing.

In the 4th Vargas' timing had finally brought big success. Fernando dropped Tito with a well-placed left hook. After Trinidad got up and fight continued there was an exchange, where Tito landed a low blow. That wasn't the first one, so Jay Nady deducted a point from him. That's how Vargas managed to avenge a 10-7 round. Fernando then took over, he won the next round as well.

However, Trinidad was able to regroup. Since the 6th he was clearly winning. There was two point deductions, for a one for every side, but that was just the unnecessary stuff from Nady. He deducted the second point from Tito, where it wasn't deserved, then Nady probably realised his mistake and took a point from Vargas in another undeserved situation, just to equal the unnecessary deduction of Tito.

So, overall Trinidad was clearly better from the 6th. Vargas was courageously surviving and tried to fight back from time to time, but still he was losing, he probably took only the 11th. And in the 12th Tito landed a perfect right cross - left hook combination, Vargas went down hard. He got up, but another left hook made him go down again. After that Fernando was very wobbly, Trinidad ran at him and finally dropped him with right hand, no less hard one, than those left hooks. The fight was over, Tito won it in a spectacular fashion.

A classic fight and one of my all-time favorites. That fight took a lot out of both fighters but was particularly hard on Vargas who was just a shell of himself afterwards. I've had the pleasure of meeting Tito a few times and he's such a class act. Truly a gentleman that really makes you proud of the sport. Always happy, smiling and has contagious energy and charisma.

[handsofstone]

Jack Johnson vs Tommy Burns(highlights)


Johnson KOs Burns in the 14th to become the first ever Black man to become world Heavyweight champion, I know all about this fight and have seen it a few times, obviously Johnson followed Burns for the past 2 years trying to get a shot at his title, finally getting the fight in Australia

Only about 10 mins of footage available but you can see Johnson play with Burns, taunting him and just doing as he pleased, spending most of the early rounds smiling to the crowd as the much smaller Burns tries his hardest to land a meaningful blow, Johnson just popped out the jab, occasional right hands and tied up Burns whenever he got close

Finally in the 14th Johnson went to town on the exhausted Burns, opening him up with hooks, crosses and uppercuts until finally the police stopped the fight and shut of the camera as Johnson put Burns down with a final right hand

[chrisjs1985]

I watched a couple of Fighting Harada fights.

The first fight with Joe Medel. Harada sets a crazy pace (as usual) that takes Medel out of his comfort zone somewhat but he stays in the fight landing good shots here and there and not being overwhelmed. All hell breaks loose in the sixth with Harada going after Medel who hurts Harada and drops him three times. Harada kept getting up and rushing right back at Medel but he was unable to recover and got stopped in the sixth round.

Harada vs. Bernardo Caraballo. This was a close, hard fought fight. Caraballo had some good skill and a nice left hand and won a lot of rounds with clean, hard punches and Harada won a lot of rounds with his volume, energy and movement. I actually felt it was about a 8-7 type of fight with Caraballo losing a point for a knockdown and a deduction. The first round was an interesting one. Harada gets stunned pretty badly about 10 seconds in but Caraballo doesn't follow up. He seems in control somewhat and Harada drops him out of nowhere.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

Jack Johnson vs Tommy Burns(highlights)


Johnson KOs Burns in the 14th to become the first ever Black man to become world Heavyweight champion, I know all about this fight and have seen it a few times, obviously Johnson followed Burns for the past 2 years trying to get a shot at his title, finally getting the fight in Australia

Only about 10 mins of footage available but you can see Johnson play with Burns, taunting him and just doing as he pleased, spending most of the early rounds smiling to the crowd as the much smaller Burns tries his hardest to land a meaningful blow, Johnson just popped out the jab, occasional right hands and tied up Burns whenever he got close

Finally in the 14th Johnson went to town on the exhausted Burns, opening him up with hooks, crosses and uppercuts until finally the police stopped the fight and shut of the camera as Johnson put Burns down with a final right hand

- Nice try, but that ol dog stopped hunting 70 dog years ago.

The vid you used was out of sequence. Reputedly a JJ second crawled under the ring and screamed for police to stop the fight, and that they did with Burns losing on points per prefight agreement.

You should try the best resource in boxing, Boxrec!

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/10744

[handsofstone]

Jack Johnson vs Tommy Burns(highlights)


Johnson KOs Burns in the 14th to become the first ever Black man to become world Heavyweight champion, I know all about this fight and have seen it a few times, obviously Johnson followed Burns for the past 2 years trying to get a shot at his title, finally getting the fight in Australia

Only about 10 mins of footage available but you can see Johnson play with Burns, taunting him and just doing as he pleased, spending most of the early rounds smiling to the crowd as the much smaller Burns tries his hardest to land a meaningful blow, Johnson just popped out the jab, occasional right hands and tied up Burns whenever he got close

Finally in the 14th Johnson went to town on the exhausted Burns, opening him up with hooks, crosses and uppercuts until finally the police stopped the fight and shut of the camera as Johnson put Burns down with a final right hand

- Nice try, but that ol dog stopped hunting 70 dog years ago.

The vid you used was out of sequence. Reputedly a JJ second crawled under the ring and screamed for police to stop the fight, and that they did with Burns losing on points per prefight agreement.

You should try the best resource in boxing, Boxrec!

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/10744

Cheers but maybe try to stop coming across as a condescending cock

[klompton]

Gene Tunney vs Georges Carpentier(highlights)


Tunney wins via controversial stoppage after Carpentier fails to come out for the 15th and final round after getting nailed with a left downstairs right at the bell in the 14th, only 11 mins available so hard to tell how the whole fight played out, Carpentier looked the aggressor while Tunney counter punched and looked to be shading it, he had Carpentier down twice in the 10th, first with a left/right then again with a left hook

Carpentier took an absolute shellacking in between the KDs, unbelievable that he was never KO'd in the round, he even came back firing before getting decked again, dubious ending though, you could see clearly in the 14th that it was a low blow which crumpled Carpentier to the canvas, he had to be dragged to the corner by his seconds and mustve been bad to not come out for one more round

The full fight exists. Its an interesting story how it was found. Tunney gave Carpentier a beating. It was one sided but Carpentier showed a lot of heart, even waving the referee away when he tried to stop the contest. Hard to tell if the punch was illegal. The referee said Carpentier jumped up into it and in the film he does pop up as hes coming in. He was known for trying to win fights on a DQ so the press and the officials were wary of this.

[handsofstone]

Jack Johnson vs James J Jeffries


Johnson stops former champ Jeffries in the 15th, had him down 3 times in the round, awful fight where 95% of the fight was just both men in a clinch sometimes just standing not even trying to break free, any success was from Johnson but it was still rare, finally in the 15th he put Jeffries and myself out our misery when he put Jeffries down with a combination, just bundled him down really, Jeffries took an age to get up, when he did Johnson put him down and through the ropes with a left hand, Jeffries was helped back up but when Johnson sent him down again the fight was stopped

Fight of the Century my arse

[handsofstone]

Jess Willard vs Jack Johnson(highlights)


Willard KOs Johnson in the 26th to become world Heavyweight champion, another dreadful fight, most of the fight was just both men just standing on the outside threatening to pounce, any success was from Johnson, now and again he'd explode into a flurry and back Willard up, Johnson looked a bit wild, in the 26th Willard crashed a right hand on the jaw of Johnson and sent him down for the count

Johnson would later claim he threw the fight but I don't believe it, the right hand Willard KO'd him with was a lunging shot that put Johnson down hard, plus why wait until the 26th to take a dive?

[handsofstone]

Nino Benvenuti vs Don Fullmer 2


Benvenuti wins a wide UD over Fullmer to retain his world Middleweight titles, he'd already outpointed Fullmer a couple of years before in a non title fight and done the same again here although Benvenuti had to get up from a 7th round knockdown after Fullmer nailed him with a big right hand, that was about as good as it got for Fullmer though, he gave it a game enough effort but apart from getting put down Benevenuti schooled him without doing anything drastic , Benevenuti was all left hands, beautiful jabs and was able to counter and slip Fullmer's lunges simply by jabbing or hooking before moving out of range, rinse/repeat for the duaration really, would've liked to have seen Benvenuti throw more right hands but a comfortable win all the same

[Sidney Carton]

Don Fullmer beat Emile Griffith and Joey Archer.

[klompton]

Jack Johnson vs Tommy Burns(highlights)


Johnson KOs Burns in the 14th to become the first ever Black man to become world Heavyweight champion, I know all about this fight and have seen it a few times, obviously Johnson followed Burns for the past 2 years trying to get a shot at his title, finally getting the fight in Australia

Only about 10 mins of footage available but you can see Johnson play with Burns, taunting him and just doing as he pleased, spending most of the early rounds smiling to the crowd as the much smaller Burns tries his hardest to land a meaningful blow, Johnson just popped out the jab, occasional right hands and tied up Burns whenever he got close

Finally in the 14th Johnson went to town on the exhausted Burns, opening him up with hooks, crosses and uppercuts until finally the police stopped the fight and shut of the camera as Johnson put Burns down with a final right hand

The 14th round of this fight doesnt exist. They say it does on all of the documentaries and in the voiceover to the film itself. It shows a sequence with Johnson going after Burns and then freeze frames and says the police stopped the camera to avoid showing a black man knocking out a white man but this is just for dramatic effect. None of this is true. The film was never stopped, it was filmed and shown all over the world in its entirety. In reality that film was four or five reels long. Only one reel is known to exist. Its rounds 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The part shown as the 14 round is actually a clip from round 7 or 8 ( I cant remember which and Im not home to check). Burns doesnt even go down despite what that commentary says. He stays upright, the round (and film) continue on until the end of the round at which point both fighters return to their corner between rounds.

[handsofstone]

Jack Johnson vs Tommy Burns(highlights)


Johnson KOs Burns in the 14th to become the first ever Black man to become world Heavyweight champion, I know all about this fight and have seen it a few times, obviously Johnson followed Burns for the past 2 years trying to get a shot at his title, finally getting the fight in Australia

Only about 10 mins of footage available but you can see Johnson play with Burns, taunting him and just doing as he pleased, spending most of the early rounds smiling to the crowd as the much smaller Burns tries his hardest to land a meaningful blow, Johnson just popped out the jab, occasional right hands and tied up Burns whenever he got close

Finally in the 14th Johnson went to town on the exhausted Burns, opening him up with hooks, crosses and uppercuts until finally the police stopped the fight and shut of the camera as Johnson put Burns down with a final right hand

The 14th round of this fight doesnt exist. They say it does on all of the documentaries and in the voiceover to the film itself. It shows a sequence with Johnson going after Burns and then freeze frames and says the police stopped the camera to avoid showing a black man knocking out a white man but this is just for dramatic effect. None of this is true. The film was never stopped, it was filmed and shown all over the world in its entirety. In reality that film was four or five reels long. Only one reel is known to exist. Its rounds 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The part shown as the 14 round is actually a clip from round 7 or 8 ( I cant remember which and Im not home to check). Burns doesnt even go down despite what that commentary says. He stays upright, the round (and film) continue on until the end of the round at which point both fighters return to their corner between rounds.

Cheers for the insight mate, I'm not surprised at the romanticising, ive lost count of the so called "great" fights ive watched that are utter shite

[handsofstone]

Dick Tiger vs Nino Benvenuti


Tiger beats Benvenuti on points over 10 rounds in a non title fight, rubbish fight but a deserved win for Tiger, he wanted it more, was more aggressive and finished well after Benvenuti started to finally have some success, both men jabbed well but it was Tiger who followed it up with right hands and/or combos

Benvenuti has a busy jab and its sharp and accurate when he uses it well but a lot of the time he doesn't get full extension in it and paws with it, a pawing jab is fine if your coming back over with the back hand but Benvenuti rarely threw it, apparently Benvenuti damaged the right hand in the 1st which is fair enough but ive seen a few of his fights when he rarely uses the right

[chrisjs1985]

Joe Calzaghe-Chris Eubank. Going to be watching some Calzaghe fights the next few days.

Good crossroads fight. Eubank though no longer in his glory days showed he had something left in the tank (he would move tp to 190 his next fight and give Carl Thompson hell) but simply couldn't keep up with Calzaghe. Calzaghe obviously was a little green and this came when he was knocking most his opponents out. He had a bit more snap in his shots and hurt Eubank a couple of times but was forced to dig deep in some rounds. Joe would always say this was his toughest fight even though Reid, Hopkins and Kessler would probably win more rounds and Brewer may have appeared the most physically demanding of his fights.

[handsofstone]

Marcel Cerdan vs Tony Zale


Cerdan KOs Zale in the 11th to become world Middleweight champ. really good performance from Cerdan, destructive from the first bell, Zale is a tough SOB himself but he never stood a chance against Cerdan in this fight, from the off Cerdan was nailing him clean with crunching left hooks to the jaw and big right hands over the top, all landing flush and hard, Cerdan was magic with the left hook, doubling it and trebling it up, feinting with a right then coming in with a big left, really impressed with Cerdan in this fight

Even when Zale had a little success around about 7/8. he'd lost the steam in his punches and he couldn't really hurt the tiring Cerdan, things finished right at the end of the 11th when Cerdan iced Zale with a massive left hook which had him out on his feet, the bell actually saved Zale but there was no way he could've come out for the 12th

[handsofstone]

Guts Ishimatsu vs Ken Buchanan


Ishimatsu wins a razor tight UD to retain his world Lightweight title, really close fight could've went either way, Ishimatsu was the stronger and landed the bigger shots throughout and had Buchanan looking stunned a couple of times but not too bad, Buchanan was in great condition as always and recovered well, Ishimatsu nailed him with some big right hands and left hooks, Buchanan was the busier though and had the better jab, Ishimatsu probably stole a few rounds just by landing a big shot

Really high level boxing though, no real drama but it was competitive at all times and a good watch

[Bodyshot3]

Joe Calzaghe-Chris Eubank. Going to be watching some Calzaghe fights the next few days.

Good crossroads fight. Eubank though no longer in his glory days showed he had something left in the tank (he would move tp to 190 his next fight and give Carl Thompson hell) but simply couldn't keep up with Calzaghe. Calzaghe obviously was a little green and this came when he was knocking most his opponents out. He had a bit more snap in his shots and hurt Eubank a couple of times but was forced to dig deep in some rounds. Joe would always say this was his toughest fight even though Reid, Hopkins and Kessler would probably win more rounds and Brewer may have appeared the most physically demanding of his fights.

Still a fascinating fight mate.........watched it live and many times again.

I was not a Eubank fan, far from it - many cynical defences where he failed to entertain and the odd lucky decision - but he showed the same quality/spirit that night and as a veteran as he did when overcoming Benn years earlier in Birmingham.

Calzaghe got his title career underway but got several chapters of important learning thrown in for good measure.

Eubank is still an engima for me.......a sometimes lazy, deeply dull fighter who could have swept away some average challengers - but in moments of real danger and when faced with real quality, he was often exceptional.