Classic fights I've watched recently

[Ambling Alp II]

Lennox Lewis vs. Ray Mercer

This was a challenge in patience, guts and friction, many rounds were close; however i think Lennox was more effective in his gameplan and he edged it out. I have it 96-93 for LL.

Yeah, Mercer had quite an amount of ineffective aggression there, cheered by the fans. Of course, it was close fight and Mercer had pretty much of a success, but Lennox was better overall indeed, fought smart and was better in quality.

Never saw LL's face so swollen after a fight.

I had Mercer winning 96-94. The Lewis jab was MIA again. Lewis did show he had a good chin this fight. Think how boxing history changes if Mercer gets the decision or even if it was judged a draw.

[handsofstone]

Couple of great fighters. Giardello is almost forgotton today.

I like Giardello a lot, he's one of those boxers who was ahead of his time as far as technical ability is concerned, i'd only ever seen whats available of the Robinson fight and he looked good that night as well, great jab and throws a lovely right uppercut, I'm guessing it might have been his signature punch because it was evident in both fights?

[Ambling Alp II]

Wouldn't really say he was ahead of his time as far as technical ability; there were many fighters with great technical ability before him. He seemed to be a guy who wasn't fantastic in any one particular area, but was at least proficient in every area. Was flipping through the book "in This Corner" and he talked a little about Tiger. He had a lot of respect for him.

[handsofstone]

Wouldn't really say he was ahead of his time as far as technical ability; there were many fighters with great technical ability before him. He seemed to be a guy who wasn't fantastic in any one particular area, but was at least proficient in every area. Was flipping through the book "in This Corner" and he talked a little about Tiger. He had a lot of respect for him.

Yeh I didn't really mean just him alone being ahead of his time, Robinson of course was another one, I watch a lot of these old fights just to see the boxers but truth be told I hate a lot of old fights and fighters styles, guys like Basilio, Fullmer, Griffith and Tiger just to nothing for me, they bore me

[PredatorHayds]

Emile Griffith vs Benny Paret 1,2+3


Griffith KOs Paret in the 13th to become world Welterweight champ, close fight for the most part, a lot of fighting up close, holding and smothering from both, not a great fight to watch, too messy for me, Griffith just has that hustling bustling style that I don't like to watch, I thought Paret was starting to land the cleaner punches around about the 7/8 mark and maybe starting to pull away to keep hold of his title but in the 13th out of nowhere, Griffith clipped him with a left hook which stunned him and a follow up lunging left hook sent Paret down for the count

Paret wins the rematch by SD to regain his title, another typical Griffith fight, fought up close at all times, again a lot of smothering but I thought Griffith done more than enough to keep hold of his title, landed some nice hooks to the body and drove the right uppercut through the middle of Paret's guard, Paret had his moments but I thought I thought he was lucky to win here

Griffith KOs Paret in the 12th round of their tragic 3rd fight to regain the Welterweight title, tough tough ending to watch, it was the most entertaining fight of their 3 bouts even until the ending, there wasn't as much inside fighting and there was some nice exchanges on the outside, Griffith was in control of the fight and had rocked Paret but right at the end of the 6th Paret decked him with a hard left hook which dropped Griffith heavily, if not for the bell going after he got up he might've finished Griffith off?, Griffith regained control in the 7th and rocked Paret and had him in big trouble with big lefts and rights, Paret gamely survived and even shook Griffith before the round was out

Paret was hurt again and had to survive another onslaught not long after, in the 12th though Griffith caught Paret with a massive right hand which had Paret just standing defenceless in the corner where Griffith battered him with over 20 unanswered punches as the ref just stood and watched, there was about 15 right uppercuts alone, Paret was an open target as Griffith let go bombs when eventually Ruby Goldstein decided to stop the slaughter

Disgusting refereeing, Paret was outcold on the canvas for about 5 minutes, he was moving his legs slightly, he then slipped into a coma shorty after and died 10 days later, who knows another ref and Paret might survived?

Agree with this about the second fight.
Just rewatched it again. I thought Emile started and finished the fight a lot stronger.

10-5 in rounds to Emile I scored it. There were some hard rounds to score though.

[handsofstone]

Dick Tiger vs Don Fullmer


Tiger beats Fullmer on points over 10 rounds in a non title Middleweight bout, another old fight where I have to make do with highlights which give no real indication how the fight went but from the 10 minutes I seen I liked Fullmer's work, he boxed, moved, jabbed and Tiger pressed forward missing wildly at times, as I said who knows how the whole fight played out which is a shame but Tiger got the nod fairly wide on the cards

[handsofstone]

Dick Tiger vs Rubin Carter


Tiger outpoints Carter over 10 rounds, Carter down 3 times in the process, he was down twice in the 2nd courtesy of the left hook of Tiger, he put Carter down early in the round then battered him from pillar to post until decking him again at the end of the round, the bell went as Carter got up which was just as well as his legs were gone, Tiger had him down again in the 4th from another crunching left but Carter bravely got up and settled into the contest


Carter jabbed well throughout the fight to make it competitive but Tiger's telling power punches won most of the rounds, always dangerous with that lead left hook and was always willing to work the body up close, he never really hurt Carter again in the fight but clearly deserved the win

[JxhDel.]

Lennox Lewis vs. Ray Mercer

This was a challenge in patience, guts and friction, many rounds were close; however i think Lennox was more effective in his gameplan and he edged it out. I have it 96-93 for LL.

Yeah, Mercer had quite an amount of ineffective aggression there, cheered by the fans. Of course, it was close fight and Mercer had pretty much of a success, but Lennox was better overall indeed, fought smart and was better in quality.

Exactly

[elmersalsa]

Emile Griffith vs Benny Paret 1,2+3


Griffith KOs Paret in the 13th to become world Welterweight champ, close fight for the most part, a lot of fighting up close, holding and smothering from both, not a great fight to watch, too messy for me, Griffith just has that hustling bustling style that I don't like to watch, I thought Paret was starting to land the cleaner punches around about the 7/8 mark and maybe starting to pull away to keep hold of his title but in the 13th out of nowhere, Griffith clipped him with a left hook which stunned him and a follow up lunging left hook sent Paret down for the count

Paret wins the rematch by SD to regain his title, another typical Griffith fight, fought up close at all times, again a lot of smothering but I thought Griffith done more than enough to keep hold of his title, landed some nice hooks to the body and drove the right uppercut through the middle of Paret's guard, Paret had his moments but I thought I thought he was lucky to win here

Griffith KOs Paret in the 12th round of their tragic 3rd fight to regain the Welterweight title, tough tough ending to watch, it was the most entertaining fight of their 3 bouts even until the ending, there wasn't as much inside fighting and there was some nice exchanges on the outside, Griffith was in control of the fight and had rocked Paret but right at the end of the 6th Paret decked him with a hard left hook which dropped Griffith heavily, if not for the bell going after he got up he might've finished Griffith off?, Griffith regained control in the 7th and rocked Paret and had him in big trouble with big lefts and rights, Paret gamely survived and even shook Griffith before the round was out

Paret was hurt again and had to survive another onslaught not long after, in the 12th though Griffith caught Paret with a massive right hand which had Paret just standing defenceless in the corner where Griffith battered him with over 20 unanswered punches as the ref just stood and watched, there was about 15 right uppercuts alone, Paret was an open target as Griffith let go bombs when eventually Ruby Goldstein decided to stop the slaughter

Disgusting refereeing, Paret was outcold on the canvas for about 5 minutes, he was moving his legs slightly, he then slipped into a coma shorty after and died 10 days later, who knows another ref and Paret might survived?

Agree with this about the second fight.
Just rewatched it again. I thought Emile started and finished the fight a lot stronger.

10-5 in rounds to Emile I scored it. There were some hard rounds to score though.

Exactly how you both guys saw it. I believe that Emile Griffith won all 3 fights.

[scartissue]

This is how I scored their first fight.

Round 1: 10-9 Paret
Round 2: 10-9 Paret
Round 3: 10-9 Griffith
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Griffith
Round 6: 10-9 Paret
Round 7: 10-10 Even (mauling)
Round 8: 10-9 Paret
Round 9: 10-9 Griffith
Round 10: 10-10 Even (Paret was winning the round until Griffith hurt him towards the end of the round)
Round 11: 10-9 Griffith
Round 12: 10-9 Griffith
Round 13: Griffith KO's Paret

Total through 12 rounds: 116-115 Griffith

So many of these rounds are so close that this was anyone's fight. Even those last two rounds I gave Griffith - the 11th and 12th - so close. No one had really gained an advantage over the other. If anyone else had it for Paret until this point I would give a thumbs up because it was up in the air. Incidentally, the officials cards through 12 were one for Paret, one for Griffith and the last one even.

[PredatorHayds]

Crazy thought.

If Griffith had been awarded the second fight on the cards, the third fight probably wouldn’t of happened and Paret might not of met his untimely fate.

For what it’s worth I thought the Fullmer fight caused Paret serious damage which got undetected til the tragic Griffith rubber match.

[oogiebe]

Crazy thought.

If Griffith had been awarded the second fight on the cards, the third fight probably wouldn’t of happened and Paret might not of met his untimely fate.

For what it’s worth I thought the Fullmer fight caused Paret serious damage which got undetected til the tragic Griffith rubber match.

I've read where that is typically the case when fighters are hurt in the ring. It's the previous fight(s) that created the damage. Baer/Schaff comes to mind. Schaff was killed by Carnera in the ring but he took his beating (knocked cold at that final bell) by Baer in his previous fight if memory serves.

[Duran1970]

Sibson/Klassen

[chrisjs1985]

Jeff Fenech vs. Jerome Coffee

Good fight. Fenech's first time going the distance. Coffee had skill but not enough pop to keep Fenech off and even though he landed some decent shots and won some rounds he was simply overwhelmed for much of the fight. Fenech looked like he could have gone 10 more rounds. Fenech would switch his attacks too not just coming straight in and overpowering Coffee but sometimes working at distance, jabbing his way in.

[Onetimeonly]

I always liked coffee. He was featured a lot back when amatuer boxing was regularly televised here. Amazing I used to know the top 5 or so in each division when I was 10 and now Olympic boxing is on ch 4387 at 5am.

[SenorPipino]

Crazy thought.

If Griffith had been awarded the second fight on the cards, the third fight probably wouldn’t of happened and Paret might not of met his untimely fate.

For what it’s worth I thought the Fullmer fight caused Paret serious damage which got undetected til the tragic Griffith rubber match.

I've read where that is typically the case when fighters are hurt in the ring. It's the previous fight(s) that created the damage. Baer/Schaff comes to mind. Schaff was killed by Carnera in the ring but he took his beating (knocked cold at that final bell) by Baer in his previous fight if memory serves.

Also reminiscent of ranking Argentine heavyweight Alejandro Lavorante being KO'd and later dying from some light punches served up in 1962 by Johnny Riggins in Los Angeles.

Lavorante died about 18 months after that bout, never fully recovering.

But most feel that 2 earlier fights were behind Lavorante's death.

He was KO'd by Archie Moore and carried from the ring on a stretcher.

Incredibly just 3 months later he was sacrificed to a rising Cassius Clay and was pounded for 5 rounds before the bout was stopped.

Somehow Lavorante was allowed back into the Olympic Auditorium ring only 2 months later.

It cost him his life.

[oogiebe]

Yeah, without digressing too much, we need to do a better job, even today, of protecting fighters and their families.

[handsofstone]

Dick Tiger vs Jose Torres 1+2



Tiger outpoints Torres over 15 to become World Light Heavyweight champ, piss poor fight I never enjoyed it at all, first time ive actually seen Torres after reading about him for years but he never impressed me one bit, he never used his height, reach or natural strength to good effect, he kept a tight guard and shot out the jab constantly but he rarely landed with it and never threw it with any real purpose, there was a few times he'd let off a combination but nowhere near enough, Tiger wasn't anything special himself but he worked that little bit harder, jabbed and worked his way in to rough up the body of the taller man, there was no drama and nobody was rocked or hurt and some rounds fvck all happened at all, Tiger's workrate enough to win the title


Tiger wins the rematch via SD to retain his title, much better fight than the first one, Torres obviously mindful of giving up his belt too easily first time around came out guns blazing which Tiger was more than happy to oblige and for pretty much the whole 15 rounds both men went at it hammer and tongs, both men spent most of the fight on the inside trading, letting go both hands to head and body, it was a nip/tuck affair and a lot of close rounds where neither man was willing to give ground, Torres was a lot more aggressive than last time and like Tiger probably had more success with the left hook, close fight and I never scored but I agree that Tiger did just about enough to win, Torres had a couple of lulls midfight that cost him, great fight though and action packed despite no drama

[hhaehre]

Sibson/Klassen

Maybe, but Classen took a solid and prolonged beating in the Scypion fight, in which he actually died. How he was allowed out for that final round is beyond me, they had to hoist him to his feet in the corner.

[Duran1970]

The 2 beatings before that definately played a part in his demise.

[oogiebe]

Sibson/Klassen

Maybe, but Classen took a solid and prolonged beating in the Scypion fight, in which he actually died. How he was allowed out for that final round is beyond me, they had to hoist him to his feet in the corner.

Kim/Mancini was a brutal fight, which I believe brought about championship fights going from 15 to 12 rounds. Kim's brain was literally torn from it's place and spun around in his head. I saw that fight on network TV. Kim had no history of taking a beating, so in this case it all happened in one fight.

[hhaehre]

Sibson/Klassen

Maybe, but Classen took a solid and prolonged beating in the Scypion fight, in which he actually died. How he was allowed out for that final round is beyond me, they had to hoist him to his feet in the corner.

Kim/Mancini was a brutal fight, which I believe brought about championship fights going from 15 to 12 rounds. Kim's brain was literally torn from it's place and spun around in his head. I saw that fight on network TV. Kim had no history of taking a beating, so in this case it all happened in one fight.

Yes, but I really don't see anything that could have been done differently in that fight. It was competitive all the way, but as you said very brutal.

[oogiebe]

Sibson/Klassen

Maybe, but Classen took a solid and prolonged beating in the Scypion fight, in which he actually died. How he was allowed out for that final round is beyond me, they had to hoist him to his feet in the corner.

Kim/Mancini was a brutal fight, which I believe brought about championship fights going from 15 to 12 rounds. Kim's brain was literally torn from it's place and spun around in his head. I saw that fight on network TV. Kim had no history of taking a beating, so in this case it all happened in one fight.

Yes, but I really don't see anything that could have been done differently in that fight. It was competitive all the way, but as you said very brutal.

Yes, there was nothing anyone could have done in this case..

[chrisjs1985]

Jeff Fenech vs. Steve McCcrory - I'm going through Fenech stuff. He was such a relentless force. This is one of his best performances. McCrory came to fight. He stood his ground a little more than Coffee and landed some nice shots. He buzzed Jeff in the middle rounds but found it impossible to keep him off. It becomes a beating in the last few rounds with Fenech going downstairs to take the last bit out fight out of McCrory.

I'll probably watch the Callejas fight tonight.

[Onetimeonly]

Sibson/Klassen

Maybe, but Classen took a solid and prolonged beating in the Scypion fight, in which he actually died. How he was allowed out for that final round is beyond me, they had to hoist him to his feet in the corner.

Kim/Mancini was a brutal fight, which I believe brought about championship fights going from 15 to 12 rounds. Kim's brain was literally torn from it's place and spun around in his head. I saw that fight on network TV. Kim had no history of taking a beating, so in this case it all happened in one fight.

There was no reasonable spot to stop Kim/Mancini. It was brutally hot if I remember correctly.