Classic fights I've watched recently

[Bodyshot3]

Felix Trinidad vs Ricardo Mayorga

Mayorga's run was fun whilst it lasted.

Makes you wonder what this guy could have done if he'd been a monk-like professional......rather than have a smoke constantly on the go, a fridge full of cerveza and (probably) less partners in the sack.

Mayorga living the Wlad Klitschko life; hugely unlikely but an interesting concept

[handsofstone]

Ronald "Winky" Wright vs Felix Trinidad



Wright schools Trinidad over 12 rounds of a non title Middleweight fight, the size and southpaw stance too much for Trinidad to get by, Wright won the fight on the right jab, just worked it for 12 rounds occasionally dropping the left cross, he had that high guard and anything Trinidad threw was blocked, he just couldnt get a foothold in the fight, Trinidad lost a point for repeated low blows in the 9th and TBF it was only punch he was able to land consistently, just an easy domination from Wright

[NoScoutingReports]

Erik Morales v Paulie Ayala

Nice performance from Morales to take the vacant WBC featherweight title via UD against Paulie Ayala - the size difference and disparity in punching power was clear from the offset in favour of El Terrible however Ayala showed tremendous heart to walk straight into the fire again and again, even when his left eye was swollen shut in the later rounds.

Erik used his reach well to pepper Paulie with straight right hands, both through the guard and regularly to the body, while also showing defensive discipline to stay off the ropes and present a moving target. Ayala had pockets of success on the inside but couldn't truly trouble Morales at any stage, often eating hard uppercuts for his trouble on the way in. 126 a step too far for Ayala against a legend like Morales but no shame in his performance, gave it everything as always, cracking fighter to watch.

[PredatorHayds]

Acelino Freitas- Barry Jones

Freitas puts him down multiple times. Jones could of been pulled out far sooner.
Freitas could bang and huge for the weight (I don’t think he made the weight here, jumped off the scales super quick)

[handsofstone]

Kostya Tszyu vs Juan Laporte



Tszyu beats Laporte on points over 10 rounds, dominated the ageing former champ, too young, fresh and busy for him, shot out the jab, worked the right hand up top and whipped in hard lefts underneath throughout, Laporte tough, durable and never looked like getting stopped apart from maybe in 3rd when a left to body folded him slightly but he spent 10 rounds trying to keep Tszyu off, great learning fight for Tszyu

[handsofstone]

Kostya Tszyu vs Livingstone Bramble




Tszyu beats Bramble on points over 10 rounds, dropped him in the 1st with a short right hand and dominated him thereafter, pressured Bramble worked the left hand, jabbing, hooking to head and body and making Bramble uncomfortable at all times, Bramble is an experienced cat though and never really looked like getting stopped and he did land the occasional single shot but for most part he was defensive minded and lost wide

[PredatorHayds]

Vitali Klitschko-Corrie Sanders.

Great fight that established Vitali as the successor to Lennox.

There’s a longer version of the HBO broadcast on YouTube that sees them analyse the Heavyweights of the time and is an excellent watch.

[NoScoutingReports]

Pernell Whitaker v Julio Cesar Chavez

I had it 116-112 to Sweet Pea, quality performance from Pernell who was sadly robbed on the night. Chavez started quite sharply and looked to fire to the body but as the rounds progressed the ring IQ and angles of Whitaker took over, making JCC miss regularly while countering sharply with backhands and crisp uppercuts.

JCC kept coming but failed to cut off the ring effectively due to the sublime footwork of Whitaker - even when Chavez caught up to SP the American took a lot of his shots on the gloves with sublime defence, often getting the better of the exchanges on the inside too.

Chavez came on in R9 with some decent lead right hands and body work but Whitaker took over again in the following three minutes, peppering JCC with the much more accurate blows as the Mexican fatigued. Loved JCC as a fighter but he lost here, no doubt.

[DrDuke]

Pernell Whitaker v Julio Cesar Chavez

The biggest robbery in the history. It just wasn't possible to make it even a draw, but the corrupt judges did that.

[AntonioMartin]

Duran kicks butt but Fernandez shows equally impressive guts.



Great fight until Busceme quit!

[NoScoutingReports]

Pernell Whitaker v Julio Cesar Chavez

The biggest robbery in the history. It just wasn't possible to make it even a draw, but the corrupt judges did that.

Yeah, it was a disgrace.

[AntonioMartin]

Pernell Whitaker v Julio Cesar Chavez

The biggest robbery in the history. It just wasn't possible to make it even a draw, but the corrupt judges did that.

Yeah, it was a disgrace.

Worse Ive seen and Ive been watching boxing since 1980...

[handsofstone]

Kostya Tszyu vs Roger Mayweather



Tszyu beats Mayweather by comfortable UD to retain his World Super Lightweight title, not a great fight or great performance by Tszyu, won wide because he forced the action but hardly landed anything telling, even the jab, Mayweather old man'd him for long spells, he was elusive outside and tied Tszyu up close, he landed the eye catching shots throughout, especially lead right hand, tagged Tszyu with it once a round, Mayweather's trouble was he spent most of the time spoiling, Tszyu picked up most rounds for walking forward, he didnt land much clean

[handsofstone]

Vince Phillips vs Kostya Tszyu



Phillips stops Tszyu in round 10 to become World Super Lightweight champ, great fight an excellent win for Phillips, Tszyu looked good early, bustling forward and catching Phillips up close with some cute shots, he couldn't really hurt Phillips with any meaningful punches though, couldn't land the left to the body or right up top, Phillips looked sharp and dangerous with the right, he put Tszyu down at end of 7th from a left hook/right hand, after that Phillips stepped it up and took Tszyu apart


In the 10th Phillips bucked the knees of Tszyu with a big right and backed him on the ropes and nailed him with 3 clean rights, the last one had Tszyu sagging out on his feet as the ref jumped in

[handsofstone]

Kostya Tszyu vs Sharmba Mitchell 1+2




Tszyu stops Mitchell after 7 rounds to unify the World Super Lightweight titles, Mitchell being pulled out by his conrner after injuring his leg the previous round after a fall, Mitchell was down about 4 times , no knockdowns scored, more because of his awkwardness, he was winning the fight though, his southpaw stance along with his speed caused Tszyu problems throughout, Tszyu kept ploughing forward with limited success but he was lucky Mitchell hurt his knee after the fall,especially after losing a point after one of Mitchell's falls



Tszyu stops Mitchell in the 3rd of the rematch to retain his World Super Lightweight titles, Mitchell was down in the 2nd after getting hurt by a right, a follow up left then right sent him to the canvas but he seen out the round, as soon as bell went for 3rd a straight right sent Mitchell flat on his back, he was doing well to recover but with about 30 seconds of round left, another right from Tszyu hurt Mitchell and he backed up to the ropes where Tszyu attacked the body and landed a couple of hard rights to the head to club Mitchell down for a third time, this time he couldn't recover and Tszyu hurt him again with rights to put him down a final time

[Caractacus]

[handsofstone]

Kostya Tszyu vs Jesse James Leija



Tszyu stops Leija after 6 rounds to retain his World Super Lightweight titles, Leija retires on his stool with a right perforated eardrum no doubt caused by a Tszyu left hook, shame as it was in the balance, Tszyu was coming on strong before stoppage but Leija might still have been in front on cards, spirited effort from him, he had no issues finding Tszyu with left hooks and right hands, also was able to land lefts to the body


Tszyu looked flat early on, couldn't get his punches off and was getting clipped by Leija by silly shots, was coming on before the end though, Leija didn't looked ready to go so a shock to see him bail

[handsofstone]

Nikolai Valuev vs John Ruiz 1+2



Valuev beats Ruiz by MD to become World Heavyweight champion, terrible fight as you'd expect, no quality, lots of holding and no action, Valuev jabbed his way to the title, dropped a couple right hands, the best one probably with about 30 seconds left in fight, i probably preferred Ruiz's work, he let go bursts of combinations, not always that effective but he outworked Valuev in most rounds, who cares though it was pish



Valuev wins the rematch to win the vacant World Heavyweight title, another absolutely woeful fight, equally as bad as the first one and played out pretty much the same, Valuev big cumbersome jabbing his way to a dull UD, Ruiz fighting in small spurts letting his hands go to no effect, there were times when both men stood and exchanged but both are that slow they missed with every shot every time, it was like both were fighting underwater, just terrible, great if you like hugs

[Bodyshot3]

Nikolai Valuev vs John Ruiz 1

Valuev beats Ruiz by MD to become World Heavyweight champion, terrible fight as you'd expect, no quality, lots of holding and no action, Valuev jabbed his way to the title, dropped a couple right hands, the best one probably with about 30 seconds left in fight, i probably preferred Ruiz's work, he let go bursts of combinations, not always that effective but he outworked Valuev in most rounds, who cares though it was pish

Your dedication is impressive mate.......maybe bordering on the masochistic
Haye beating Valuev and Ruiz was David doing all of us a massive favour.

[DrDuke]

Nikolai Valuev vs John Ruiz 1



Valuev beats Ruiz by MD to become World Heavyweight champion, terrible fight as you'd expect, no quality, lots of holding and no action, Valuev jabbed his way to the title, dropped a couple right hands, the best one probably with about 30 seconds left in fight, i probably preferred Ruiz's work, he let go bursts of combinations, not always that effective but he outworked Valuev in most rounds, who cares though it was pish

A rare case, when it was Ruiz, who got robbed, but not Ruiz' opponent. And a f*cking sh!tty fight.

[handsofstone]

Nikolai Valuev vs John Ruiz 1



Valuev beats Ruiz by MD to become World Heavyweight champion, terrible fight as you'd expect, no quality, lots of holding and no action, Valuev jabbed his way to the title, dropped a couple right hands, the best one probably with about 30 seconds left in fight, i probably preferred Ruiz's work, he let go bursts of combinations, not always that effective but he outworked Valuev in most rounds, who cares though it was pish

A rare case, when it was Ruiz, who got robbed, but not Ruiz' opponent. And a f*cking sh!tty fight.

Dreadful and im not holding out too much hope for the rematch, cant remember if i watched that live

[handsofstone]

Nikolai Valuev vs John Ruiz 1

Valuev beats Ruiz by MD to become World Heavyweight champion, terrible fight as you'd expect, no quality, lots of holding and no action, Valuev jabbed his way to the title, dropped a couple right hands, the best one probably with about 30 seconds left in fight, i probably preferred Ruiz's work, he let go bursts of combinations, not always that effective but he outworked Valuev in most rounds, who cares though it was pish

Your dedication is impressive mate.......maybe bordering on the masochistic
Haye beating Valuev and Ruiz was David doing all of us a massive favour.

At the beginning of the thread i was watching classic fights, then i started watching fighters i liked, now im working my way through an A to Z of the greatest ever fighters from some boxing annual in 2008, needless to say guys like Valuev shouldnt be anywhere near there but I'll give his career a gander, apart from Haye and Holyfield im not sure what other fights of his I have seen, im pretty sure the Chagaev fight wasnt shown here and i never discovered YouTube until about 2011

[NoScoutingReports]

Nonito Donaire v Cesar Juarez

After the first five rounds you'd have understandably expected this fight to have been stopped fairly soon in Donaire's favour as he repeatedly peppered the chin of Juarez with brutal counters from both hands, however despite looking too slow both in terms of hand speed and footwork Cesar just kept coming, even after being dropped twice in round 4.

As the contest wore on the Mexican began to close the gap to Nonito (who rolled his ankle after a slip in R6) and despite taking some severe punishment in the first half of the fight Juarez managed to get The Filipino Flash to back up to the ropes regularly and soak up a number of wide, crude hooks as well as some uppercuts/forearms. Nonito had visibly tired and should have had a knockdown scored against him in R10 but unfortunately for Juarez this was adjudged to be a slip by the referee.

Donaire had faded and although he continued to rip home some vicious counters they became much less frequent late on as Juarez turned up the heat on the inside. Looked like it would be a one-sided mauling early but ended up a really entertaining bout, Juarez is one tough man.

[PredatorHayds]

Johnson-Pastrano.

Pastrano got the decision but I thought Johnson clearly won.

Pastrano showed flash hands and the occasional flurry but Johnson had lovely front foot pressure and cut the ring off well.

5 point must system. I had it 69-66

[handsofstone]

Nikolai Valuev vs Owen Beck



Valuev stops Beck in 3 to retain his World Heavyweight title, he looked pretty decent actually Valuev, put his shots together nicely and had no issues landing, he dropped Beck in the 2nd with a right hand, after that the writing was on the wall, Beck was down again in the 3rd by a big right uppercut, he barely made count and he was on shaky legs but the ref bizarrely let him carry on when Valuev walked up and hit him with a big right then the ref jumped straight in