Best “Matador” Performance?

[handsofstone]

Recently Leach against Bourke

[bennie]

Hector Camacho against Jose Luis Ramirez comes to mind. Aaron Pryor also boxed brilliantly against Alexis Arguello but his performance is marred by the black bottle incident (crushed asthma pills mixed with water) which allowed Pryor to come out for the 14th round like a new man. Wilfred Benitez gave a great matador performance against Duran.

[The Gratest]

Manning Galloway frustrated the shit out of me against Pat Barret.
Anyone remember the full page ads that used to appear in one of the brit boxing mags (Boxing Monthly? Boxing Outlook?) for Galloway and his WBO belt?

[mickey1975]

Calzaghe v Lacy

Calzaghe stuck it on Jeff.

[olij999]

Has this thread got onto page 2 without anyone mentioning Herol Graham? Plenty to pick from at British and European title level in his career.

[Fray Bentos]

Niccolino Locche vs Paul Fuji - the ultimate 'matador vs bull' performance.

[Flump]

Corey Spinks v Mayorga

Skeete v Sheeraz, at least until it became ok to tee off on a guy on the floor.

[Coco]

Has this thread got onto page 2 without anyone mentioning Herol Graham? Plenty to pick from at British and European title level in his career.

Maybe because unlike a matador Graham, like JC v Lacy, beat his opponents up as well.

[Deserter]

Has this thread got onto page 2 without anyone mentioning Herol Graham? Plenty to pick from at British and European title level in his career.

Maybe because unlike a matador Graham, like JC v Lacy, beat his opponents up as well.

Yeh, that’s exactly why I discounted him (and a few others mentioned on this thread), as you never really sensed he was in real danger during his best performances.
For me it has to be a fight where even in the later rounds you feel the ‘bull’ could still win if the matador has the slightest lapse in concentration.

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

double post

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

Whitaker-Chavez definitely deserves a mention.

Has this thread got onto page 2 without anyone mentioning Herol Graham? Plenty to pick from at British and European title level in his career.

Maybe because unlike a matador Graham, like JC v Lacy, beat his opponents up as well.

I don't consider Calazghe-Lacy a matador performance. Joe simply outsped, outskilled, outworked and beat the brakes off Lacy.

BTW Joe almost pulled out with this fight with injury but his Dad told him he couldn't.

[gb]

Mitchell Vs Prescott

[jameswilson]

Crolla v Barroso.

[The Gratest]

McCallum vs Harding

[Delta Jay]

Has this thread got onto page 2 without anyone mentioning Herol Graham? Plenty to pick from at British and European title level in his career.

Maybe because unlike a matador Graham, like JC v Lacy, beat his opponents up as well.

Yeh, that’s exactly why I discounted him (and a few others mentioned on this thread), as you never really sensed he was in real danger during his best performances.
For me it has to be a fight where even in the later rounds you feel the ‘bull’ could still win if the matador has the slightest lapse in concentration.

That’s what I meant, the lapse in concentration thing.

Some brilliant answers here everyone

[olij999]

Has this thread got onto page 2 without anyone mentioning Herol Graham? Plenty to pick from at British and European title level in his career.

Maybe because unlike a matador Graham, like JC v Lacy, beat his opponents up as well.

Coco - think we are possibly having a disagreement about matadors! Matador means "killer", and I have always understood their role as involving hurting the bull rather than just waving a big towel around. Hence, without bringing the death aspect in, why I referred to Herol Graham. But I think we are in agreement about Herol anyway!

[orbtastic]

Whittaker two mentions already but you couldn’t wish for a more bull-like opponent than JC Vasquez

[rob h]

Not bigger, and way past his best - but still very dangerous...

Im referring to Lewis and the way he handled Tyson.

First performance I thought of given the "matador" title to the thread.

[olij999]

Whittaker two mentions already but you couldn’t wish for a more bull-like opponent than JC Vasquez

What about Jorge Vaca, given his surname? No flies on him.

[orbtastic]

Whittaker two mentions already but you couldn’t wish for a more bull-like opponent than JC Vasquez

What about Jorge Vaca, given his surname? No flies on him.

Good one. He was a handful in his day. I remember the old ring mag headline when he beat honeyghan. “Honey soured”

[Deserter]

Maybe because unlike a matador Graham, like JC v Lacy, beat his opponents up as well.

Yeh, that’s exactly why I discounted him (and a few others mentioned on this thread), as you never really sensed he was in real danger during his best performances.
For me it has to be a fight where even in the later rounds you feel the ‘bull’ could still win if the matador has the slightest lapse in concentration.

That’s what I meant, the lapse in concentration thing.

Some brilliant answers here everyone

Yep, hear you loud and clear. I actually think the best recent example for me when judged using that context was Kambosos vs Lopez - wasn't a boxing clinic per se, but watching that fight I felt that K Jr was boxing so smartly and counter-punching really well against the bigger, stronger man, while Lopez still looked threatening enough to leave you thinking he could get a breakthrough at any time.
When he dropped Kambosos in the 10th I thought that would be the beginning of the end, but K Jr managed to again get back to beating him to the punch and using his superior footwork to stay out of trouble. Whole fight definitely had a matador vs bull feel for me.

[Coco]

Has this thread got onto page 2 without anyone mentioning Herol Graham? Plenty to pick from at British and European title level in his career.

Maybe because unlike a matador Graham, like JC v Lacy, beat his opponents up as well.

Coco - think we are possibly having a disagreement about matadors! Matador means "killer", and I have always understood their role as involving hurting the bull rather than just waving a big towel around. Hence, without bringing the death aspect in, why I referred to Herol Graham. But I think we are in agreement about Herol anyway!

I guess we are splitting hairs, I suppose in reality the matador dodges and dances without putting a dent in the bull, untill the bull is exhausted, then the bull is put to the sword.

[Kilburn]

Jennings v Minter?

[margaret thatcher]

not a perfect fit for this category, but vs loma, gary russell mustve had the lowest punch connect rate ive ever seen in a high level fight. russ threw almost 1000 shots but must not have landed any better than double digit connects. loma threw about half as many shot but landed much better

i think compubox had russ landing 80 of 1000 or something like that, but it looked even lower to me. it is the pinnacle of an 'air punch' performance, puts hughie fury and lee selby to shame

[Old bones Ian]

Nicolino Locche has to be the boxer who fought like a matador the most.