The Most Upsetting Fights
Posted: 24 Nov 2009, 13:03
When he returned to the ring on October 2nd, 1980 there was not a single person the whole world over who believed for a minute that their hero would be thrashed from bell to bell and cut to ribbons. Though he wasn't made the favorite by Las Vegas bookies, many wanted to see him become the world's first four-time heavyweight champion.
After ten one sided rounds, Angelo Dundee screamed for his fighters safety and threw in the towel. Muhammad Ali ended the fight sitting on his stool, the first stoppage loss of his career that spanned nearly three whole decades. One sportswriter wrote: "Ali threw ten punches in ten rounds and was paid ten million dollars."
Larry Holmes, beside himself, had begged the referee in earlier rounds to stop the fight before he ended up killing his idol. Holmes, unfortunately, was blamed for defeating the world's hero, and though he would become one of the greatest champions in history, he never got out of Muhammad Ali's shadow.
***
After a prolonged hiatus, he climbed into the ring at Atlantic City. It was May of 2008, and the crowd of nearly 10,000 who came there were all in his corner. It didn't help one iota. In our minds he was still the same guy who had three violent wars with Mickey Ward. He was a tough guy, and we all rationalized that sooner or later the other man would tire, and he would eventually get knocked out by our hero.
It wasn't to be. Round by round, Arturo Gatti took and took. His opponent was 17-3-2 (8) Alphonso Gomez, fresh off the television screens, a star from the original season of The Contender. While Gomez was a hit on the small screen, we all knew him and Gatti were worlds apart. Gatti was a former world champion for God's sakes, and Gomez didn't even win the damned show that made him famous!
By round seven, his lip was ripped to shreds, and the fans at ringside were cussing referee Randy Neumann to stop the fight. Finally, Larry Hazzard, of the New Jersey boxing commission, jumped into the ring and stopped the fight himself.
A once mighty warrior, never landed an effective punch in the previous six rounds, and taken nearly 30 unanswered punches before Hazzard ended the fight. Hazzard commented after the fight that Gatti would more than likely never be licensed to fight in New Jersey again. Gatti made excuses that were weak, not wanting to admit his time had come, and announced he was retiring.
Not even a year later, he planned another comeback, but evidentially was told 'No'. The heart break was too much, and Gatti ended his life. A tragic end for a man whose life and livelihood was boxing, and gave every inch and ounce of himself until the end.
***
Every fighter believes they still had one more fight left in them. When Joe Frazier saw Muhammad Ali announce on July 23rd, 1980 that he was returning to the ring, Frazier's pride and rage for a man who made his boxing career a living hell, resurfaced.
In his mind, there would be another clash. The stoppage in Manila was too much to bare, he needed a return. And he desperately needed money. The former champ, who many put on par with Dempsey and Marciano, was financially at odds and had been for some time.
However, immediately off the bat, he was shot down by virtually every comission he came to get licensed. He was 'too old', and had been legally blind for some time, and suffered from severe arthritis in his back and knees. It would be insane to let him fight, for if anything ever happened to Frazier, a comission would never hear the end.
His life's blood would be on their hands.
Frazier, relentless as ever, managed to convince the head of an Indian Reservation and Casino to allow him to fight on their land. His wish was granted, and all that needed to be done was to get Ali. Unfortunately for Frazier, Ali had beat him to the punch, and was in talks of fighting John Tate and later Mike Weaver for the WBA title.
Frazier rationalized, for him to get Ali, for he was sure Muhammad would defeat either man, he would have to beat a ranked opponent in the ring. If he did so, there would be no way that any promoter or comission would pass up Ali/Frazier IV in a battle for the title.
Many were considered, but it was Floyd 'Jumbo' Cummings who was selected. He was of the body builder physique and was undefeated, and was a colorful opponent with a prison background. Also, he was the most limited of the top contenders. It was thought to be the safest, and therefore easiest fight for Frazier to take.
The fight, as it turned out, was a disaster for Frazier, despite the judges being forgiving. In round eight, the referee asked Frazier if he could continue. It went two more rounds. All those present believed Cummings won the fight hands down. Judges at ringside scored the bout a draw. It was a gift, and Frazier's last.
He hung up his gloves and trunks and never returned to the ring again. In the future, however, he would later train his sons and daughter when they became fighters. Marvis managed to get a title fight with Larry Holmes, but was kayoed in the 1st round.
Whether Frazier liked it or not, his legacy, in the end, was the trilogy with Ali.
***
Some times, there's a fighter we all hated when he was at his best, and when he came back, we hoped to see him slaughtered. But when it happened, we grew sympathetic as the bout went on, and even started pulling for him too.
It was that way for me, at least, when I watch old films of Sugar Ray Robinson. While I don't hate Ray Robinson, I disliked for years and years the constant 'pound for pound greatest' talk. I hated hearing that Robinson was lightyears ahead of his opponents, and that guys like Marvin Hagler, Harry Greb, Bernard Hopkins, and several all-time legends were but mere novices in comparison.
But, it was Robinson's fights with the likes of Terry Downes and Paul Pender that made me see how special a guy Robinson really was. He was not the same man who thrashed Bobo Olsen, or even the same man who warred with Fullmer and Basilio, and long passed his days of battling Jake LaMotta. But he still held his own against Pender and Downes in losing efforts.
After those men, Robinson continued on, and I often think to myself 'What for?', he was a multi millionaire, five times the middleweight champion of the world, and often considered the greatest welterweight of all time too. Yet he would continue on fighting until the mid 1960's, losing to novice fighters who he would have kayoed in thirty seconds on his worst night back in his prime years.
My contempt of Robinson changed, when I watched these fights. Fighting-wise he was probably the most effective fighting machine the world ever produced. But boxing is also a numbers game, and there are a few whose own careers surpass Robinson's exploits.
While I don't think he was the 'pound for pound greatest' of the last eighty years, or of all time, it was his latter years as a boxer, that made me see him as being a complete fighter, and made me lose some respect for RING magazine and other 'authorities' in their rankings system [Robinson's #1 but yet his 'toughest' opponent, LaMotta, is ranked #52].
***
The night Rocky Marciano kayoed Joe Louis is often considered the saddest night in heavyweight boxing. Despite Bert Sugar and others who say Louis wasn't even an 'echo' of his former self, this is far from the reality. Louis was already scheduled to meet the winner of Walcott/Charles, he was the #1 contender and had defeated the likes of Jimmy Bivins and Lee Savold, both who laid claim to the title during Louis' retirement.
Louis just needed another pay day. Marciano, willing to fight anybody, accepted. Simple as that. Louis was practically on even terms with Marciano from rounds one through six, and only began to falter in the following two. Louis got kayoed. It happens to fighters. He was kayoed in 1936 against Schmeling, and he was kayoed again in 1951 by Marciano.
In short, while age may have had something to do with it, I think it's more apt to say, it took a certain type of fighter, a special kind, to defeat Joe Louis in general. Schmeling is considered the greatest European heavyweight ever, while Marciano is considered one of the top ten greatest heavyweights.
Louis lost to the best. Plain and simple. The sad part, in my opinion, wasn't Joe Louis losing to Marciano and retiring for good. The depressing, tear jerking, part is when Louis turned professional wrestler, and when that flopped he ended up in a mental hospital, after which, he became a casino greeter in Las Vegas.
The same came to Sonny Liston in the 1970's. After losing to Leotis Martin for a shot at the vacated heavyweight title, Liston appeared to be finished. He was into his 40's, and he never lived down his losses to Muhammad Ali. Never a popular champion, Liston was criticized for losing to Ali in the rematch, and criticized for even fighting him in their first bout because Ali would be an 'easy fight'.
Now, broken hearted again, and without education to do anything else, Liston turned to his mob backers and a bout with New Jersey tough guy Chuck Wepner was arranged. Rumors circulated that a fix was in. However, after ten rounds, the bout was stopped. Wepner needed over eighty stitches to his face. There was no fix...or was there?
Reportedly Liston was supposed to lie down for the long shot Wepner, so he could cash in as his career was at its end. There would be no more title shot hopes, he was too old. However, legend goes, Liston refused and gave Wepner the beating of his life.
Some months later, Sonny Liston was found dead from an apparent heroin overdose. Friends and family remarked how strange it was for Liston to die that way, considering Sonny Liston, a man who feared no man, was terrified of needles.
Fast forward nearly three decades later and we come to Mike Tyson. In the months following his retirement (he lost to the mediocre Kevin McBride), he was often spotted in Las Vegas, inside a casino, not gambling for prizes, but inside a make shift boxing ring, hitting the pads for on-lookers.
A four-round exhibition 'world tour' was announced. Tyson would fight more exhibitions than he ever had pro fights, the promoters barked. It sold the public on the idea that through the exhibitions, Tyson would get back into proper shape, still be in the public eye, and would come back out of retirement and take on the Klitschko's.
In Youngstown, Ohio the 'world tour' both began, and ended there.
Tyson's "opponent" was his former sparring partner, 6'6" 300 pound Corey 'T-Rex' Sanders. Early on Tyson floored Sanders, and the crowd couldn't have been happier. Oddly enough, Tyson eased off Sanders and would even pick his fallen opponent off the canvas whenever Tyson did knock him down.
The crowd, restless that 'Iron' Mike was playing with kid gloves, booed. In the 4th round, Tyson upped the pace a bit, and when the fight was over, and his name was announced (in exhibitions, generally there is no crowned 'winner' or 'loser') the crowd cheered.
Tyson discontinued the world tour, and got hog fat. For a time talk of Holyfield/Tyson III was becoming a media sensation, but it never came to be. Later, Tyson sold his likeness to EA Games, for the upcoming FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4. Unfortunately, with success, often times is followed by tragedy. Tyson's daughter was killed in an accident at home.
The once king of heavyweights, now married, is recovering from the loss.
***
After ten one sided rounds, Angelo Dundee screamed for his fighters safety and threw in the towel. Muhammad Ali ended the fight sitting on his stool, the first stoppage loss of his career that spanned nearly three whole decades. One sportswriter wrote: "Ali threw ten punches in ten rounds and was paid ten million dollars."
Larry Holmes, beside himself, had begged the referee in earlier rounds to stop the fight before he ended up killing his idol. Holmes, unfortunately, was blamed for defeating the world's hero, and though he would become one of the greatest champions in history, he never got out of Muhammad Ali's shadow.
***
After a prolonged hiatus, he climbed into the ring at Atlantic City. It was May of 2008, and the crowd of nearly 10,000 who came there were all in his corner. It didn't help one iota. In our minds he was still the same guy who had three violent wars with Mickey Ward. He was a tough guy, and we all rationalized that sooner or later the other man would tire, and he would eventually get knocked out by our hero.
It wasn't to be. Round by round, Arturo Gatti took and took. His opponent was 17-3-2 (8) Alphonso Gomez, fresh off the television screens, a star from the original season of The Contender. While Gomez was a hit on the small screen, we all knew him and Gatti were worlds apart. Gatti was a former world champion for God's sakes, and Gomez didn't even win the damned show that made him famous!
By round seven, his lip was ripped to shreds, and the fans at ringside were cussing referee Randy Neumann to stop the fight. Finally, Larry Hazzard, of the New Jersey boxing commission, jumped into the ring and stopped the fight himself.
A once mighty warrior, never landed an effective punch in the previous six rounds, and taken nearly 30 unanswered punches before Hazzard ended the fight. Hazzard commented after the fight that Gatti would more than likely never be licensed to fight in New Jersey again. Gatti made excuses that were weak, not wanting to admit his time had come, and announced he was retiring.
Not even a year later, he planned another comeback, but evidentially was told 'No'. The heart break was too much, and Gatti ended his life. A tragic end for a man whose life and livelihood was boxing, and gave every inch and ounce of himself until the end.
***
Every fighter believes they still had one more fight left in them. When Joe Frazier saw Muhammad Ali announce on July 23rd, 1980 that he was returning to the ring, Frazier's pride and rage for a man who made his boxing career a living hell, resurfaced.
In his mind, there would be another clash. The stoppage in Manila was too much to bare, he needed a return. And he desperately needed money. The former champ, who many put on par with Dempsey and Marciano, was financially at odds and had been for some time.
However, immediately off the bat, he was shot down by virtually every comission he came to get licensed. He was 'too old', and had been legally blind for some time, and suffered from severe arthritis in his back and knees. It would be insane to let him fight, for if anything ever happened to Frazier, a comission would never hear the end.
His life's blood would be on their hands.
Frazier, relentless as ever, managed to convince the head of an Indian Reservation and Casino to allow him to fight on their land. His wish was granted, and all that needed to be done was to get Ali. Unfortunately for Frazier, Ali had beat him to the punch, and was in talks of fighting John Tate and later Mike Weaver for the WBA title.
Frazier rationalized, for him to get Ali, for he was sure Muhammad would defeat either man, he would have to beat a ranked opponent in the ring. If he did so, there would be no way that any promoter or comission would pass up Ali/Frazier IV in a battle for the title.
Many were considered, but it was Floyd 'Jumbo' Cummings who was selected. He was of the body builder physique and was undefeated, and was a colorful opponent with a prison background. Also, he was the most limited of the top contenders. It was thought to be the safest, and therefore easiest fight for Frazier to take.
The fight, as it turned out, was a disaster for Frazier, despite the judges being forgiving. In round eight, the referee asked Frazier if he could continue. It went two more rounds. All those present believed Cummings won the fight hands down. Judges at ringside scored the bout a draw. It was a gift, and Frazier's last.
He hung up his gloves and trunks and never returned to the ring again. In the future, however, he would later train his sons and daughter when they became fighters. Marvis managed to get a title fight with Larry Holmes, but was kayoed in the 1st round.
Whether Frazier liked it or not, his legacy, in the end, was the trilogy with Ali.
***
Some times, there's a fighter we all hated when he was at his best, and when he came back, we hoped to see him slaughtered. But when it happened, we grew sympathetic as the bout went on, and even started pulling for him too.
It was that way for me, at least, when I watch old films of Sugar Ray Robinson. While I don't hate Ray Robinson, I disliked for years and years the constant 'pound for pound greatest' talk. I hated hearing that Robinson was lightyears ahead of his opponents, and that guys like Marvin Hagler, Harry Greb, Bernard Hopkins, and several all-time legends were but mere novices in comparison.
But, it was Robinson's fights with the likes of Terry Downes and Paul Pender that made me see how special a guy Robinson really was. He was not the same man who thrashed Bobo Olsen, or even the same man who warred with Fullmer and Basilio, and long passed his days of battling Jake LaMotta. But he still held his own against Pender and Downes in losing efforts.
After those men, Robinson continued on, and I often think to myself 'What for?', he was a multi millionaire, five times the middleweight champion of the world, and often considered the greatest welterweight of all time too. Yet he would continue on fighting until the mid 1960's, losing to novice fighters who he would have kayoed in thirty seconds on his worst night back in his prime years.
My contempt of Robinson changed, when I watched these fights. Fighting-wise he was probably the most effective fighting machine the world ever produced. But boxing is also a numbers game, and there are a few whose own careers surpass Robinson's exploits.
While I don't think he was the 'pound for pound greatest' of the last eighty years, or of all time, it was his latter years as a boxer, that made me see him as being a complete fighter, and made me lose some respect for RING magazine and other 'authorities' in their rankings system [Robinson's #1 but yet his 'toughest' opponent, LaMotta, is ranked #52].
***
The night Rocky Marciano kayoed Joe Louis is often considered the saddest night in heavyweight boxing. Despite Bert Sugar and others who say Louis wasn't even an 'echo' of his former self, this is far from the reality. Louis was already scheduled to meet the winner of Walcott/Charles, he was the #1 contender and had defeated the likes of Jimmy Bivins and Lee Savold, both who laid claim to the title during Louis' retirement.
Louis just needed another pay day. Marciano, willing to fight anybody, accepted. Simple as that. Louis was practically on even terms with Marciano from rounds one through six, and only began to falter in the following two. Louis got kayoed. It happens to fighters. He was kayoed in 1936 against Schmeling, and he was kayoed again in 1951 by Marciano.
In short, while age may have had something to do with it, I think it's more apt to say, it took a certain type of fighter, a special kind, to defeat Joe Louis in general. Schmeling is considered the greatest European heavyweight ever, while Marciano is considered one of the top ten greatest heavyweights.
Louis lost to the best. Plain and simple. The sad part, in my opinion, wasn't Joe Louis losing to Marciano and retiring for good. The depressing, tear jerking, part is when Louis turned professional wrestler, and when that flopped he ended up in a mental hospital, after which, he became a casino greeter in Las Vegas.
The same came to Sonny Liston in the 1970's. After losing to Leotis Martin for a shot at the vacated heavyweight title, Liston appeared to be finished. He was into his 40's, and he never lived down his losses to Muhammad Ali. Never a popular champion, Liston was criticized for losing to Ali in the rematch, and criticized for even fighting him in their first bout because Ali would be an 'easy fight'.
Now, broken hearted again, and without education to do anything else, Liston turned to his mob backers and a bout with New Jersey tough guy Chuck Wepner was arranged. Rumors circulated that a fix was in. However, after ten rounds, the bout was stopped. Wepner needed over eighty stitches to his face. There was no fix...or was there?
Reportedly Liston was supposed to lie down for the long shot Wepner, so he could cash in as his career was at its end. There would be no more title shot hopes, he was too old. However, legend goes, Liston refused and gave Wepner the beating of his life.
Some months later, Sonny Liston was found dead from an apparent heroin overdose. Friends and family remarked how strange it was for Liston to die that way, considering Sonny Liston, a man who feared no man, was terrified of needles.
Fast forward nearly three decades later and we come to Mike Tyson. In the months following his retirement (he lost to the mediocre Kevin McBride), he was often spotted in Las Vegas, inside a casino, not gambling for prizes, but inside a make shift boxing ring, hitting the pads for on-lookers.
A four-round exhibition 'world tour' was announced. Tyson would fight more exhibitions than he ever had pro fights, the promoters barked. It sold the public on the idea that through the exhibitions, Tyson would get back into proper shape, still be in the public eye, and would come back out of retirement and take on the Klitschko's.
In Youngstown, Ohio the 'world tour' both began, and ended there.
Tyson's "opponent" was his former sparring partner, 6'6" 300 pound Corey 'T-Rex' Sanders. Early on Tyson floored Sanders, and the crowd couldn't have been happier. Oddly enough, Tyson eased off Sanders and would even pick his fallen opponent off the canvas whenever Tyson did knock him down.
The crowd, restless that 'Iron' Mike was playing with kid gloves, booed. In the 4th round, Tyson upped the pace a bit, and when the fight was over, and his name was announced (in exhibitions, generally there is no crowned 'winner' or 'loser') the crowd cheered.
Tyson discontinued the world tour, and got hog fat. For a time talk of Holyfield/Tyson III was becoming a media sensation, but it never came to be. Later, Tyson sold his likeness to EA Games, for the upcoming FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4. Unfortunately, with success, often times is followed by tragedy. Tyson's daughter was killed in an accident at home.
The once king of heavyweights, now married, is recovering from the loss.
***