BoxRec

What fights in history would be regarded as a passing of the torch to the younger generation? For me

Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya
Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko.
Muhammed Ali and Larry Holmes

Are the first three that immediately jump out. What else can we think of?

Jose napoles V john H stracey?
Jack Dempey V Gene tunney

Maybe Joe Louis V Ezzard Charles

calzaghe v eubanks, tszu v hatton,pedroza v mcguigan and norris v leonard

Amazing how Taylor/Hopkins was supposed to be one, and then six years later Taylor was (temporarily as it turned out) retired and Hopkins was a champion again.

Calzaghe/Lacy was also mistakenly expected to be a passing of the torch to the next generation.

Maybe when Whitaker was finally comprehensively beaten by Trinidad

Pacquiao v De La Hoya springs to mind.

Tyson v Berbick & Tyson v Spinks underlined this change.

Naseem v Robinson?

Hagler v Minter

On a lower level Adrian Dodson mauling Lloyd Honeyghan.

Barrera v Pacquiao
Leonard vs Norris
Toney vs McCallum

Tszyu v Hatton
Cooper v Bugner

Ray Robinson vs henry Armstrong..
Clay vs Liston
Tyson vs spinks
Duke McKenzie vs Charlie magri

Morales v Zaragoza
Sanchez v Lopez
Marciano v Louis?
Holmes v Ali
Clay v Liston
Bugner v Cooper
McDonnell v McGuigan
Nelson v Gomez
Qawi v Saad Muhammed
Harvard. V Cowdell

palooka wrote:Morales v Zaragoza
Sanchez v Lopez
Marciano v Louis?
Holmes v Ali
Clay v Liston
Bugner v Cooper
McDonnell v McGuigan
Nelson v Gomez
Qawi v Saad Muhammed
Harvard. V Cowdell

Good picks there Palooka. Qawi v Saad is a classic.

Lennox Lewis -v- Gary Mason

Naseem Hamed -v- Steve Robinson

Herbie Hide -v- Michael Bentt

Tyson - Berbick, kind of passing the torch from Ali via Berbick in a weird way, also it seems like a new era began with that fight (I wasn't alive at the time however so I might be way out)

TheWigwam wrote:Tyson - Berbick, kind of passing the torch from Ali via Berbick in a weird way, also it seems like a new era began with that fight (I wasn't alive at the time however so I might be way out)

it really did Wigwam; the heavyweight division had lost its sparkle, in the summer of '86 World Of Sport showed the montage of Tyson knock outs and (I think I remember the Marvis bout); people really noticed the boxer with the 19 inch neck. When we watched Tyson destroy Berbick it was a new dawn for boxing fans. (I was 16 years old).

TheWigwam wrote:Tyson - Berbick, kind of passing the torch from Ali via Berbick in a weird way, also it seems like a new era began with that fight (I wasn't alive at the time however so I might be way out)

Spot on mate its a pity you weren't around to experience it hopefully something similar will happen in your lifetime as it was a very exciting period

TheWigwam wrote:Tyson - Berbick, kind of passing the torch from Ali via Berbick in a weird way, also it seems like a new era began with that fight (I wasn't alive at the time however so I might be way out)

Tyson was kind of a heavyweight torch bearer back.

It was sort of similar when he blasted Holmes too.

Right before the fight started, Ali was in the ring & he went over to Tyson & said something to the effect of "get him for me" & Tyson duly obliged.

It definitely felt like a new HW era when Tyson defeated Berbick & by the start of 1990, it seemed as if he washed away all the top HWs of the 80s & was about to cement an unmatched legacy, but nobody told James Buster Douglas!

IRLangmaid25 wrote:What fights in history would be regarded as a passing of the torch to the younger generation? For me

Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya
Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko.
Muhammed Ali and Larry Holmes

Are the first three that immediately jump out. What else can we think of?

I did not see Lewis vs Vitali as passing the torch.

tiny_acres wrote:

IRLangmaid25 wrote:What fights in history would be regarded as a passing of the torch to the younger generation? For me

Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya
Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko.
Muhammed Ali and Larry Holmes

Are the first three that immediately jump out. What else can we think of?

I did not see Lewis vs Vitali as passing the torch.

I suppose you could kinda sorta look at it that way, but instead of handing the torch over, Lewis sticks the torch in Vitali's Eye.

BoxBuzz wrote:

tiny_acres wrote:

IRLangmaid25 wrote:What fights in history would be regarded as a passing of the torch to the younger generation? For me

Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya
Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko.
Muhammed Ali and Larry Holmes

Are the first three that immediately jump out. What else can we think of?

I did not see Lewis vs Vitali as passing the torch.

I suppose you could kinda sorta look at it that way, but instead of handing the torch over, Lewis sticks the torch in Vitali's Eye.

Yeah I can see that.

BoxBuzz wrote:

tiny_acres wrote:

IRLangmaid25 wrote:What fights in history would be regarded as a passing of the torch to the younger generation? For me

Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya
Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko.
Muhammed Ali and Larry Holmes

Are the first three that immediately jump out. What else can we think of?

I did not see Lewis vs Vitali as passing the torch.

I suppose you could kinda sorta look at it that way, but instead of handing the torch over, Lewis sticks the torch in Vitali's Eye.

Yes, I was thinking a) Lennox won that fight and b) Vitali wasn't a spring chicken himself at 32 in that fight.

Monzon v Benvenuti

tiny_acres wrote:

IRLangmaid25 wrote:What fights in history would be regarded as a passing of the torch to the younger generation? For me

Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar De La Hoya
Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko.
Muhammed Ali and Larry Holmes

Are the first three that immediately jump out. What else can we think of?

I did not see Lewis vs Vitali as passing the torch.

I think in a way it was passing the torch. Sure Lennox won the fight but people's perception of the HW division changed after the fight. It announced the arrival of Vitali as a major force and it also made people realise that Lennox had basically come to the end of his career. That is is no way a slight on Lennox who was a great champion. The point is that it was his swansong and Vitali, although he lost, wasn't really seen as a loser afterwards. On the contrary, he won a lot of respect after that night and then went on to become a dominant champion. As for his age, that doesn't matter as he stayed on for a long time after turning 32.

Thanks for the nice replies to my comment guys

I know that Sal won emphatically, but Sanchez v Azumah Nelson carries an air of torch passing, in a tragic kind of way.

For me the Lennox Lewis v Vitali Klitschko fight was a passing of the torch to an extent. Because Vitali got his title back before Wladimir however Wladimir would end up being the more active and dominant as Vitali had those four years out following the defeat of Danny Williams in 2004 because of repetitive knee and back problems. So it was probably the start of the Klitschko era but it would be Wladimir and not Vitali who would grab most of the belts.

To many people it just confirmed that Vitaly wasn't very good. He fought an obese Lennox Lewis and only lasted 6 rounds. That Kltischko has been as successful as he was is just more evidence that the division was much, much better when Lewis was closer to his prime.