BoxRec

Thought this would be fun. A lot of close calls; hard to pick just one.

Out of those listed I would say Foreman vs Lyle, but I would say Fury-Wilder 3 has to be up there in the discussion because that was just a wildly sloppy slugfest that was really entertaining.

Agree on Fury-Wilder III
Joshua-Wlad was great too.
Ike-Tua
Moorer-Cooper

Bowe-Golota II might be my favorite. Certainly top three, probably along with Foreman-Lyle and Holyfield-Bowe I.

I voted for Holyfield vs Bowe I. What a fight that was!

Loved Holmes/Norton. Even if that last round only.

Dokes vs. Holyfield deserves a mention too.

I picked Foreman v Lyle. Fury v Wilder III was better than several on the list.

Holmes vs Norton or Fury vs Wilder 3 loved them both

- I'd rate Holmes/Norton higher had the right guy won.

To be sure, most thought Ken whooped Ali thrice which would've made him champ when they fought in NY, but Norton never won a title bout, his first being vs Foreman in Venezuela. WBC made Ken the Snail Mail Champ when Leon forfeited his WBC belt mandatory that was Ken.

DKing wanted to put the cocky filmstar Norton down a few notches, over $2mil for this fight to $700K his next fight. Meanwhile Lar who was still skinny went from 300K to $1 mil his first defense vs Evangelista who reportedly took the fight on short notice. The immediate Norton rematch would've generated $5-10 purse and give fight fans the kind of fight they deserved, but puppet master King had bigger plans as he eventually managed to get boxing kicked off Terrestrial TV where it had been a weekly staple for umpteen years.

In the end, single belt holder in a multibelt era Lar who was becoming tubby becomes a trivia answer, never beating a fighter holding a belt won in the ring. His title record as soon as he had to face real champs is 0-6, 0 KOs

At any rate, I'd say my fav since Frazier 3 would be Rusty Big George vs the very underrated Ron Lyle whose lifestory I have the greatest respect for. That may have been the most hurtful fight of top level heavies ever as we saw why Ferdie and Herbert forbid Ali to fight the lucrative rematch in Indonesia that Ali talked about in his Playboy interview.

Wladimir Klitschko v Povetkin/Fury.

Teddy's Toupee wrote: ↑17 Jun 2023, 17:30 Wladimir Klitschko v Povetkin/Fury.

tiny_acres wrote: ↑17 Jun 2023, 07:58 Holmes vs Norton or Fury vs Wilder 3 loved them both

Fury vs Wilder III seems to have become an underrated fight but I watched it again recently and it is lacking for nothing. A great heavyweight fight.

I voted Bowe-Holyfield 1 of the options given. A really good fight that nobody has mentioned yet is Siarhei Liakhovich Vs. Lamon Brewster. Also Hasim Rahman Vs. Corrie Sanders and Vitali Klitschko Vs. Corrie Sanders are very underrated shootouts.

There were some underrated fights that I thought about that didn't make it. Shavers-Williams was a lot of fun to watch and amazing to see the twists and turns when it seemed like it was over. However, the overall ability of the fighters isn't quite there. Holmes - Cooney as pretty good. Holmes was starting to slip when he fought Witherspoon, but that was a good fight. Always thought the 2nd Holmes-Spinks fight was better than gets credit for.

I did list Norton-Young. That fight is criminally underrated.

Redback Rasta wrote: ↑18 Jun 2023, 16:49

tiny_acres wrote: ↑17 Jun 2023, 07:58 Holmes vs Norton or Fury vs Wilder 3 loved them both

Fury vs Wilder III seems to have become an underrated fight but I watched it again recently and it is lacking for nothing. A great heavyweight fight.

it won fight of the year in a ton of places, wouldnt call it underrated

One thing that I noticed over the years is that sometimes we all overrate fights in which the winner was knocked down earlier in the fight. Sometimes the fight was good; sometimes not. However, we usually remember it when it does happen.

Bad list, too small. Holy-Foreman doesn't belong.

Why no Lewis-Klit?

DrDuke wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 12:34 Bad list, too small. Holy-Foreman doesn't belong.

Why no Lewis-Klit?

Lewis-Klit doesn't belong.

I pick Foreman-Lyle, which was a 1970s equivalent of Zale-Graziano and Dempsey-Firpo.

oogiebe wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 13:34

DrDuke wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 12:34 Bad list, too small. Holy-Foreman doesn't belong.

Why no Lewis-Klit?

Lewis-Klit doesn't belong.

Pretty sure that he was joking.

I went with Norton-Holmes. Thought Bowe-Holyfield I was the closest. Probably their 2nd fight was third.
Foreman-Lyle may have been the most fun to watch. Both guys seemed ready to go multiple times but then came back to put the other guy in that position.
However, quality wise, it wasn't as good. Foreman seemed a bit rusty and both were sloppy at times. Still a great fight, but not quite the best.