BoxRec

So while the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year selections always get the most attention, I am curious about what fights were #2. Those fights are great too and not remembered as fondly. I am trying to find this information from 1945-2000 from Ring Magazine as Ring Magazine hasn’t been the same in this century. Can anyone help me fill in the ones that are missing if you have the annual magazines that discussed the best of boxing in the previous year? I will update the thread until it is complete. I would appreciate any help.

So far I’ve found (1st or only fight unless noted)
2000 Felix Trinidad-Fernando Vargas
1988 Simon Brown-Tyrone Trice
1987 Prince Charles Williams-Bobby Czyz
1986 Marvin Hagler-John Mugabi
1985 Lee Roy Murphy-Chisanda Mutti
1984 John Mugabi-James Green
1983 Gerrie Coetzee-Michael Dokes
1982 Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello
1981 Salvador Sanchez-Wilfredo Gomez
1980 Salvador Sanchez-Ruben Castillo
1979 Sugar Ray Leonard-Wilfred Benitez
1978 Larry Holmes-Ken Norton
1977 Carlos Zarate-Alfonso Zamora
1976 Carlos Monzon-Rodrigo Valdes
1975 Roberto Duran-Ray Lampkin
1974 Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier II
1973 Ken Norton-Muhammad Ali
1972 Carlos Monzon-Bennie Briscoe II
1971 Ken Buchanan-Ismael Laguna II
1970 Chucho Castillo-Ruben Olivares II
1969 Nino Benvenuti-Luis Rodriguez
1968 Joe Frazier-Oscar Bonavena II
1967 Floyd Patterson-Jerry Quarry D 10
1966 Carlos Ortiz-Sugar Ramos
1965 Flash Elorde-Frankie Narvaez
1963 Juan Carlos Rivero-Florentino Fernandez I
1962 Dick Tiger-Gene Fullmer
1961 Floyd Patterson-Ingemar Johansson III
1960 Benny Kid Paret-Luis Federico Thompson I
1959 Jose Becerra-Alphonse Halimi I
1958 Sugar Ray Robinson-Carmen Basilio II
(The Ring in 1959 mentioned that while they listed Robinson-Basilio as their FOY, the Moore-Durelle fight was better and only didn’t get recognition because it took place so late in the year)
1955 Carmen Basilio-Tony DeMarco I (the 2nd fight was the FOY)
1953 Kid Gavilan-Carmen Basilio
1951 Sugar Ray Robinson-Randy Turpin II

The 70's had a bad habit of giving out the award for fights based solely on prestige, and having almost nothing to do with the action in the bout.

Ali vs Frazer 2 as the runner up for 1974?

Give me a f*cking break.

I will tell you this one from memory. In 2003 they gave the Fight of the Year award to Gatti vs Ward 3.

I'd say Toney vs Jirov and Leonard Dorin vs Paul Spadafora were both better fights that year.

The 2005 winner is Castillo vs Corrales obviously. The runner up undoubtedly has to be Miguel Cotto vs Ricardo Torres which is better than many other years best.

That's another thing worth noting in Boxing. Some years are hotter action-wise than others. There are years when the 5th best fight of the year is better than the Fight of the year in others.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 01:15 The 70's had a bad habit of giving out the award for fights based solely on prestige, and having almost nothing to do with the action in the bout.

Ali vs Frazer 2 as the runner up for 1974?

Give me a f*cking break.

That’s a good point on the 70s. Ali-Frazier 2 really surprised me. I didn’t get to see the whole article and their reasoning why they picked it.

Leonard - Benitez wasn't a great fight either. Not a bad one. But really not the #2 of any year.

Ezzard wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 05:55 Leonard - Benitez wasn't a great fight either. Not a bad one. But really not the #2 of any year.

My personal #2 would have been Saad Muhammad-Johnson II that year.

dnahar32 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 01:21

gilgamesh wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 01:15 The 70's had a bad habit of giving out the award for fights based solely on prestige, and having almost nothing to do with the action in the bout.

Ali vs Frazer 2 as the runner up for 1974?

Give me a f*cking break.

That’s a good point on the 70s. Ali-Frazier 2 really surprised me. I didn’t get to see the whole article and their reasoning why they picked it.

Well they damn sure didn't pick it because of the action

It was a really good fight. Would have won the award in some years.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 21:36 It was a really good fight. Would have won the award in some years.

Ali-Frazier 2?

No, it wasn't a really good fight, and wasn't one of the 10 best fights of that year.

Frazier started slow (as usual) but otherwise fought a good fight. Ali looked sharp and performed better than in their first fight. It was an intense fight with two of the best ever in there.