BoxRec

I would say:

00's: Morales-Barrera I
90's: I'll go with Holyfield-Bowe I
80's: Hagler-Hearns
70's: Ali-Frazier III
60's: Frazier-Quarry I
50's: Moore-Durelle I
40's: Never seen them, not sure if film even exists, but I'd assume one of the first two Graziano-Zale fights

Not sure about the 30's, I'd figure Dempsey-Firpo would be considered the best of the 20's.

1940’s 9 Willie Pep W 15 Sandy Saddler
1950’s Carmen Basilio W 15 Ray Robinson I and II
1960,s Nino Benvenuti W 15 Emile Griffith
1970,s Carlos Monzon K0 12 Nino Benvenuti
1980’s Bobby Chacon W 15 Bazooka Limon - what a war.
1990’s Riddick Bowe W 12 Evander Holyfield I
2000’s Diego Corrales KO 10 Jose Luis Castillo

Sorry but the fight of the 80's was Hearns/Leonard 1.

Sorry but the fight of the 80's was Hearns/Leonard 1.

Good pick. I prefer Pryor/Arguello1 myself.

70's Id pick Foreman/Lyle...probably my favorite fight of all time.

90"s is Chavez/Taylor1 easily.

00's Corrales/Castillo1 so far.

90"s is Chavez/Taylor1 easily.

I forgot about that one, it was 1990. I have to agree.

In the 70's you could argue for Foreman/Frazier, as it was such an upset.

Hard to argue on the 80s.
Hagler v Hearns
Leonard v Hearns 1
Two totally different types of fight.

My picks for the best fight of the decade since the 1920s

1920s: Jack Dempsey KO3 Luis Angel Firpo
1930s: Henry Armstrong W15 Lou Ambers I
1940s: Joe Louis KO13 Billy Conn I
1950s: Archie Moore TKO11 Yvonne Durelle I
1960s: Cassius Clay TKO7 Sonny Liston I
1970s: Muhammad Ali TKO14 Joe Frazier III
1980s: Marvin Hagler TKO3 Thomas Hearns
1990s: Julio Cesar Chavez TKO12 Meldrick Taylor I
2000s: Felix "Tito" Trinidad TKO12 Fernando Vargas

I don't know why all you guys like Hagler/Hearns. It was a terrible fight. Hearns fought stupidly and got KO'd quickly. Hagler swinging wildly off balance chasing a Hearns with no legs. It was fairly exciting while it lasted, but it was not a great fight.

Call me what you will Decagon, but it was not a great fight. It does not matter if they were fighting orthodox or lefty in that fight. It was not a good fight by either, it is that simple. There were much better fights in the 80's.

Best fight of the 80's for me: Pryor-Arguello.

2000's Barrera-Morales I
1990's Bowe-Holyfield I
1980's Pryor-Arguello I
1970's Ali-Frazier III
1960's Benvenuti-Griffith I
1950's Robinson-Turpin II
1940's Zale-Graziano I
1930's Ross-McClarnin I
1920's Tunney-Dempsey II
1910's Abe Attell-Johnny Kilbane I
1900's Jeannette-McVey (KO 49)

The 1980's was close; Leonard-Hearns and Bobby Chacon-Cornelius Boza-Edwards were great.
The 1950's has several great middleweight fights to choose from as well as Moore-durelle I.
All 3 of the Graziano-Zale fights could have been chosen for the 1940's.
Several fights in the 1930's involving Armstrong,Ambers,Ross,McClarnin and Canzoneri could have been chosen.
The 1910's had many fights involving Langford,Wills,Jeannette and McVey.
Almost went with Corbett-Jeffries II for the 1900's.

I can't believe BoxBuzz hasn't given us his first hand picks for the 1800's yet...

Hagler-Hearns was an action filled fight with a great ending between two of the best of the era. One was one of the bigger pound for pound punchers of all time, one was one of the toughest. And that's all there is to say. Leonard-Hearns I as a pick for fight of the 80's is welcome, trying to tell other people in the thread what their pick should be is not.

1890s “Barbados” Joe Walcott-George “Kid” Lavigne
1900s Joe Gans-Battling Nelson
1910s Ad Wolgast-“Mexican” Joe Rivers
1920s Jack Dempsey-Louis Firpo
1930s Max Baer-Max Schmeling
1940’s Rocky Graziano-Tony Zale
1950’s Jake LaMotta-Laurent Dauthille
1960,s Dick Tiger-Frankie DePaula
1970,s Ali-Frazier
1980’s Hagler-Hearns
1990’s Robert Quiroga-Akeem Anifowoshe…Kevin Kelley-Troy Dorsey on sheer volume of punches landed.
2000’s Corrales-Castillo

Sanchez-Nelson might well be my pick of the 1980s. Here you had 2 of the greatest fighters of the division in a see-saw battle.

It was a fight between a great and a future great. It was what, Nelson's 13th fight? Sanchez easily handled Lopez and easily handled Gomez, but had his hands full with Nelson! Great fight though! A more mature Nelson very likely may have beat Sanchez!

barry wrote:It was a fight between a great and a future great. It was what, Nelson's 13th fight? Sanchez easily handled Lopez and easily handled Gomez, but had his hands full with Nelson! Great fight though! A more mature Nelson very likely may have beat Sanchez!

Quite possibly. I think had Nelson been a known quantity that Sanchez would have approached it differently. There were also rumours of weight problems for Sanchez.

These two were great fighters though.

1950's - Sugar Ray Robinson -v- Jake Lamotta (Feb 14th 1951).

1960's - Nino Benvenuti -v- Emile Griffith 1.

1970's - Larry Holmes -v- Ken Norton.

1980's - Matthew Saad Muhammad -v- Yaqui Lopez 2 (my favourite fight ever).

1990's - Julio Cesar Chavez -v- Meldrick Taylor 1.

2000's - I'll wait for the decade to end!!!!!!

barry wrote:It was a fight between a great and a future great. It was what, Nelson's 13th fight? Sanchez easily handled Lopez and easily handled Gomez, but had his hands full with Nelson! Great fight though! A more mature Nelson very likely may have beat Sanchez!

I agree with that.

I'm a huge Nelson fan & sometimes I have a tendency to overrate him as a result, but there is no doubt he was tremendous in this fight, especially consdering that he took the fight at short notice against one of the finest fighters ever.

I think Nelson is often, very much, underrated!

Does Nelson crack a top 10 All-time Featherweight list?

Shame he didn't get in there with Pedroza.

1. Sandy Saddler
2. Henry Armstrong
3. Willie Pep
4. Johnny Dundee
5. Salvador Sanchez
6. Terry McGovern
7. Alexis Arguello
8. Tony Canzoneri
9. Eusebio Pedroza
10. Marco Antonio Barrera
11. Jeff Fenech
12. Azuma Nelson
13. Vicente Saldivar
14. Abe Attell
15. Johnny Klibane
16. Jim Driscoll
17. Naseem Hamed
18. Manny Pacquiao
19. Kid Chocolate
20. Erik Morales

Fenech over Nelson Dec? Mind elaborating a bit?

The 80's was loaded.

All those mentioned. Hagler/Mugabi, Duran/Barkley

My vote would either be Duran/Leonard 1, Chacon/Limon 4 or Lee/Locicero

Decagon wrote:

Ezzard wrote:Does Nelson crack a top 10 All-time Featherweight list?

Shame he didn't get in there with Pedroza.

1. Sandy Saddler
2. Henry Armstrong
3. Willie Pep
4. Johnny Dundee
5. Salvador Sanchez
6. Terry McGovern
7. Alexis Arguello
8. Tony Canzoneri
9. Eusebio Pedroza
10. Marco Antonio Barrera
11. Jeff Fenech
12. Azuma Nelson
13. Vicente Saldivar
14. Abe Attell
15. Johnny Klibane
16. Jim Driscoll
17. Naseem Hamed
18. Manny Pacquiao
19. Kid Chocolate
20. Erik Morales

Another great list, although, I would controversially put Willie Pep at number 1, as I am biased & I think he was past his best when he fought Sadler.

Not sure Arguello did enough at this weight to be considered higher than Pedroza. I do think Alexis was a better fighter overall.