A fight that had the greatest opening round in all of boxing. Marvin and Tommy went straight at it at the sound of the first bell and took turns in landing savage bombs at one another. The action was truly breathtaking and for the first three minutes alone this fight deserves its high position on this list. The next two rounds were excellent also, with Marvellous proving how apt his newly adopted name was by stopping Hearns in round three - after eight of the most savage and electrifying minutes in boxing history! Quite possibly the greatest short fight ever and quite possibly my all time favorite boxing match ever!
It was only 3 rounds... but these two GLADIATORS just went at it as if it were a matter of life or death... finally ending when Marvelous Marvin Hagler got the decisive knockout victory with one minute to go in the 3rd Round!
It was April the 15th 1985 in a fight that was billed as "THE WAR" for The Undipsuted Middleweight Championship of The World.
GREAT FIGHT AND EVERYTHING... I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT... the first round won Ring Magazine's ROUND OF THE YEAR and the whole entire fight itself won Ring Magazine's FIGHT OF THE YEAR but do fill me in here!!! One really great topic for discussion would be why Thomas Hearns fought the way he did. Most people would think that at 4 inches taller and with that amazing reach... Thomas Hearns would fight on the outside and pick Hagler apart just like he did Roberto Duran (in less than 2 rounds)!
But... he decided to fight on the inside... and we got ourselves one hell of an amazing fight BUT:
What do you think would've happened if Thomas Hearns decided to fight on the outside using his 4 inches of extra height and much longer reach, rather than fight on the inside against Marvin Hagler?
As close to death as he had ever been. That’s how the winner, Ali, described this fight. The excruciating heat of the Philippines was a definite factor in making the fight sheer hell for both men - if Ali felt like death what must Frazier have been going through? - but neither man stopped throwing venomous punches. Only the intervention of Joe’s corner-man - the legendary Eddie Futch - brought an end to the brutality. Neither man was ever the same afterwards, such was the bout’s ferocity, and in hindsight perhaps only the fans came out as winners. This fight will live forever! Muhammad Ali's third fight against his archrival Joe Frazier was a spectacular ending to the long lasting struggle of the two Heavyweights who faced each other for a total of 132 minutes in the ring. The "Thrilla in Manila" is considered one of the most brutal and bitter bouts in the history of boxing; it was the only time an Ali - Frazier bout did not last for the scheduled time.
After having regained the title against George Foreman in Zaire one year earlier, Ali had successfully defended the belt three times within three months against mostly mediocre opponents. Now he was to face Joe Frazier for the third time to change the record to his favor (Frazier had won the first bout in 1971, Ali prevailed in the rematch three years later).
The bout was important for Ali not only in terms of prestige. He was guaranteed a purse of six million dollars which was twice as much as Joe's and more than Ali had received for the first two fights altogether.
As usual, Ali didn't miss a chance to verbally attack his foe in the days leading to the bout. This time it was worse than ever: He gave Frazier the nickname "Gorilla", called him ignorant and mocked him because of his ghetto slang.
Frazier reciprocated with untypically bellicose statements: "I want to hurt him. I don't want to knock him out. I want to take his heart out." Finally, the day of the fight was there. On the morning of October 1 (the fight took place at 10:45 a.m. to suit US viewers) 25,000 people crowded the Philippines Coliseum in Quezon City, six miles outside Manila, hoping for a great fight between stylist and slugger.
As expected, Ali puts pressure on Frazier in the beginning, stinging him with jabs and combinations to the head, winning the first rounds. Frazier does not lose hope - he knows his time is still to come. He keeps smiling as he takes Ali's punches and retaliates with punches to Ali's arms and body, once in a while a hook gets through to Ali's head.
With about a third of the fight over, the tide slowly turns. Ali tires and Joe's punches hit target more often. The champion rests at the ropes like he did against Foreman. This time, however, the 'rope-a-dope' can not be successful because it is part of Frazier's tactic to batter Ali's arms until they are hurting to the extent that taking a blow is less painful than blocking it.
Frazier tires too and by round ten both fighters show clear signs of fatigue, fighting at low pace. Angelo Dundee said after the fight: "Both guys ran out of gas, only my guy had an extra tank" Where Ali took the energy to come back in the heat and humidity of the Coliseum and hit Frazier worse than anyone had hit him before, has been subject to speculations ever since. "Ali's magic" appeared for the last time in his career. From round twelve on, Frazier sees no land. In round thirteen his mouthpiece is knocked out of his mouth and out of the ring. So are his winning chances. By round fourteen, Joe's left eye is completely shut so that he is not able to see Ali throwing a right hand any more.
In the break before the last round, Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch stops the fight. Too dominating, too far ahead had Ali been on the scorecards, too handicapped was Joe in terms of his vision to have any chance of winning. Moments after the fight was over, Ali fainted in his corner. No one knows whether he could have resumed the fight. Ali was later quoted that he had been ready to quit if Joe had not.
Both Ali and Frazier fought to their absolute limit and maybe beyond. Joe's eyes were still shut hours after the fight. Ali's body showed conspicuous signs of the battle, with hematomas and bruises and swellings everywhere, as a result of "punches that would have knocked down a house" as Joe later put it. Ali is supposed to have told Angelo Dundee yet during the fight that this was "the closest to dying" he had ever been.
Friends and fans of the champion hoped Ali would finally after this slaughter in the ring, at the age of 33, announce his retirement. However, six more years would pass until this wish became reality at last. In the last ten bouts of his career, following the "Thrilla in Manila", Ali would never again be as good as he was in Manila on the morning of October 1.
Tyson attempted to defend the WBA title against Evander Holyfield. Holyfield was in the fourth fight of his own comeback after retiring in 1994 following the loss of his championship to Michael Moorer (who subsequently lost to George Foreman by knockout during his first defense). It was said that Don King and others saw Holyfield, the former champion, who was 34 at the time of the fight and a huge underdog, as a washed up fighter.
Holyfield, Mike Tyson and beat him for 11 rounds.
On November 9, 1996, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tyson faced Holyfield in a title bout dubbed 'Finally' . In a surprising turn of events, the supposedly "washed-up" Holyfield, who was given virtually no chance to win by numerous commentators, defeated Tyson by TKO when referee Mitch Halpern stopped the bout in round 11. Holyfield made history with the upset win by being the second person ever to win a heavyweight championship belt three times. However Holyfield's victory was marred by allegations from Tyson's camp of Holyfield's frequent headbutts during the bout. Although the headbutts were ruled accidental by the referee, they would become a point of contention in the subsequent rematch.
Tyson vs. Holyfield II and aftermath Poster publicizing the June 28, 1997, Holyfield-Tyson II fight, dubbed The Sound and The Fury.Main article: Holyfield-Tyson II Tyson and Holyfield fought again on June 28, 1997. Originally, Halpern was supposed to be the referee, but after Tyson's camp protested, Halpern stepped aside in favor of Mills Lane. The highly anticipated rematch was dubbed "The Sound and the Fury," and was held at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena, site of the first bout. It was a lucrative event, drawing even more attention than the first bout and grossing $100 million. Tyson received $30 million and Holyfield $35 million — the highest paid professional boxing purses ever until 2007. The fight was purchased by 1.99 million households, setting a pay-per-view buy rate record that stood until the May 5, 2007, De La Hoya-Mayweather boxing match. without defenders. Novelist and commentator Katherine Dunn wrote a column that criticized Holyfield's sportsmanship in the controversial bout and charged the news media with being biased against Tyson.
Mike Tyson takes to Evander Holyfield's ear
Soon to become one of the most controversial events in modern sports, the fight was stopped at the end of the third round, with Tyson disqualified for biting Holyfield on both ears. The first time he bit him the match was stopped, but then it resumed. However after the match resumed Tyson did it again; this time Tyson was disqualified and Holyfield won the match. One bite was severe enough to remove a piece of Holyfield's right ear, which was found on the ring floor after the fight. Tyson later stated that it was retaliation for Holyfield repeatedly head butting him without penalty.In the confusion that followed the ending of the bout and announcement of the decision, a near riot erupted in the arena and several people were injured in the ensuing melee. As a subsequent fallout from the incident, $3 million was immediately withheld from Tyson's $30-million purse by the Nevada state boxing commission (the most it could legally hold back at the time).Two days after the fight, Tyson issued a statement, apologizing directly to Holyfield for his actions and asked not to be banned for life over the incident.Tyson was roundly condemned in the news media but was not On July 9, 1997, Tyson's boxing license was rescinded by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in a unanimous voice vote; he was also fined US$3 million and ordered to pay the legal costs of the hearing.As most state athletic commissions honor sanctions imposed by other states, this effectively made Tyson unable to box in the United States. The revocation was not permanent, as a little more than a year later on October 18, 1998, the commission voted 4-1 to restore Tyson's boxing license.
During his time away from boxing in 1998, Tyson made a guest appearance at WrestleMania XIV as an enforcer for the main event match between Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin. Tyson was paid $3 million for being guest enforcer of the match at Wrestlemania
Bite off Holyfield's ear!And finally most importantly...
Rocky Marciano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969), was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1952 to 1956. Marciano, with forty-three knockouts to his credit, remains the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 - April 12, 1981), was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949.
Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis' championship reign lasted 140 consecutive months, during which he participated in 27 championship fights, including 25 successful title defenses – all records for the heavyweight division. In 2005, Louis was named the greatest heavyweight of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization, and was ranked number one on Ring Magazine's list of 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time and is widely regarded to be the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.
Louis' cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. Louis is widely regarded as the first African American to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during World War II.[4] He also was instrumental in integrating the game of golf, breaking the sport's color barrier in America by appearing under a sponsor's exemption in a PGA event in 1952.
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