It's date night with your girlfriend who is new school and loves MMA. You're old school and love boxing but admit that boxing today has been pussified and argue old school boxing was more exciting than MMA. She tells you she will watch one single round of boxing, your choice, but if she doesn't find it exciting, then never again. You tell her you know of a fight where the first round was the most evenly violent action-packed fight in boxing history. What would you choose? For me its easy: Round 1/haler v. Hearns. Best sporting event I saw live, not just the best boxing match and I was at the "tuck rule" game.
If I had to pick a fight that I saw the Frazier-Ali fight in Madison Square Garden in March of 1971 was billed as the fight of the century for good reason was as violent a confrontation as any in my memory, both Frazier and Ali commented about as as close to dying as anything could possibly be.
For sheer entertainment value the fights at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal where Sugar Ray Leonard won his gold medal were brillant, and if you remember the Four Kings of the 1980s "Sugar" Ray Leonard, "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, "Hit Man" Thomas Hearns, and the incomparable Roberto Duran all fought each other most of their fights against each other were classics, despite Duran's No Mas against Sugar Ray those fights were incredible slug fests.
Marvin Hagler was a local guy made good. He got jobbed in London when he fought Alan Minter and jobbed again against Sugar ray. No one likes a southpaw fighter.
^ he also got jobbed the first time he fought for the title against Vito Antofuermo. That fight was so obviously not a draw that Mills Lane the referee told Hagler after the fight that he would raise his right hand after the result was announced he was so sure Hagler won.
Damn, i had forgotten about that. Damn dude, you are good. I went back and googled the fight. I had no idea that ESPN ranked it as the best fight ever and round one as the single best round in boxing history, in 2013. They were supposed to fight in 1982 and in 1985 after a 2-week promotional tour their hatred for each other was so intense that in round one they combined to throw 165 punches in 3 minutes, landing 106. After the round Al Michaels said: That was a whole boxing match in 3 minutes.
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For sheer entertainment value the fights at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal where Sugar Ray Leonard won his gold medal were brillant, and if you remember the Four Kings of the 1980s "Sugar" Ray Leonard, "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, "Hit Man" Thomas Hearns, and the incomparable Roberto Duran all fought each other most of their fights against each other were classics, despite Duran's No Mas against Sugar Ray those fights were incredible slug fests.