Every great fighter has a a fight which defined their careers and proved their greatness. Out of the great fighters that you list, which fight (or fights) proved their greatness. Give me your reasoning. Leonard - Hearns 1. Ray was used to outboxing people. Hearns was an undefeated power threat. Leonard and his team figured that the best approach to this fight would be to try to outbox him, stay away from danger and win a decision. What he didn't expect was that Hearns by virtue of his height, reach and speed, was someone that Ray couldn't outbox. After 5 rounds Ray realized that he was in an uphill battle against a guy that could hurt him badly...who he also had no chance of outboxing. Many would have given up at this point but the Leonard decided to go into the fire, risk getting hit with the punch, turn pressure fighter and stop his man. He wasn't great until that fight. Ali - Foreman. Ali too old to box on his toes for 15 rounds. Foreman big, strong, young and more powerful than Liston. Ali had no choice but to take the incoming and wear his man down for the kill. Before that fight Ali merely called himself the Greatest but that fight is where he earned the title. Louis - Schmeling. Only guy to ever beat him. Political and career stakes could not have been higher. Instead of cowering with fear of his former conqueror and submitting to the pressure of the weight of expectation...Louis proceeded to knock his nemesis out in less than a round. Thoughts? Give me more.
Tyson-Spinks Although Mike was a favorite going in and Spinks didn't offer up much resistance, it was the fight that unified the heavyweight titles. Tyson became the undisputed champ by destroying the undefeated and lineal title holder.
Floyd-Baldomir. Baldomir had been going through the division like a sharp knife through hot butter with aggressive mastery that made that inconsistent flukey Duran look like a bum. Floyd's 12 round exciting shut out sealed his place amongst the top 2 best fighters of all time - the other being Hopkins.
Lawd have mercy. Can't you just post a response to the topic on face value instead of continuing your obsession with Mayweather? Anyway....since you brought up Mayweather and Hopkins... Hopkins-Tarver. Already proved himself at 160lbs IMO, especially in becoming the first man to beat Trinidad...but he still had his naysayers after losing back to back fights to Jermaine Taylor. Dominating the first man to truly beat Roy Jones at 175lbs, cemented his legacy. Mayweather - I don't think there was any one fight. I few that spring to mind are: Corrales, Hatton, Alvarez. But truthfully Floyd doesn't have that one defining fight. He tended to win his biggest fights with ease as he was expected to prior to the fights. Injury aside he never had to really dig deep...and he was never the underdog.
Agreed. Difficult to give Tyson that one defining fight...but this one is as close to his defining fight as you can get.
For me there is a difference between a fight that makes somebody great, vs one that cements a legacy although their can be overlap. Hopkins over Tito was much more important and defining than Tarver.
You're wrong on Hopkins. His career defining performance that elevated him to greatness was the Tito fight. I don't think there's any doubt whatsoever about that. The Tarver win BOOSTED his legacy, but had Tarver won (which he was expected to do) it wasn't gonna hurt Hopkins' greatness whatsoever.
Holyfield - Easy one here. The first Tyson win put him over the top. He was already gonna be a HOFmer going into the Tyson fight, win or lose, but beating Mike officially put him in the realm of greatness.
Hagler - The Hearns fight. He was already a dominant middleweight champion prior to Hearns, and truthfully, probably peaked a year or two prior to the Hearns fight, but beating Tommy and in the fashion he did solidified him as an atg.
Agreed on Holyfield and Hagler Chavez - Taylor1 Up to that point he was well respected but not spoken of in terms of ATG.
After Tyson lost to Douglas, Chavez was the consensus P4P #1 and already called a great. Yes, it's ultimately his career defining win, but it's not as if he wasn't held in high regard beforehand. The Rosario fight is REALLY what put Chavez up there in such high regard.
Wilfredo Gomez-Carlos Zarate: While I know that Gomez vs Pintor is considered his greatest fight ever, at that point Gomez was already a faded legend, thus the reason Pintor took the fight for Gomez was being considered 'damaged goods' after the Sanchez massacre. But the young undefeated champion facing the prohibited favorite Mexican KO artist Carlos Zarate who was undefeated 52-0 with 51 KOs and the way he just demolished the Aztec Warrior Zarate, propelled him to the top ten P4P ranking and fame among boxing fans. Salvador Sanchez vs Gomez: that was the fight that put him at the top of the class. After that he later defeated future HOF young undefeated Azumah Nelson and was calling out Alexis Arguello. Too bad we never saw Sanchez facing Arguello. Pernell Whitaker vs Julio Cesar Chavez: while sweet Pea did not got the official win, in one boxing greatest robberies ever, that performance put him at the top of the P4P rankings and no one, except Mexicans fans, disputed that.
Michael Spinks vs. Larry Holmes I - The Marvin Johnson, Mustafa Muhammad and Qawi Fights were BIG, but Being the 1st Lightheavyweight Champion to EVER Win the Heavyweight Title was IT for Spinks... REED:kidcool:
great topic For Bhop, I would say the Tito fight For RJ it's harder to say. Probably the Toney or the Ruiz fight For PBF there doesn't seems to be a clear one. Corrales was too early in his career, his wins over Castillo not impressive enough, and his most important wins above lightweight were either rather unimpressive, or against opposition not good enough to be considered a defining win For Leonars, it's probably Hearns. The hagler wins made him a candidate for the best ever, but he was already great after the hearns fight For Hagler, it's definitively the Hearns fight For Hearns, I would say it's the Duran massacre that cemented his postion as a great
:Con: forgotten fight? everyone remembers that sham. guy missed weight, guy had 15lbs + weight advantage in the ring. guy fouled repeatedly.
