w/Out Researching @ All, Mickey Ward vs. Emanuel Augustus Springs to Mind... It was an ESPN "Friday Night Fights" Bout... The "Fight Party" REED Attended Gave it a Standing Ovation, on the Last and Final "Ding"... REED
Apparently, REED Misunderstood the Question... He Thought it Basically Meant "Best Fight NOT Shown on HBO or Showtime Since '88"... REED
Yeah, the question was pretty ambiguous. It also makes no sense... acting like the best fights have been on PPV. 90% of the best fights in boxing since 88 have been on REGULAR Showtime/HBO.... not on PPV. The only big fight on PPV since 88 that has lived up to and even exceeded expectations was Tito-Vargas.
could have meant the best fights that were not on hbo, showtime or ppv? burton vs ward has to be up there. then you have some international wars in asia and europe that qualify. hatakeyama vs sakamoto among them
Am I the only one who remembers Julian Letterlough vs Julio Gonzalez? Definitely the best fight in FNF history.
I thought there were some others: Bowe-Holyfield (especially the first) Holyfield-Foreman (expectations for a lot of people was that it was a sideshow) De La Hoya-Vargas Margarito-Cotto 1 Marquez-Pacquiao 4
Corrales-Castillo 1 is arguably the best fight ever, and it wasn't on PPV. That fight was very good. Letterlough also had a good fight on ESPN against Demetrius Jenkins. Sort of a wild brawl but still fun and ended with a one punch KO. That was a great one. 1992 had some really good fights, especially at HW. This one, Bowe-Holyfield 1, Moorer-Cooper, McKinney-Ncita 1. Foreman-Stewart, Bowe-Coetzer, and Morrison-Hipp were all pretty good fights too. Kelley was in quite a few good fights, although they seem to be forgotten except for the Hamed fight.
Damn, I feel like a fool for forgetting about Bowe-Holy 1. Yes, that fight was on PPV and did in fact exceed expectations. Marg-Cotto 1 was also damn good.