These are fights in which the floor is slowly taken out from under a fighter, seemingly without his knowledge, and before he knows it, he is done. It is a boil so slow the fighter doesn't feel the heat until it's too late. I think Pacquiao vs. Morales II qualifies. And maybe Arguello vs. Mancini. And Hagler was the king of this. Hopkins too.
Spence-Crawford... Revisionist History Treats the Bout as a 1-Sided Blowout EVERY Second of EVERY Round, But There was More of a "Boil" to it than Such... Spence Eeked Out Round 1 to Most, Spence was WINNING Round 2; Until Bud Dropped Him Late in the Round...Spence Started the 3rd VERY Strong; Until Bud Seized Control the 2nd Half of the 3rd...It Wasn't Until Round 4 that Spence-Crawford was TRULY a 1-Sided Ass Whupping...It was Competitive for the Majority of the 1st 3 Rounds, Even as it Trended TOWARDS Bud... The "Boil" Itself was Systematic & to the Tenor of the Thread, it was ALREADY Over & Spence was ALREADY Done Before He Realized It...It Didn't Seem to Fully DAWN on Spence Until the 1st Knockdown of Round 7, But By Then it was MUCH Tooooooooooooo LATE.... REED
Baby Bull vs Marquez I. Diaz did well early, sidestepping Marquez's counters and landing nice clean shots where he could, only to find himself extremely far out of his depth once Marquez found his range and got the measure of his man. A similar, but much more famous example would be LaMotta vs Robinson IV. But for me, a dismantling is someone who stood absolutely no chance from the start, and stuck it out till the end. And for me, the quintessential exhibit is Napoles vs Cokes.
Spence-Crawford is by MY definition a dismantling. I don't think it fits into the criteria Doub requested. It was a blowout from round 2 on.
Arguello vs Ruben Castillo immediately comes to mind. Castillo was holding his own through much of the fight, but in reality, Alexis was steadily, methodically breaking him down. Then, when Ruben was good and softened up, Arguello just assaulted him and quickly ended the fight. A lot of Arguello fights were like that. He's probably the all time GOAT of methodical dismantlings.
My definition of a dismantling is closer to George & REED - a one sided, clinical ass whuppin. But for Doub's criteria, Marquez-Diaz 1 is the perfect example.
That's Just It, Spence-Crawford WASN'T Quite a Blow-Out from Round 2 On... Even w/the 10-8 Score for the Knockdown, Spence was WINNING the 2nd Until Getting Dropped Late...And Perhaps Spence's STRONGEST Portion of the Entire Fight was the 1st Minute, Minute and a Half of Round 3...Yes, it's Splitting Hairs Because ULTIMATELY, Spence Got DESTROYED In 1-Sided Fashion... But REED Maintains it Wasn't Until the Latter Portion of Round 3/Beginning of Round 4 that Spence-Crawford TRULY Became a Blowout... REED
I think Doub meant a fight where the loser was in the fight for awhile, but steadily got the rug taken from underneath him. While Spence didn't get brutally beaten up until late, after that 2nd round KD, he was never competitive again. I'm not gonna debate much about it, because to ME Crawford-Spence is in fact a dismantling.
A real old example I can think of is the Marciano vs La Starza rematch. La Starza was outboxing Marciano at times, but steadily got broken down by Rocky's pressure, then taken out.
Dismantling an opponent is supposed to be a one sided drubbing where one guy is completely dominating the fight from start to finish. As far as slowly breaking down an opponent goes I think James Toney vs Michael Nunn fits the criteria. Nunn was ahead while Toney was catching up and slowing Nunn down while tagging him more often as the fight went on before the inevitable stoppage.
Corrales-Freitas : Corrales slowly broke him down while dropping some rounds but the damage was slowly accumulating and when Freitas realized that, he simply quit.
I concede my definition of dismantling is maybe off base. But to me, dismantling is an orderly and systematic operation that almost tries not to inconvenience the opponent while it's occurring....."don't mind me, I just need to take some strength from your legs so I can start hitting your chin...."
Duran vs Vilomar Fernandez is another good example. Fernandez had periods of success, but Duran just steadily broke him down to the body, and eventually, knocked him out with a right hand to the body. Best part of that fight was a quote from Jerry Quarry, who was calling the fight ringside. Blow-by-blow guy: "Jerry, what's the best way to fight Duran?" Quarry: "With a friend."
I guess Chavez-Taylor is probably a very good example of what Double L means, no matter what you think about the stoppage.
REED Continues to Harp on Spence-Crawford Due to RECENCY and (Pre-Fight) MAGNITUDE... Bud Spent the 1st Round or So TAKING Spence's Jab Upstairs Away...Spence Responded By REACHING for Jabs Downstairs, Getting DROPPED For His Troubles...Literally JABLESS, Yet BRAVE, Spence was ALLOWED to Be the Aggressor Anyways and Bud Sat Back, Expertly Using it AGAINST Him... Spence Repeatedly Made Aggressive Advances, Bud Repeatedly Countered the SHIT Out of Him...Spence Would Land Occasional Bodyshots, Bud Would Land HARDER, More TELLING Bodyshots...Beaten Up, Yet STUBBORN, Spence Persisted, Launching Bombs From Unsafe Distances...Bud CALMLY Backed to the Ropes and Subtly Propelled Himself Off Them JUST as Spence Unleashed a Looping Left...Bud's Right Uppercut Got There 1st, Dropping Spence a 2nd Time... It was Like a Football Game Where Coaches SCRIPT Their 1st ____ Amount of Plays, Only 1 of the Coaches Had a COPY Of the Other's Script...Bud Not Only Knew WHAT Was Coming, He Knew WHEN It Was Coming and HOW to Thwart it...Before Spence Even THREW It!!! .... Bud Even Dapped Spence Up @ the End of the 7th, for the "Inconvenience" of Dropping Him Twice That Round...Step By Step, Orderly and SYMPATHETIC, All @ Once...REED Doesn't Even Recall Bud Taking a Deeeeeeeeeeeeeep Breath All Fight, That's How Systematic his Performance vs Spence was...As if it was Planned/Mapped Out Waaaaaay AHEAD of Time.... REED
For clarity, the way I've always seen it is a slow break down of an opponent. You take away his best weapons or avenues for success and slowly beat him up in the mean time.
My idea of a dismantling, besides Bud-Spence, is: Sanchez-Gomez Chavez-Rosario Toney-Barkley Nunn-Tate Hagler-Hamsho 1
Benn v Watson is a great example of the thing Doub is describing. Spence's systematic breakdown of Brook is another. MTF
