Most Complete Performance By Any Fighter Vs A Marquee Opponent In The Last 10 Years

Decision wins would be the obvious choice, as they highlight one aspect of all great fighters- the ability to go the distance. That said, mid to late round KO's would also be acceptable as enough of rounds would have built up for us to judge just how "complete" the performance of the Victor was.

An example of a fight that would not fit this bill would be Hatton TKO12 Tszyu, as Hatton took too many shots and it was very close at the end.


Calazghe W12 Lacy

• Lacy was undefeated, an Olympic medalist and a reigning World Champ- definitely a marquee opponent. Calzaghe chopped him down, chopped him up, floored him and utterly dominated him over the distance. His performance was so complete that Lacy was SHOT by the end of the night.

Hopkins W12 Pavlik

• Hopkins arguably never lost a round against an undefeated power-puncher albeit one who had not gotten used to a higher weight class.

Hopkins vs Trinidad

• As above

 

Hopkins vs. Trinidad

Mayweather vs. Corrales


Forrest vs. Mosley I

 

Hopkins/Trinidad-Hopkins TKO12

Mayweather/Corrales- Mayweather TKO9

Barrera/Hamed- Barrera UD12

Wright/Mosley 1-Wright UD12

Mosley/Margarito-Mosley TKO9

Pacquiao/Cotto-Pac TKO 12

 

"I really liked Orlando Salido's performance against Robert Guerrero! His stamina was incredible!!!"--Manny Pacquiao.

 

Calzaghe - Bika was a beauty, if I recall correctly, Calzaghe was a shoe in for fighter of the year honours,...and then after this,... oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,... OFF THE LIST, IMMEDIATELY..

 

Pacquiao vs DLH

RJJ vs Tito:cheer:

 

Put an asterik next to that one. Pacquiao was clearly doping.

 

Lewis vs Tyson

Was a pretty complete performance, I think Lewis won every round bar 1, and cut, floored and stopped his opponent while miles out in front on the cards.

The only problem is with Tysons rep as "Marquee".

 

I think Paul Williams dismantling of Margarito is one. For once he used his height and reach to his advantage and didn't fight like a moron. When Margarito got inside Paul would immediately tie him up. It was a fantastic performance as P-Dub effectively was able to defeat the Plasterized Pendejo.

 

Very close fight on the cards though, and Williams dropped a lot of the later rounds and got hit a bit too...I dont know if it was a "Complete" performance- though there is no doubt that he fought to his own strengths perhaps more than he ever did.

 

Fair points. I won't argue against it.

 

Cotto vs Clottey might be another good example, or Cotto vs Mosley, they were probably Cottos best performances though Clottey doesnt make the grade as a Marquee opponent, even though he is a 2 time world title challenger.

Against Mosley, Cotto jabbed when he had to, moved when he had to, and fought when he had to against a dangerous opponent who had plenty left. A very complete performance by Miguel.

Wlad Klitschko vs Sam Peter was one I was thinking of....the knockdowns probably blow it for Wlad...but apart from that, he jabbed, held, dropped in enough heavy rights and by and large flustered his opponent, punctuating the night with a massive left hook that had Peter in serious trouble Peter was a hot ticket at the time {'05} and did go on to win the WBC Hvy title, so thats "marquee" enough.

Performances dont have to be utterly dominant to be complete....I guess a complete performance could be on where the winner is always doing the right thing and is getting through the rounds on wit and ability, remaining dangerous as they do so, gradually defusing their opponent.

The reason I wouldnt throw Margarito-Williams in there is because Tony finished stronger and basically looked like he ran out of rounds, though for the first 7 or 8, Williams had fought as well as he could have, completely flustering Margarito.

 

No fucking way you're going to diss my P-Dub-Margarito pick as being too close of a fight and claiming "he got hit a bit" and then 1 post later pick 2 Cotto fights that Cotto barely won while getting the stew beat out of him. :warning:

 

Nah...I dropped Clottey-Cotto, for sure.:nono:

That only leaves Cotto-Mosley, a fight in which Cotto did very little wrong, and ended strongly.

What does it for me with Williams vs Margarito is that if it had gone on a bit longer, Margarito might have closed the gap, Williams was definitely flagging.

 

Hopkins-Tito was the best, IMO

 

Yeah the late KO's which were preceded by a shutout are good examples......I like Calzaghe-Lacy and Hopkins-Tito as examples as both guys had pitched near-shutouts but were still looking for the stoppage in the 12th round, Hopkins got it, and Calzaghe floored Lacy, taking risks he didnt need to.

In that regard both men put on the complete performance.

 

You're fucking kidding me. Cotto was flagging a hell of a lot more obviously than PW was and easily would have lost had that fight gone on longer. I'm not even sure PW was hurting at the end of his fight. I only remember one rd somewhere around the 9th where I thought Paul looked like he was getting effected by body shots and was on his way out. Yet the very next rd he looked fine. Hell you got people on here who think Mosley beat Cotto. I've never heard anyone say they thought Margarito beat PW. Hypocrite!

 

:crying:...L....L...Leave me...a...a...a..lone

 

vic v mijares, mijares was hyped as the superfly king and highly fancied to win but he was schooled and beaten into shotsville

 

Irish, I've come to quite like Calzaghe, he IS a great fighter no doubt, and that was a great performance.

It can't be listed though, Lacy is just not good enough, he is not a marquee opponent, despite most people picking him to beat Joe, that was more to do with Calzaghe being underrated.

I'm more impressed with his wins over Kessler and especially Hopkins.

 

You might be right, you might just be right, Joes wins over Hopkins and Kessler were probably more impressive, but Joes performance that night vs Jeff Johnson was a very complete...a lot of people had their dicks hard for Jeff Lacy, all those muscles, his pale screeching Girlfriend, a veritable Jack Johnson, a wiper of Golden Smiles, a man who would give Slappy Joe a good lesson, come-a-history-here-today, kind of thing. Undefeated, with a ridiculously high sperm count, and that precious metal from the Olympics. Nah, he was pretty Marquee. What was it Fatty Shaw said..."I see a 168lb Mike Tyson" or something to that effect. Yeah well, I see a 168lb Buster Douglas.

Did Jeff win one minute of one round? He was in trouble from the opening bell. Tessatore and Bernie Bernbaum, the schmatta kid, were in shock. They may well still be. Joes performance was utterly complete, totally complete. His footwork, his defence, his tactics, his power, his grit, his speed...his desire to dish out a savage beating and his desire to end the fight on a KO even though he had it in the bag....and the fact that poor Jeff Johnson was never the same after it....all adds up to a very complete performance.

Dont get me wrong- beating Kessler and Hopkins were fine achievements, but they werent really complete. Joe should never have been floored by that sneaky right hand vs Hopkins....and he should have figured out Hopkins sooner than he did...a fine win, but not a very complete performance.

Ali-Spinks II, a good complete performance. Ali used a jab-clinch to fluster the retarded Leon, and won fairly handy in the end. In fairness to Ali, it was as complete as it could have been, considering his age and condition.

Ali-Bonavena, a good complete performance, perhaps the best example yet. Ali was in heavy against a slow but dangerous man and stuck to his basics, wore his man down and eventually scored the KO in fairly spectacular style. Ali wore down the bull and skewered him with maybe just the best left-hook he ever threw.

 

Don't get me wrong, it was nothing if not a COMPLETE performance.

It's just that there's only so much significance I can place on it, being that even pre Calzaghe, Lacy simply isn't very good.

If Lacy was a bit better, and more importantly, more proven than he was when he fought Calzaghe, then yes, it would certainly be up there with the Nard - Tito levels of performance.

There's no doubt Lacy was overrated before fighting Calzaghe, that Joe was underrated at the time, there's also no doubt though that Lacy hasn't been the same since. It was an absolutely thorough beating, both physical and mental.

 

I dont want to argue with you on points of semantics, but how good does a fighter have to be to be a Marquee fighter? Lacy was undefeated, had a proven Olympic record, and clearly fancied taking the trip to England. I mean, nobody, and I do mean nobody stood up and said that Joe would categorically kick his ass.

Is this new modus operandi for the American press now? {I know you are not one of them :kidcool:...}....when one of theirs gets his ass kicked, they take away the significance of the win by saying..."oooh...look, he wasn't that good to begin with". It sounds awfully redolent of the Shmatta Kid Kellerman.

Tito lost to De La Hoya and was floored by Reid, Lueshing, Campas, Vargas, was in a war with Vargas, before he lost to Hopkins. Maybe Tito was not all that "Marquee"..:nono::kidcool:

 

Surprised no one has mentioned Pacquiao/MAB.

 

Tyson was on drugs an in no shape to fight so this one to me really is not in the running

 

Tyson was a marquee name, if not a marquee fighter.

Of course, the heavyweight division was in a mess then, though not as much a mess as when Fatty Foreman won the title from Lightheavyweight Moorer in 1995.

 

DRUGS, PEDS, Uhhh....No mandatory testing....Uhhh...nobody can go from Flyweight to Featherweight just win...Uhhh...Uhhh...Uhhh...did i mention Steroids?

 

How about Tarver's KO of RJJ?

Or Pacquiao's destruction of Barrera?

Or Sander's KO of Wlad?

Or Mayorga's KO of Forrest?

Montiel's KO of Castillo?

 

Ponce De Leon had some hype before Juan Ma de railed the hype train in 1 round.

 

You sure are bad at the internet.