When we think of legendary virtuoso performances, ones that are always mentioned off the bat include: Jones-Toney, Robinson-Lamotta IV, Sanchez-Gomez, Floyd-Corrales, Hopkins-Tito, Ali-Williams, Toney-Barkley, ect... How bout some underrated virtuoso performances? Ones that rarely get mention or recognition. A few I can think of: Carlos Ortiz vs Battling Ortiz: I dont know how many of yall have seen this fight. I'm pretty sure the full fight is on Youtube. Ortiz put on an absolute clinic against an aggressive, unbeaten guy in Torres. Pretty much a textbook example on how to dismantle a come forward fighter. Pedroza vs Patrick Ford - Absolute masterclass beatdown Pedroza laid on Ford. I don't think there's a lot of featherweights in history who could beat that version of Pedroza. Cervantes vs DeJesus - Cervantes handled DeJesus far easier than Duran ever did. DeJesus always had his moments against Duran, but Cervantes dominated him EVERY SECOND for 15 rounds. Spinks vs Qawi - After tasting the Spinks Jinx early-on, Spinks turned Qawi into a "good boy" and boxed him senseless for 15 rounds. Spinks is the only fighter who ever made Qawi gunshy. Antonio Esparragoza vs Stevie Cruz - Beautifully executed beatdown Esparragoza laid on Cruz. Hamed vs Bungu - Never liked Naz, but looking back, this is an underrated performance. Bungu was suppose to be his toughest fight. Hamed dominated him then laid him cold with one straight left. Overall, Hamed's best performance. Others?
That performance can't be underrated. Brits STILL to this day bring it up on a weekly basis. Another one I can think of: Eddie Mustafa vs Jerry Martin: Martin was coming off giving Saad a very tough fight. But he couldn't do SHIT with EMM. Mustafa thrashed him brutally. Eddie was such a talented offensive fighter. Lazy bastard!
AgREED. I'm a MASSIVE Watson fan and can make plenty of excuses for that fight (Watson injured, no warm-up fight in 11 months etc) but the Body Snatcher put on a clinic in that fight. MTF
Mosley vs Demetrio Ceballos - This was Shane's best lightweight performance and one of his best performances period. AWESOME dismantling to watch. Tszyu vs Jan Bergman - I kinda feel like this was Tszyu's peak performance and not the Gonzalez fight. Tszyu was a fucking MONSTER in this fight. Picked Bergman apart like an assassin, then brutally put him to sleep.
That was a good one. I liked De La Hoya/Kamau better, though. Jones-Barrera 1 Hamed-Robinson Jones-Brannon- My favorite Roy fight next to the Toney one. Lewis-Botha Tszyu-Tackie DeJesus-Yamabe Martinez-Williams 2
The finishing combo LITERALLY lifted Botha off the canvas. Rare that you see that. Only other time I saw it was Foreman lifting Frazier off the canvas.
Emmanuel Augustus (then Burton) vs Jon Thaxton - Thaxton was starting to become a 'name', they brought over Augustus as a sacrificial lamb and he proceeded to give Thaxton one of the most awesome schoolings I've had the privilege to watch. Great stuff.
For some reason I liked Whitaker's first round KO over Nazario Tommy Hearns vs. Virgil Hill Old man Hopkins vs. Mason Dixon Mosley vs. Margarito Duran vs. Palomino
GOOD one! Very good one! Shoulda mentioned it. Adding to the list: Roger Mayweather vs Paz: This one is really underrated. Uncle Roger boxed the living shit outta that juice head. Bowe vs JL Gonzalez: Violent beatdown. Bowe put on a in-fighting clinic. NONE of these heavyweight no-talent scrubs of today know to in-fight half as well as Bowe. Ismael Laguna vs Mando Ramos: Best lead-right clinic I've ever seen. Laguna had a LIGHTING FAST lead right. Sliced Ramos to shreds. Of course, good ole Karl used to say that Ramos was winning that fight, but he's delusional. Laguna lit that boy up. Stevie Johnston vs Angel Manfredy: Johnston didn't destroy Angel like Floyd and Chico did, but the boxing lesson he gave him was fun to watch.
nelson vs rueles II nelson vs leija III whitaker vs mcgirt II sungkil moon vs konadu II micalzweski vs hill holmes vs mercer arce vs alvarez morales vs velardez
Uncle Rog/Goombah Monkey is one of my favorite fights :bears: Laguna also jabbed Ramos silly in that fight
I'll add some more.... Klitschko - Mercer Lennox Lewis - Gary Mason Lennox Lewis - Tyrell Biggs Lennox Lewis - Donovan Ruddock Tyson - Tubbs Tyson - Bruno II Hopkins - Joppy Calzaghe - [insert fighter here]
