This is a weird thought I just had - some fights and performances are similar to eachother in style and the way they play out. Theres two examples I can think of: 1. Napoles-Cokes 1 and Canizales-Seabrooks 1: The latter is a very poor man's version of the former, with Canizales somewhat resembling a homeless man's Napoles and Seabrooks resembling a homeless man's Cokes. Napoles and Canizales both lit their guys up using beautiful combos and offensive footwork to take the welter and bantamweight title, respectively. Difference being, Nap did it a lot smoother and got hit way less than Canizales. 2. O'Grady-Kenty and McAuley-McKenzie: In both these fights you had the tall, lean, white Irish guys who went in as the underdog to the black boxer-punchers who fought like homeless man's versions of Hearns. And in both fights, the white guys (O'Grady and McAuley) delivered beatings over the distance to the take the title. In both performances, body punching played a big role in victory. Other examples?
Corrales-Freitas and Margarito-Cotto 1 both played out somewhat similar. Cotto and Freitas were boxing well and using movement, but not really able to get their opponent’s respect and got broken down. It’s not like they were feather fisted, Cotto and particularly Freitas (especially when he had been at 130) were known for heavy hands . Unlike Margarito, Corrales didn’t have a granite chin. But both of them took the punches well and didn’t seem too worried about the incoming. Both Popo and Cotto may have sacrificed some power by spending a lot of the fights on the backfoot, and not getting as much leverage on their shots. But not all of the shots were like that. Popo landed a good right hand in the 3rd or 4th round that he sat down on, and Corrales took it well and kept coming. There’s of course the question if Margarito was loading his gloves in this fight, and how much effect it had if it did. I don’t think Mosley was the first time but I don’t know if he did in this fight. I posted this awhile ago on Chavez-Taylor 1/Trinidad-Vargas, which some disagreed with. 20th Anniversary of Trinidad-Vargas
Corrales-Frietas/Cotto-Marg 1 is a great example! Both Frietas and Cotto were front runners (Frietas obviously moreso), whereas Chico and Marg were guys willing to walk through whatever fire to get the job done. I dunno about Chavez-Taylor & Tito-Vargas being the same, outside of both being awesome fights. Save for a few of the mid rounds, Trinidad basically dominated Vargas. Whereas JCC had to come from behind to pull out the last-round stoppage. While it was on a FARRRRRRRRR, FARRRRRRRRRR lower talent and skill level, Andries-Harding 1 was actually similar to Chavez-Taylor.
Can you imagine the comparisons to Chavez-Taylor we would have had to constantly read about if his mug of a son had managed to finish the job against Martinez? Not really comparable in the context of this thread as Chavez Sr was competitive throughout, he was just losing the rounds, but you know it would have happened.
Crudely speaking, Harada-Jofre I and Duran-Leonard I. The naturally smaller great swarmer moves up a division to challenge a great complete boxer-puncher. Stifles and shocks him with a fast start to buzz out in front and never relinquish the lead despite the boxer-puncher eventually settling down and finding his rhythm to finish strongly. Ortiz-Locche, Perez-Lora, Hearns-Benitez, Park-Canto and Saddler-Pep all with gifted freakishly tall/physically powerful units pinning down a defensive master. Not all the fights played out similarly though in terms of tactics and action.
Saldivar-Ramos and Pac-Barrera. Two fast, hard-punching southpaw underdogs using their fast straight lefts and southpaw rights to the body to physically overwhelm and dominate two talented, hard-hitting p4p rated boxer punchers over 11/12 rounds to win the featherweight title. Hurting them early and never letting them into the fight in both instances.
