This is the first of ten entries, covering the finest matches I’ve had the courtesy to view over the last decade or so. If you haven’t, please consult this introduction. Otherwise, no use delaying the inevitable, right?
100 - Rafael ‘Bazooka’ Limon vs Cornelius Boza-Edwards (March 18, 1981)
I do not think there is a better way to start this than with two of the finest action fighters of their generation getting after it. Rafael ‘Bazooka’ Limon and Cornelius Boza-Edwards were not defensive savants, but underestimating them was not to your benefit whatsoever. In Alexis Arguello’s departure to pursue greater heights, he left a canvas where the former contenders, stained with blood, painted perhaps the finest string of title fights combat sports has ever seen - and it was kicked off with an all-time right handers’ duel. Boza-Edwards was the better technician of the two and proved it behind an active jab, yet he was more than willing to brawl with the rugged juggernaut in Limon.
A mesmerizing fifth that saw Limon dropped - a rarity - turned into trench warfare as the Mexican’s bonecruching, patented body flurries came out in unbelievable volume. Boza-Edwards found himself stunned or needing to cover up throughout as “Bazooka” refused to concede an easy fight, yet he always seemed a step ahead otherwise no matter how much his opponent came on - especially as the war peaked in its final few rounds - to win the decision.
099 - Vicente Saldivar vs Mitsunari Seki I (August 7, 1966)
Vicente Saldivar was an absolute terror to the 1960s featherweight division. With an unprecedented knack for accurate, escalating volume, many men found themselves drowned and beaten only midway into forty-five minutes of hell of psychological and physical torment. To even survive to the end of the fifteenth was an accomplishment. Matsunari Seki came in with an intention to not be like those before and after him. And he did, he met and fought tooth-and-nail with one of the division’s greats to the final bell, even managing to have the champion down and wobbled in the fifth. Yet, Seki paid a price for his grit, as he had to meet the meat-grinding assault as the battle wore on, seeming at several points to wilt. While he threw to the final bell to lose the decision, he was not able to do so again - Saldivar would smash him in the rematch. Yet, for one night, he managed to make Saldivar at his peak look human - as fine an achievement as a losing effort to a great could be - while the Mexican great showed exactly why he was the king of his generation.
098 - Roberto Duran vs Esteban DeJesus II (March 16, 1974)
Months after dethroning Ken Buchanan for lightweight throne, a stay-busy non-title bout saw a young Roberto Duran knocked down a peg - both onto the canvas and as far as reputation via one Esteban DeJesus. Less than two years removed, the now-tested lightweight king met his only blemish for a fourth defense with a chip on his shoulder. The challenger wasn’t done teaching the champion lessons of his own though - the left hook dropped Duran early and would be a force as the bout wore on. But Duran wasn’t the same as he was nearly two years ago - he redoubled his efforts the moment he was back to his feet as he forced a high collision series of inside warfare whereupon it didn’t matter how good DeJesus was - he was going to break. The seventh was just a prelude to the inevitable, as Duran fully returned the favor by having a fatigued and agonized DeJesus down. The stoppage followed as DeJesus finally succumbed to the onslaught of the stronger, faster, and promising man - who would go on to become even greater than he was this night. But make no mistake, it was fighters like Esteban DeJesus that made Duran into the legend he was.
097 - Carl Thompson vs Ezra Sellers (November 26, 2001)
One of the more inevitable results of two big punchers sharing the ring is that someone is liable to be taken out. Suffice it to say, Carl Thompson’s bout with Ezra Sellers wasn’t likely to go past a few rounds anyways, though the two of them upped the ante by making it look like it could end in seconds as both men found themselves down in the first. The second ended up being a repeat and it became clear that only margins and mistakes were just as much factors as luck. Sellers was the one who won there, sending Thompson to the shadow realm permanently.
096 - Timothy Bradley vs Ruslan Provodnikov (March 16, 2013)
Timothy Bradley’s controversial victory over Manny Pacquaio tended to obscure his actual ability and capability. As commentator Jim Lamphley would put it, sometimes the way to win accolades is to overcome adversity. Against the ferocious Ruslan Provodnikov, Bradley wasn’t just pitted in thirty-six minutes to overcome, but to survive by the skin of his teeth. It’s not an exaggeration to call the first two stanzas a disaster, as Bradley tasted clubs for fists that sent him reeling to-and-fro the ring, his cheeky grin the minimal distraction he had from going from concussed to unconscious. Yet, Bradley managed and came back, blistering Provodnikov up with combinations that left the Russian bleeding and his corner concerned - only his own determination kept him marching forward to repeat his earlier successes. And that he did, as Bradley found himself bashed into the ropes by Provodnikov’s equalizer time-and-time again.
In a fight desperately fought as it was to call, Provodnikov’s late fight knockdown wasn’t able to seize the decision on the scorecards, but it was the brutal sort of effort that elevated both men.
095 - James Toney vs Vassily Jirov (April 26, 2003)
The Boxing After Dark crew established a narrative between James Toney’s incredible accuracy and Vassily Jirov’s peerless volume as the premise for the clash for the latter’s IBF cruiserweight belt. Toney’s talent as a fighter was remarkable, though he was not the same prodigy from the early 90s anymore. With a physical workhorse in Vassily Jirov, whose modus operandi involved wearing you down, who knew if Toney was up to the task. But Toney was still every bit the crafty inside specialist and not only met Jirov even with his back to the ropes, he found his potshotting counters that made the former olympian mind himself. The bout was still a test through-and-through, as Toney seemed to need to conserve himself for the perfect moments to capitalize to make a bruised Jirov’s siege to the body waver. It all came down to the twelfth, as Jirov’s aggression finally gave ground from Toney’s short counter hooks, resulting in a mesmerizing finale that brought onlooker and commentator to a fever pitch as Toney knocked his man down to conclude one of the greatest bouts in the cruiserweight division’s ensemble.
094 - Eduardo Lausse vs Gene Fullmer (November 25, 1955)
In a decade full of seasoned terrifying punchers, Eduardo Lausse was one of the standouts. Armed with a monstrous left hook, the Argentine established a name for himself as a crafty boxer, dangerous enough to allegedly rattle even the great Kid Gavilan, and exciting enough that he was much-watch stuff, especially with the right dance partner. Gene Fullmer, a man whose durability was as tested as any man from the era, took that to heart as he whipped hooks that befitted his Cyclone nomenclature in a hellacious barnburner with Lausse. Fullmer paid his toll fee for standing in front of a man who was called ‘KO’ by tasting the canvas enough to lose the bout on points, but his efforts and rallies earned mutual respect between the two at every bell.
093 - Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Richie Kates (February 10, 1978)
To the surprise of no one versed with his or her boxing history, it was inevitable that Matthew Saad Muhammad, formerly Matthew Franklin, was going to appear - and even more so that this will be far from the last. There’s something to be said about a perfect punch landing - and that’s exactly what former title contender Richie Kates managed in the fourth after being on the receiving end of the previous few rounds. The right didn’t just nail Saad, it faceplanted him. Yet, as though he became the very embodiment of his own ring name, “Miracle” Matthew got to his feet. Admittedly, he was fortunate to be saved by the bell - it remained a surreal moment all the same. He took his revenge in the proceeding stanza, having Kates on the verge of defeat, and then wrapping it up in the sixth for good. Kates was as game as you could find, yet in a battle of wills with Saad Muhammad, that was just something you were going to lose.
092 - Lee Roy Murphy vs Chisanda Mutti (October 19, 1985)
While Toney’s battle with Jirov stands as one of cruiserweight’s triumphs for its clash of styles, the meeting between Lee Roy Murphy and Chisanda Mutti manifested as arguably the most punishing bout. Whatever tepidness might have existed was canceled out as it became a contest of who could take the others power. On the outside, the taller Mutti’s left hook and overhand right sent Murphy crashing into the ropes, but Murphy stepped in with his own right and punishing body attack - both men being visibly stunned on a number of occasions. In what was an attritive brawl turned into a dramatic affair in the final third - Murphy touched the canvas in the ninth and Mutti in the eleventh, both rallying from the brink of defeat to keep pushing for that decisive punch.
The ending simply defies description, as both found their moment simultaneously - their respective rights cracked another and both men were on the floor.
Maybe it was where they were, maybe it was chance or the slightest of differences, but one man got to his feet by some miracle: Lee Roy Murphy was the winner.
091 - Giovani Segura vs Ivan Calderon I (August 28, 2010)
When it comes to a clash of styles, one of the most common is the outside boxer playing the matador against the aggressive, come forward bull; the former wants to keep their distance, picking their opponent apart, while the latter plays the long game to wear them down. Ivan Calderon, an unbeaten minimumweight boxing savant, sought to walk the tightrope against the crude Giovani Segura, who made up for his technical deficits with masochistic grit and motor. At first, Calderon makes the lumbering Segura look silly behind masterful footwork and a laser jab, countering almost at will. But as the rounds begin going by, it becomes apparent that Segura simply doesn't stop taking advantage of every chance he gets and, slowly and surely, the gap starts to close. Gradually, Segura’s body assault finally pays off, as Calderon has to plant with his back to his ropes in the fourth and he finds himself down in the fifth. But Calderon’s experience keeps him in there, managing the inside action superbly, tagging Segura continuously even in uncomfortable turf, even managing to stagger the Mexican with thunder that his record would have never suggested. Yet, Segura simply proves to be unstoppable no matter how heroically Calderon fights back - the pace and physicality were too much. This time, the bull saw through the red to mow down the matador. Calderon finally conceded defeat in the eighth, staying down of his own will.
This concludes Part 1. Thank you for reading.
Brilliant article. Thanks for posting