With yesterday being the anniversary of one of many biggest fights of all-time within the middleweight division, looks as if now’s pretty much as good a time as any to look again and assess the all-time greatest and greatest donnybrooks at 160 kilos, however with one caveat: this record is restricted to when middleweight boxers have been truly, you recognize, middleweights. With the appearance of the day earlier than weigh-in we are able to by no means make sure what we’re taking a look at when two fighters who simply spent greater than 24 hours re-hydrating face off. Name us old style, however we like our middleweights someplace near the 160 pound weight restrict. So with out additional ado, we current the twelve all-time greatest, most enjoyable, and most legendary clashes within the historical past of the middleweight division.
12. Dec. 3, 1926: Mickey Walker W10 Tiger Flowers. Regardless of the match being scheduled for ten rounds, this conflict of ring legends was for the world title. Walker was making an attempt to get all the best way again to the highest after struggling defeats to Pete Latzo and Joe Dundee, whereas Tiger was coming off a powerful 10-1 run that 12 months, together with two large wins over Harry Greb. Press accounts present that almost all thought Flowers clearly acquired the most effective of “The Toy Bulldog” that night time, however the determination went to Walker and was not overturned regardless of an official investigation by the Illinois Athletic Fee.
11. Sept. 13, 1950: Jake LaMotta KO15 Laurent Dauthuille. The person they referred to as “The Bronx Bull” had in reality dropped a ten spherical determination to Dauthuille the 12 months earlier than in Montreal, however then 4 months later he defeated Marcel Cerdan for the world title. Now with the championship on the road, Dauthuille, aka “The Tarzan of Buzenval,” was in command, racking up the factors and amassing an enormous lead in a troublesome, bruising battle. When the bell rang for spherical fifteen, Jake wanted a knockout to win whereas Dauthuille simply wanted to outlive. With time working out, a seemingly damage and exhausted LaMotta abruptly unloaded a fearsome barrage of massive punches to topple the Frenchman who was counted out with simply 13 seconds left on the clock.
10. Might 1, 1957: Sugar Ray Robinson KO5 Gene Fullmer. Many thought the nice Robinson was completed after he misplaced the world title to Fullmer by determination the earlier January in a bruising battle that noticed Ray truly knocked out of the ring by “The Utah Cyclone.” However as an alternative of a farewell combat, it was one other big win for Sugar Ray, to not point out one of many biggest one-punch knockouts in ring historical past.
9. Aug. 19, 1926: Tiger Flowers W15 Harry Greb. Madison Sq. Backyard was jammed for the third and last confrontation between “The Georgia Deacon” and “The Smoke Metropolis Wildcat.” After fifteen hard-fought rounds the choice went to Flowers, and whereas the pro-Greb crowd didn’t prefer it one bit, most at ringside agreed with the decision.
8. Feb. 24, 1989: Roberto Duran W12 Iran Barkley. Whereas all acknowledged that Duran was without end a pound-for-pound all-time nice, few envisioned the previous light-weight king, now 37-years-old, overcoming the problem of a youthful, greater, stronger man in Barkley. In any case, Barkley was coming off a devastating stoppage win over Thomas Hearns, the identical fighter who had annihilated Roberto again in 1984. Moreover, it was now virtually 22 years since Duran’s professional profession had begun, and virtually six years since he had defeated a prime ranked opponent. However what unfolded on that wintry night time in Atlantic Metropolis solely added to the legend of “Manos de Piedra” as he battled “The Blade” on principally even phrases earlier than staging a dramatic, late spherical rally to attain a knockdown and win his fourth world title by twelve spherical cut up determination. The thrilling battle was everybody’s alternative for 1989’s Combat of the Yr.
7. July 16, 1947: Rocky Graziano TKO 6 Tony Zale. Sadly, no official movie was fabricated from the blood and thunder brawl that passed off in entrance of an enormous crowd at Chicago Stadium, which set a brand new indoor-gate document, however the majority of fortunate souls who witnessed the legendary trilogy between “The Man Of Metal” and “Rocky Bob” regarded their second slugfest, 1947’s Combat of the Yr, as probably the most thrilling and action-packed. Graziano overcame a horrible pounding within the early going, in addition to a nasty lower and swellings round each eyes, to come back roaring again and virtually knock Zale out of the ring earlier than the referee halted the brutal struggle. One of many biggest slugfests in boxing historical past.
6. April 6, 1987: Sugar Ray Leonard W12 Marvelous Marvin Hagler. It was the record-setting superfight that few on the time noticed coming, with Leonard unexpectedly rising from retirement to problem the dominant and undisputed middleweight champion who had not misplaced a combat in eleven years. Many anticipated a crushing Hagler win, however as an alternative the 2 veterans supplied a extremely aggressive twelve spherical waltz and, in an enormous upset, two of the three judges scored Sugar Ray the winner.
5. Sept. 23, 1957: Carmen Basilio W15 Sugar Ray Robinson. Some forty thousand followers have been readily available at New York’s Yankee Stadium to see welterweight world champ Basilio problem middleweight champ Sugar Ray, the combat additionally broadcast to 170 closed-circuit theatres. The historic match-up greater than lived as much as the anticipation with Sugar Ray and “The Onion Farmer” staging an impressive, back-and-forth struggle that noticed Basilio take an in depth determination after fifteen action-packed rounds.
4. Feb. 14, 1951: Sugar Ray Robinson TKO13 Jake LaMotta. The legendary “St. Valentine’s Bloodbath” was the sixth and last chapter within the nice rivalry between Robinson and “The Bronx Bull,” the match attracting a giant crowd to Chicago Stadium and an enormous viewers on dwelling tv. Quick-paced and aggressive by the primary eleven rounds, after that it changed into a one-sided battering. The 2-fisted pounding LaMotta endured in rounds twelve and 13 was nothing in need of brutal earlier than the referee lastly stopped it and Robinson gained the world middleweight title for the primary time.
3. July 2, 1925: Harry Greb W15 Mickey Walker. It was fifteen livid rounds between two of the perfect to ever lace ’em up, each of their primes. And whereas it was a battle between the middleweight and welterweight champions, Walker gave away solely seven kilos, not a troubling distinction contemplating that 5 months earlier than “The Toy Bulldog” had defeated gentle heavyweight Mike McTigue. Some fifty thousand stuffed up the Polo Grounds in New York to witness what was, by all stories, a very nice combat, the match changing into extra intense and fast-paced because the rounds glided by. The lethal shut wrestle and a unanimous determination for “The Pittsburgh Windmill” was sealed in spherical fourteen when Greb battered Walker and virtually put him down.
2. Sept. 12, 1951: Sugar Ray Robinson TKO 10 Randy Turpin. When Turpin of England had defeated Robinson for the world middleweight title in entrance of a hometown crowd the earlier July, it was one of many greatest upsets in boxing historical past. Two months later, an enormous throng sold-out the Polo Grounds in New York Metropolis to see if Sugar Ray may regain the championship. A dramatic battle unfolded which noticed “The Prince of Harlem” begin properly, earlier than Turpin started to realize the higher hand, within the course of re-opening a deep gash over Robinson’s left eye. Realizing the lower was extreme sufficient to power a stoppage, Sugar Ray attacked, knocking Turpin down after which pounding him mercilessly till the referee stopped the match with simply seconds remaining in spherical ten.
1. April 15, 1985: Marvelous Marvin Hagler TKO3 Thomas Hearns. One of many biggest and largest superfights within the legendary “4 Kings” sequence, Hagler vs Hearns grew to become a very big occasion after Sugar Ray Leonard retired after which each males notched wins over Roberto Duran. Marvelous Marvin Hagler was the middleweight king; Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns held a model of the 154 pound title. Collectively they have been, arguably, pound-for-pound, the 2 greatest lively fighters on the planet. A sell-out crowd at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and hundreds of thousands on closed-circuit tv, witnessed one of the thrilling brawls in boxing historical past with each warriors surprised in a hellacious opening spherical, maybe the best since Dempsey vs Firpo, earlier than a bleeding Hagler rallied to batter The Motor Metropolis Cobra into helplessness in spherical three.
