1. Frazier-Ali 1: Epic fight, the irrestable force vs. the immovable object. Ali never hit harder and he still only hurt Joe visibly once. Joe was at his absolute peak, never fought better before or after. The only thing that could have made it more compelling was if Ali had faith to move like he used to, he stated that he didn't think he could move for fifteen so he stood flatfooted most of the fight. Significant in many ways and the most obvious was it was truly a great fight.
2. Hagler-hearns: Short and sweet, two fighters at or close to their peaks but each desperate for the win and recognition as the real superstar of the sport. Hagler that fought on this night would have run Leonard out of the ring, Tommy thought his power would do all the work, he was wrong.
3. Pryor-Arguello 1: This one is arguable the best fight of that decade, two great champions, like the hearns hagler fight, trying to compete for superstar status that Sugar Ray Leonard showed could be theirs. Both complained about Leonards status, Arguello, in particular made it a point to say how he was a champion way befor ray and thought his nationality was the reason for a lack of recognition. I swear, Ray Leonards shadow gave us a lot of great fights and a lot of really good fighters who rushed to fill the void when he said goodbye the first time.
4. Clay-Liston: Chuvalo claimed this was ali's best performance and it was something. The size and grace was mesmerizing against a guy trying to hurt him badly. I've always thought this Ali may have been unbeatable, even though he was a few years away from his heavyweight peak which, as we know, we were all cheated out of.
5. Marquez-Pacquiao 4: Like the ones above, two guys laying it all on the line, after 3 previous fights, neither fighter seemed to want to see each other again. manny was absolutely on his way to taking Marquez out and he knew it, he got careless and what we saw, I love it because even though I love Manny, I love boxing more and that fight was great for boxing.
