5 of the best boxing fights of all time
What are some of the best fights in the history of boxing? With over a century of battles, Fansided MMA looks at five that stand out as some of the best of all time.
There's a bit of magic that goes into a boxing match. First, boxing in itself is one of the most challenging endeavors one can take on. Then, the two pugilists' styles must mesh well enough together to produce something exciting. To ask fighters who already take a risk just by stepping in the ring to inflict more damage on another is selfish. But when it does happen, it usually generates remarkable results.
The ebbs and flow of a boxing match when two fighters are trading blows is rarely duplicated in other sports. In team sports like basketball or football, there isn't a 20-point shot or a 23-point touchdown, but in boxing, no matter how far behind you may be, it only takes one punch to win.
"Guys, there's nothing like boxing, and there are no athletes like fighters," said legendary sports commentator Jim Lampley during the HBO broadcast of the first fight between Erik Morles and Manny Pacquiao in March 2005. "There's nowhere else in sports you'll find greater passion, greater intensity, greater courage, greater commitment, greater sheer guts than what these two guys are showing you. This is boxing at its best."
There are no guarantees in boxing. It is very much the theatre of the unknown. Sometimes, the best fights seem to come out of a catalog and deliver memorable results. Others, unexplainably, can leave fans disappointed even when the stakes are high. So, when an unforgettable match takes place, it should be celebrated.
Amid the 100-plus-year history of boxing, great fights have occurred on all stages. Salvos of punches have been traded on small club shows to giant PPV extravaganzas.
Fansided MMA will assess five of the best boxing fights in the history of the sweet science. All will be of enough quality to convert non-boxing fans into hardcore enthusiasts.