Favorite boxers/favorite fights

[HaloMilliVanilli]

I've been watching boxing since the late 70's.  Thought it might be interesting to find out who our fight fans are, who your favorite fighters are (or were).  I suppose this could be a "who are your current favorites", "who are your all-time top-5 or 10", and "what are the best fights you've ever witnessed"?

 

Go!

[St1ck]

Mike Tyson

[AngelsLongBall]

De La Hoya back in the day, coupled with Tito's Tacos and a sixer was the shit

[VariousCrap]

This is tough because for most, it is relative to what time you are watching boxing.  Sugar Ray Robinson is the greatest fighter the sport has ever seen.  The guy was incredible.  Watch his fights on YouTube and be blown away.  He also had no problem constantly going up and down in weight to fight the big guys and the small guys, but I can't connect to him because I didn't get to live it.

 

Tyson and the Rocky movies are what got me into boxing as a kid.  The 90's were all about De LaHoya, Tito and Vargas for me.  I've grown to love and appreciate what Hopkins does in the ring.  A prime Roy Jones Jr. was incredible.  Gatti wasn't an elite fighter, but the dude fought wars in the ring that were amazing.  Mexican warriors like Eric Morales were always awesome to watch and a prime Pacman was great.

 

Currently, I really like Canelo, Adrien Broner, Brandon Rios and Andre Ward.  Sergio Martinez is a great fighter and Golovkin is someone to watch.  I think Wlad Klitschko is fun to watch if you enjoy watching someone beat the crap out of their opponents for 12 rounds.  I just wish he'd go for the kill more often. 

 

Boxing has a ton of great fighters now, but they are all in lower weight classes.

[HaloMilliVanilli]

Mike Tyson

Loved....loved...loved Mike Tyson.  Just Youtubed the video of his fight with Michael Spinks.  Just devastating.  Spinks was previously the Light Heavyweight champ, moved up to Heavyweight because there were no challengers at Light Heavy, and beat Larry Holmes for the title.  At the time of this fight with Iron Mike, he was like 31-0 with 24 KO's, but no longer held Heavyweight belts.  I watched Spinks fight many times.  He was a tremendous champion at the lower division.  Mike ate him for lunch.  He was simply ferocious.

[Hollyw00d]

James "lights out" toney

[Vernster52]

Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini.

 

Love it when he killed that guy.

[gotbeer]

Rocky, the first one.  

 

But the best fight was when I was in Japan.  Tyson vs Douglas.  

[AngelArcher]

I named my son Tyson so you can pretty much guess who I'm a fan of.

[stevestevens]

Soda Popinski

[Tank]

It was incredible to watch Tyson in his prime. I'm not sure anyone else ever hit that hard.

[Jim]

No question. Hagler/Hearns fight  

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I haven't been interested in boxing since Muhammad Ali was in his prime. Don't watch it at all now. I am aware of who the major fighters are and generally who is winning (mainly due to SportsCenter), but I haven't watched a match in decades.

[notherhalo]

my all time fav, best right ever

 

Edited September 15, 2013 by notherhalo

[IEAngelsfan]

I never liked fighters who talked crap (ex. Ali and those that followed him).  Yeah, I understand it sells tickets, but I always preferred fighters who didn't speak much, but let their hands do all the talking in the ring.

 

My all time favorite boxer who carried himself with humility and class was Alexis Arguello. That guy had all the respect for his opponents outside of the ring, but during the fight, boy could he hit.

 

There were other fighters who I loved to watch because they would just brawl.  Marvin Hagler, Bazooka Limon,  and Danny Little Red Lopez to name a few.

[Brandon]

Grew up with Tyson and the end of Sugar Ray Leonard. Liked Julio Cesar Chavez the most.

No fights really stand out except for two Tyson fights, the dive by Bruce Seldon and that white guy nicknamed Hurricane that Tyson knocked out in something like six seconds.

[Richard]

Arturo Gatti was must watch tv growing up. RIP

[VariousCrap]

As for my favorite fight, I have two that I really love.

 

De LaHoya vs. Vargas

 

This was a huge fight for my wifes family and friends.  Their Mexican, and they were split 50/50 on who they were rooting for.  This made for a great party to watch this fight and tons of trash talk.  I was rooting for Oscar and it turned out to be a great night for him.

 

Diego Corrales vs. Jose Louise Castillo

 

This is a fight from the early 2000's that most boxing commentators and hardcore fans say is the best fight of the last 50 years.  It is a brutal, action packed fight.  It is on YouTube.  Watch it.  Boxing commentators and hardcore fans say the last round of the fight is one of the best rounds in boxing history.

[HaloMilliVanilli]

No question. Hagler/Hearns fight  

If it isn't the best fight, it is at the very least the most exciting 3 rounds ever IMO.  I wish that Tommy Hearns could've been blessed with a better chin.  If that fight could've gone twice as long at that pace, it would've been EPIC!

[Punk]

Oscar De La Hoya

[HaloMilliVanilli]

My favorite fighters were Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Ali (although most of his fights I watched via tape), and Mike Tyson.  There were other fighters I also enjoyed watching but I didn't have as much rooting interest for them, like Oscar, Julio Cesar Chavez, Alexis Arguello, Aaron Pryor, Michael Spinks, Trinidad, Holyfield, Roberto Duran, etc.  From roughly 1979 (first fight I remember was Sugar Ray/Duran I) until the early 2000's, I watched all of the big fights via Pay-Per-View and occasionally caught a good fight on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

 

I, too, never cared for fighters who were too flashy or ran their mouths, or those that dodged the best fighters (ahem....Mayweather)

[Brandon]

I forgot to mention I was really into James Toney when he came out and was pumped when he got a shot at Roy Jones Jr.

I think the only athlete to have a further fall from grace was Len Bias. Toney had it all then just got fat and lazy.