BoxingGreatestFights

BGM #8 HEARNS vs LEONARD 1 & 2 Sugar Ray Leonard won the WBC welterweight title with a fifteenth-round knockout of Wilfred Benítez in 1979. He lost it to Roberto Durán by a close decision in June 1980 and regained it five months later in the infamous No Más Fight, in which Duran quit in the eighth round. In June 1981, Leonard moved up to the light-middleweight division for one fight, knocking out Ayub Kalule in nine rounds to win the WBA light-middleweight title. Hearns won the WBA welterweight title in 1980, scoring a second-round knockout of Jose 'Pipino' Cuevas in Detroit, Michigan. He made three successful title defenses, stopping Luis Primera, Randy Shields, and Pablo Baez. Promoted as "The Showdown" Leonard (30-1 with 21 KO) fought Hearns (32-0 with 30 KO) on September 16, 1981, at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, NV to unify the world welterweight championship in a scheduled fifteen-rounder. They fought before a live crowd of 23,618 and a worldwide TV audience of some 300 million.

BGM #7 MUHAMNAD ALI SKILLS AND BRAINS This DVD contains two documentaries about boxing legend Muhammad Ali, one focusing on Ali's brilliance in the ring and the other on his natural

BGM #6 ALI vs FOREMAN Don King arranged the fight with music businessman Jerry Masucci, who took his record label's showcase group, the Fania All-Stars, to play at the venue. King managed to get Ali and Foreman to sign separate contracts saying they would fight for him if he could get a $5 million purse. Such an amount of money, quite enormous for those days, was purported to prevent other top boxing promoters from attempts to arrange a Foreman vs. Ali match. However, as King did not have the money, and was not welcomed to stage an event of such a profile in the United States, he began seeking an outside country to stage and sponsor the event. Fred Weymar, an American advisor to Zaire's dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, persuaded Mobutu that the publicity such a high-profile event would generate would help his regime, and Mobutu agreed for the fight to be held in his country. In a TV interview, King stated that Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was involved in making the payment for the purse money for the athletes and other major expenses, although the precise process was not made clear.[12] King had pulled together a consortium that included Risnelia Investment from Panama; the Hemdale Film Corporation, a British company founded by film producer John Daly and the actor David Hemmings; Video Techniques Incorporated of New York; and Don King Productions. Although King is most closely associated with the fight, Hemdale and Video Techniques Inc., with whom King was a director, were the bout's official co-promoters. The fight was broadcast on closed-circuit television in theaters in the United States and on over-the-air television throughout the world. The play-by-play commentary was done by "Colonel" Bob Sheridan. Color commentary was done by Jim Brown, David Frost, and Joe Frazier.

Pt 2 Andy Ruiz Jr shocks world with knockout of Anthony Joshua … Andy Ruiz Jr sprang one of the biggest shocks in heavyweight championship history on Saturday night when he spoiled Anthony Joshua’s US debut with a seventh-round technical knockout at Madison Square Garden. The unheralded 29-year-old from southern California, a replacement opponent dialled in on five weeks’ notice who went off as a 11-1 underdog, came off the floor in the third round to drop Joshua twice before the end of the frame, then sent the undefeated champion crashing to the canvas for a third and fourth time in the seventh round before referee Mike Griffin put a stop to the proceedings at the 1:27 mark. “I just feel so good, man,” said an elated Ruiz, who captured Joshua’s WBA, WBO and IBF belts in a stunner that ranks alongside Buster Douglas v Mike Tyson and James Braddock v Max Baer among the most seismic in the division’s centuries-spanning annals. “This is what I have been dreaming about. This is what I have been working hard for. I can’t believe I just made my dreams come true.” Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs), who was only even in a position for the life-changing upset because Joshua’s original opponent, Brooklyn’s Jarrell Miller, failed three tests for different performance-enhancing drugs shortly after the match-up was announced, became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title in the most dramatic fashion imaginable. “It’s because of the Mexican warrior I am,” said Ruiz, an Imperial Valley native and resident who spent time growing up in the border town of Mexicali and represented Mexico at the 2008 Olympic trials. “I have that Mexican blood in me. Talking about the Mexican fighting style, I just proved it.” #AndyRuiz #AnthonyJoshua #Vansilk1127

BGM #5 Ali, Wepner and Referee Agree—A Dirty Fight! @muhammadali THE GREATEST!! This fight was dirty. WEPNER continues to hit Ali behind the head and the referee did nothing . So Ali retaliated. Ali Wins in Round 15 Muhammad Ali retained his world heavyweight title by knocking out Chuck Wepner in the 15th round last night in Richfield, Ohio. Ken Norton stopped Jerry Quarry in the fifth round in a preliminary at Madison Square Garden. Details on Page 39. RICHFIELD, Ohio, March 24—Muhammad Ali had much to say about Chuch Wepner after knocking him out in the 15th round tonight. Some of it was complimentary. “He's better than you all gave him credit for,” Ali told his audience in a crowded interview room. “I knew he could scuffle. He punched himself out, but I was surprised he didn't do it quicker.” That's O.K.,” said Ali. “That's his wife. I know how she feels.” Rabbit Punches Cited Ali was bitter about the requent rabbit‐punching angry at Wepner for doing it and angry at Referee Tony Perez for allowing it. It's bad to let a man, especially a white man, fight a man like me that way,” said Ali. “Near the end, when he had his hands down, I tried to knock his head off. I used to back off. But this man fought me dirty all the way and the referee was dirty. I tried to annihilate Wepner. I got two lumps on the back of my head. He did that with rabbit punches.” Ali save dmost of his anger for Perez. “He's a dirty referee,” said Ali, “a dirty dog. He let that man bang me on the head. I never want him again. If he referees me again, someone is going to lose money because I won't fight.” Perez offered another view. “They were both complaining and both rabbit‐punching,” he said, “so I didn't take points from either. The words they were saying to each other cannot be printed.” #MuhammadAli #ChuckWepner #Vansilk1127

Andy Ruiz Jr shocks world with knockout of Anthony Joshua for heavyweight championship… Andy Ruiz Jr sprang one of the biggest shocks in heavyweight championship history on Saturday night when he spoiled Anthony Joshua’s US debut with a seventh-round technical knockout at Madison Square Garden. The unheralded 29-year-old from southern California, a replacement opponent dialled in on five weeks’ notice who went off as a 11-1 underdog, came off the floor in the third round to drop Joshua twice before the end of the frame, then sent the undefeated champion crashing to the canvas for a third and fourth time in the seventh round before referee Mike Griffin put a stop to the proceedings at the 1:27 mark. “I just feel so good, man,” said an elated Ruiz, who captured Joshua’s WBA, WBO and IBF belts in a stunner that ranks alongside Buster Douglas v Mike Tyson and James Braddock v Max Baer among the most seismic in the division’s centuries-spanning annals. “This is what I have been dreaming about. This is what I have been working hard for. I can’t believe I just made my dreams come true.” Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs), who was only even in a position for the life-changing upset because Joshua’s original opponent, Brooklyn’s Jarrell Miller, failed three tests for different performance-enhancing drugs shortly after the match-up was announced, became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title in the most dramatic fashion imaginable. “It’s because of the Mexican warrior I am,” said Ruiz, an Imperial Valley native and resident who spent time growing up in the border town of Mexicali and represented Mexico at the 2008 Olympic trials. “I have that Mexican blood in me. Talking about the Mexican fighting style, I just proved it.” #AndyRuiz #AnthonyJoshua #Vansilk1127

BGM #2 Joseph Parker stuns Deontay Wilder, boxing world with one-sided victory Forget Deontay Wilder vs. Anthony Joshua. Wilder could be finished as an elite fighter. Joseph Parker did a brilliant job of avoiding Wilder’s vaunted right hand and more than enough offensively to win a one-sided decision in a battle of former heavyweight titleholders Saturday night in Saudi Arabia. The official scores were 120-108, 118-110 and 118-111. Boxing Junkie scored it 118-110 for Parker, 10 rounds to two. “Coming into this fight, everyone had other plans, but this is God’s plan,” Parker said. “Today, what a win. Merry Christmas to us.” Parker hurt Wilder only once — the result of an overhand right last in Round 8 — but his inability to put him down or knock him out didn’t detract from a dominating performance. Wilder gave kudos to Parker afterward. “He did a great job avoiding a lot of my punches,” Wilder said. “We make no excuses tonight. It was a good fight, and we move on to the next thing.” The victory was one of the biggest in the career of Parker, who has won four consecutive fights since he was stopped by Joe Joyce in September of last year. He’s now in a strong position to fight for a major title in the coming year. Meanwhile, Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) had fought only one round in the past two years, his first-round knockout of Robert Helenius in October of last year. That followed back-to-back knockout losses to Tyson Fury, which might’ve taken something out of the 38-year-old. #deontaywilder #JosephParker #Vansilk1127

BGM #1 Marvin Hagler vs Tommy Hearns. #1 (1985) Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns (originally billed as The Fight,referred to afterwards as The War) was a world middleweight championship boxing match between undisputed champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler and challenger Thomas Hearns, the WBC super welterweight champion, who had gone up in weight for the bout. Won by Hagler by third-round knockout, the fight is considered by some to be the greatest three rounds in boxing history, due to its constant action, drama, and violent back-and-forth exchanges. #BkxingGreatestfjghts1958 #TommyHearns #MarvinHagler