3 Fights That Will Never Be Forgotten - Part 2

[Music] boxing is one of the most famous contact sports in the world in the middle of the last century with the beginning of the era of television boxing acquired the status of the most popular martial art in the world in today's video we are going to take a look at the history of boxing from the perspective of the best boxing fights which had a huge epic making significance in the history of boxing these are legendary fights that filled huge stadiums grab the attention of hundreds of millions of spectators and forever change the history of boxing itself if you enjoyed watching this episode on our channel please click the thumbs up and subscribe to the world of boxing here we grab a sense of nostalgia and recall the best fights in the ring which go down in the annals of boxing history [Music] october 30th 1974 a unique event for many reasons the world super heavyweight champion 25 year old george foreman is defending four titles in the wba and wbc in a duel against former world champion the 32 year old muhammad ali in 1968 foreman went to the olympic games in mexico with an amateur record of 16 wins four defeats and left the tournament with a gold medal in his three and a half years as a professional george achieved the status of a mandatory challenger when his record stood at 37-0 with 34 knockouts he went into the ring against joe frazier who two years earlier had given muhammad ali his first defeat foreman literally destroyed frazier in less than six minutes as for the challenger muhammad ali did not waste time after losing to frasier to start his way back to the top he won 10 victories in two years but then unexpectedly lost to ken norton in march of 1973 he went on to take revenge on norton and then frazier who by that time had already lost his title in the fight with foreman ali acquired the status of contender the promoter of the fight was don king who promised the boxers 5 million each but king's promise was empty because he didn't have that kind of money searching for options around the world brought king to the african continent the city of kinsasha the capital of zaire a state that today bears the name of the democratic republic of congo the fight was scheduled for september 24th but due to an injury foreman received during training the event was postponed to october 30th and held at 4 00 am african local time to meet the interests of the american audiences at the time of the fight with ali forman had a series of 24 knockouts in a row in the first round ali started as expected against such a worthy opponent who could easily have made him his 25th knockout ali moved a lot and would strike suddenly being in danger in the second round to the surprise of his trainer angelo dundee ali stopped dancing around foreman and planted his feet firmly spending a lot of time on the ropes while not in the most favorable position ali only occasionally responded to blows but when he did he was very accurate oh what a combination [Music] in the third round ali trying to move away from the ropes found himself back against them on the other side of the ring big george almost very rarely attacked ali's head instead he inflicted quite a few heavy blows on the torso ali threw fewer blows but when he did they were very accurate in this way he attempted to pick up points by two good attacks at the end of the round [Applause] after the third round it was noted that foreman was moving too fast and tried to end the fight quickly which could have a negative effect conversely angelo dundee was shouting at ali to not stand at the ropes ali ignored his coach replying i know what i'm doing already by round five foreman looked exhausted but instead of taking advantage of the situation ali continued his famous tactic called rope-a-dope he stood at the ropes and by leaning on them and dodging he nullified foreman's attacks at the same time ali behaved passively thereby letting his opponent attack and even when foreman was noticeably tired ali continued to provoke him to attack ali waited for foreman to have no strength left and only then switched over to a counter [Applause] attack [Applause] before the fight ali in every possible way would provoke big george moreover ali managed to sway the local audience's favor against foremen until they were shouting for ali to kill him during the match without thinking about protection george fiercely attacked but he did it recklessly and spent a lot of energy in vain by the seventh round the attacks of big george became rare and languid the punches were slow and even ali's jab seemed powerful and before the start of the eighth round joe frazier said based on what i see george will definitely not reach the end round eight ali throws a few accurate punches but then goes back to the ropes foreman tries to mount an attack but no longer has the strength he is in the grip of a man who proclaimed himself the greatest and then proved it in the ring [Applause] when asked about his tactics after the fight with ali george replied i was a [ __ ] today at that time muhammad ali was only the second boxer in history after floyd patterson who managed to regain the title of super heavyweight world champion [Laughter] september 23 1952 philadelphia pennsylvania usa 29 year old heavyweight rocky marciano earned the right to fight for the world title at the time the holder of the title was 38 year old jersey joe walcott who in july 1951 took away the belt from ezard charles this fight at the time was the largest in terms of broadcasts as it could be watched in 49 cinemas in 31 cities of the usa although marciano was a contender he went to the fight as a favorite with a slight advantage walcott weighed in at 89.1 kilograms with marciano weighing 83.7 kilograms the fight began with a clinch but walcott inflicted several heavy blows and after a while the champion's exact left hook set marciano to the floor for marciano this knockdown was the first in his career but he quickly got up and the fight continued it's worth noting that at the time there was no count rule for knockdowns and the referees at the time could immediately give a signal to continue the fight even if the boxer was down for a while despite this start of the fight the second half of the round marciano was able to counter some of walcott's attacks in the second round walcott inflicted a heavy right-handed cross but marciano went to a clinch to defend [Applause] himself [Music] [Applause] the third round the boxers finished with a hard-hitting exchange in the fourth round marciano managed to inflict several heavy body blows at close range but walcott did not leave marciano's attack unanswered [Applause] in the sixth round as with previous ones marciano began on the offense and managed to make a good attack but walcott responded quickly despite the fact that he missed defending against walcott's blows he began to succeed in delivering precise and tough attacks and walcott began to show signs of [Music] fatigue [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome back did not come out in the seventh round as vigorously as he did in the previous one and in this round he tried to work the jab to keep marciano at a distance and it worked out well for him as marciano couldn't find his target as successfully as before [Applause] in the ninth round marciano managed to get close to his opponent but despite the fatigue and a cut near walcott's eye he continued to respond to attacks despite this walcott managed to show a good defense in the 10th round the situation changed again marciano's strikes started to hit their target and walcott's activity fell rapidly as he often stagnated at the ropes and he counter-attacked less often thereby provoking rocky to increase the [Applause] pressure all they've got joe's taking it goes [Music] [Applause] rocky [Applause] the tenth round turned out to be very active on the part of marciano but in the 11th round he noticeably slowed down allowing walcott to deliver several dangerous blows including a strong left hook [Music] confidently leading this round gave jersey joe strength to continue in the 12th round although rocky scored the first hard hit wolcott won the round [Music] guy with three rounds remaining jersey joe looked more confident than marciano the 13th round began as all the previous ones but ended in a completely different way marciano avoiding walcott strikes pursued him and actively attacks walcott prepared to retaliate however rocky delivers a fast blow wolcott crouches on the ropes and then falls face down on the canvas remaining in this position until the referee had finished the countdown at that time jersey joe walcott was leading in all three cards of the judges and to maintain the title he just needed to carefully finish the fight to the end that's how rocky marciano first made a name for himself in boxing history that's how he began his championship path and ended up becoming our first choice for super heavyweights who finished their career without suffering a single defeat in the professional reign his first fight with walcott received the title fight of the year and the final round of the fight was called the round of the year after eight months these boxers met again and rocky marciano won again by knockout but this time in the first round june 20th 1980 olympic stadium in montreal canada 24 year old american sugar ray leonard holds his second defense of the wbc semi-middleweight world title his rival is the 29 year old panamanian boxer roberto duran who came into this weight category two years ago and before that had fought two categories lower in the lightweight where of 13 fights for the world title he won all 13 with 12 by knockout at the time of this fight leonard had 27 victories with 18 knockouts and no defeats duran's total record was 71 victories 56 knockouts and one defeat on points in which he later had a rematch and knocked out the opponent bookmakers considered leonard a favorite at two to one however among boxing reviewers odds were slightly different in a poll of 30 reviewers 13 thought that leonard would win one thought there would be a draw and 16 people voted in favor of duran the panamanian boxer received 1.5 million for this fight and leonard's purse ranged from 8 to 10 million and at that time it was the biggest royalty in boxing history leonard's purse had overtaken even the super heavyweights the fight took place in montreal for a reason it was in this city that leonard received his gold medal at the olympic games in 1976. leonard's honorarium consisted of more than third of the money of the canadian committee which paid three and a half million for the fight to take place at the olympic stadium 46 000 spectators gathered in the arena that evening and in the usa the fight was broadcast on pay-per-view it is worth noting that this fight was jointly organized by bob arum and don king before the fight duran put strong psychological pressure on leonard in numerous ways believing that sugar ray was too confident as a result leonard said that he would not fight in his usual style and to the surprise of many after the start of the fight he moved very little standing firmly on his feet [Applause] the first round went to leonard and in the second he continued to act in a similar vein standing right in front of duran but as it turned out duran watched closely anticipated leonard's movements and reacted using quick combinations which shocked leonard seriously [Applause] watch his legs leonard had never been in such a dangerous position against such an aggressive rival and a completely different sugar ray came out in the third round he did not think about the attack but mainly about the defense and duran pressed him effortlessly to the ropes and started delivering hard blows [Applause] sugar ray did not want to allow duran to be the master of the ring he tried to press him back to the center but even then the panamanian was more accurate and dangerous round four before the fight everyone was waiting for leonard to counter-attack duran but at this moment roberto caught sugar ray and threw him to the [Applause] i said that he didn't ropes a real sweat he's got one now as he punched himself out durant will never punch himself at the end of the round leonard explodes completing the attack with a hard left hook durand won his third round in a row but leonard had not given up in round five sugar ray starts with a hard left hook then the boxers exchange blows at close range and at the end of the round leonard explodes again but much more effectively than in the previous three minutes leonard tries a well-known strategy element that can be useful in this fight finishing the round strong and thereby influencing the judges to vote in his favor [Applause] the next round sugar ray starts again with a left hook then duran pushes him to the ropes but roberto doesn't get much and leonard counterattacks well in round seven and eight the pace slowed slightly the boxers both exchanged successful attacks the most dangerous moment was at the end of round eight when duran caught leonard with a hard right cross right hand as it lands there's a left look at that right hand flush and back in round nine leonard threw very few blows with duran controlling although in the end sugar ray tries to attack once more however duran's blows during the exchange looked much stronger [Applause] round 10 turned out to be close but followed the same pattern ending with a strong exchange of blows this time leonard looks better in the next three minutes the exchange of blows continues as before punches now by leonard trying to take him with a right without the authority that he had in the other in the other rounds he slowed down oh leonard leading the tattoo but derek [Applause] [Applause] in round 12 the fighters were more calm clearly recovering from the previous round however there were still a few exchanges of blows in general it was difficult to assess who won the round and it was becoming harder to say who would win the fight with roberto [Applause] round 13 duran lands a powerful left hook a little later leonard tries to answer but is struck again by another blow [Applause] the boxers exchange right crosses after which leonard pushes duran to the ropes but duran pushes back with a series of punches [Applause] in the last 30 seconds of the round the boxers engage in one of the most furious exchanges of the fight [Applause] is still in front of them [Applause] when sugar ray returned to his corner between the 13th and 14th rounds it was hard to imagine the thoughts that were running through his head many years later he recalled precisely these seconds of the fight stating i asked myself do i want to continue i will go out and finish the fight with the bell leonard threw himself in duran and a little later carried out a spectacular attack but duran still did not back off and delivered more hard blows in this round than leonard [Applause] leonard at the end of the round leonard was noted for his effective attack but in retrospect it was clear that duran performed better in his final round roberto durand came out confident that he would be victorious leonard took advantage of some opportunities but this was not enough he lost the fight on the scorecard of the judges to reduce the fight to a draw which would have allowed him to retain the title he needed at least one knock down after 12 rounds the fight was a draw but it was won by duran in the 13th and 14th rounds the result of the fight was the victory of roberto duran by unanimous decision of the judges on one card duran's advantage was two points on the other two it was just one point sugar ray leonard suffered his first defeat in the professional reign and although by the end of his career he would lose twice more this loss was the only one during the peak of leonard's career 33 years after this fight leonard admitted of all my rivals duran was at a different level and from the very first day of preparation for the fight i understood that i hadn't had such a confrontation yet and i must admit he frightened me he knew what and how to say to get under my skin no one even had a clue how it affected me as i hit it [Applause] thank you for watching this video if you liked it please press the like button subscribe to the channel and stay tuned for new episodes about the great legends of the past you

Channel: The World of Boxing!

Views: 3,017,949

Rating: 4.751719 out of 5

Keywords: Boxing, legendary fights, George Foreman vs Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano vs Jersey Joe Walcott, Sugar Ray Leonard vs Roberto Duran

Id: rEOMLD5o_pg

Length: 26min 55sec (1615 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 08 2020