Boxings greatest rivalry

Yep you all guessed it.

Ali vs Frazier.

As everyone knows, they had a trilogy and arguably two of the best fights in heavyweight history.

Their first fight was the fight of the century. You had the unbeaten champion coming back to reclaim his crown. In the opposite corner, was a hungry young, strong undefeated champ, who was looking to prove he is the real undisputed heavyweight King.

Frazier takes the decision, with a strong finish after a hard fought battle.

Fight 2 was lacking the drama of their first encounter. Frazier had been decimated by the monster Foreman, in two brutal rounds.

Ali was able to jab and box his way to a clear decision, to even the score.

After Ali does the unthinkable and topples the unbeatable champ Foreman, all at the not so tender age of 32, he defends his belt against his rival the following year.

The third fight Is the real reason I wrote this dung thread.

They had their third fight in the blistering heat of Manilla. Ali expected Frazier to be a walking punch bag and expected to run away with an easy win. Oh how wrong he was.

After much taunting from the 2 time champ, Frazier whipped himself into tremendous shape. Ali dictated the pace early, but Frazier was like a bull and got himself right back into the fight.

Forget boxing. This fight wasn't a battle of skill. It was a contest of guts and stamina. Both guys gave everything and ultimately were never the same after the fight.

We all know how the fight ended. Ali claimed the tko and looked like he himself was ready to pass out. Brutal fight between two warriors.

The best fight of the trilogy, For me the rubber match. Both men were not as good as they were in the 71 fight. It was a brutal war and something you only expect to see in the movies.

Many have SRR as number 1, however for me Ali was the greatest. Who knows how good he would of been, if he wasn't sent into exile.

Styles make fights and Smoking Joe was relentless. Frazier himself is one of the all time greats and arguably one of the hardest men to ever lace them up.

Anyway does anyone think there was a greater rivarly??

For sheer volume of work Ted 'Kid' Lewis against Jack Britton takes some beating, 20 fights between the pair when both were the clear number 1 and 2 in the Welterweight division.

Cheers Hammer good recommendation.

I pick the obvious choice. Going to be biased and go to the one I have watched most.

Morales vs Barrera was great. Bitter rivals, who had genuine dislike for one another. Especially In Morales case.

The first three fights of Israel Vazquez against Rafael Marquez like Morales/Barrera is a technically superb trilogy of brawls, on another level to the likes of Gatti/Ward.

Chuck in Greb v Tunney?

Course we'll never know how good they were is it true the first fight exists on film somewhere but has never been made public apparently they were all very close?

Yes of great. Gatti v Ward was amazing, but as you mention, technical brilliance mixed with brawling make the greatest fights.

Benn vs Eubank is great for uk rivalry. Also I think Froch vs Groves deserves a mention.

Pacquiao vs Marquez as well. Hardly a dull round in any of their fights.

Marquez a counter puncher, was made to fight more aggressively against the volume punching Pacquiao.

Don't forget the 5 ft 7.5" Tony Zale vs the 5 ft 7" Rocky Graziano trilogy of 1946-48 fought over a 21 month period for the middleweight crown

These three were among the most brutal and exciting middleweight bouts of all time

Yes good pick.

Robison vs Lamotta. Robison won five, but few wanted to share a ring with this two at a time, so they fight each other.

Holyfield vs Bowe is another recent trilogy. Great fighters going at it during the peaks.

Keep them coming. Preferably older types. For the stirring that goes on, I like to read about the old timers on here. Good place to learn.

Excuse my spelling and grammar. A two year old that should be in bed, is trying to take my phone.

Chacon v Limon

SaaS Muhammad v Lopez

Leonard v Duran
Castillo v Corrales
Cotto v Margarito

Sandy Saddler v Willie Pep. 3-1 Saddler.

Never knew Zale was only five foot seven and a half fighting for the middleweight championship Graziano only five seven they'd be lightweights today or light welters

A couple more that don't often get a mention:-

Jeanette's rivalry with Langford whom he boxed 15 times(some sources say 14)

Johnson's rivalry with Jeanette whom he boxed 10 times in total

Herman Jaeger wrote:A couple more that don't often get a mention:-

Jeanette's rivalry with Langford whom he boxed 15 times(some sources say 14)

Johnson's rivalry with Jeanette whom he boxed 10 times in total

These guys fought loads years ago. I wonder how often a fighter can change tactics??

After 10-15 times fighting, you would know your man inside out. For better, or worse.

Maybe they weren't always on the level either, who knows?

Maybe they were maybe they weren't just saying

Tough men back in the day.

Also there'd be no feeling out process after the first few fights they'd know each other's strengths and weaknesses inside out you'd guess would know each other's full bag of tricks

Must have been a great time to be a trainer for example to have witnessed these great fighters boxing each other over and over would they have gone all at it each time or after the first few fights would they have become a bit of a spar?

Barrera v Morales is my alltime favorite....

Machismo...Jealousy....Talent......and it delivered..

These boys fought that often, you often wonder would they do much sparring in their training. I guess they still would of.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Barrera v Morales is my alltime favorite....

Machismo...Jealousy....Talent......and it delivered..

The first fight was legendary. Their 3rd fight was excellent too.

I like the Marquez v Pac rivalry too. Though Marquez was robbed in the first fight and I think his cleaner work, should of gave him the nod in the third fight.

How about the epic Sprott/Skelton trilogy?

smashingstormcrow wrote:How about the epic Sprott/Skelton trilogy?

More hugging and headbutts, than actual boxing! haha!

Also Audley Harrison vs Danny Williams!

Domestic-I always used to hear about the Mark Kaylor rivalry with Errol Christie.
Here's a link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cgYkh92wsw

Huck Afolabi just recently? Admittedly have only seen a few rounds of them but the ones I did see were action-packed throughout

Ask Eddie Hearn, apparently everyone is a fierce rival of everyone these days.

There's also the great non-rivalries such as Collins/Jones Jr, Hatton/Witter, Khan/Brook

For prestige and the sheer historical importance of it, then yep, it's hard to look past Ali-Frazier. Louis-Schmeling would be a close-ish second, though neither of the two fights were classics in the conventional sense (albeit while both were one-sided, they were also great boxing exhibitions in their own right) and political posturing was as much to do with the hype as was the boxing. Buth both rivalries came at a time when the Heavyweight title was still by far the biggest and greatest title in sports, and it's hard to see any subsequent rivalries getting near them in terms of cultural impact.

My personal favourite in recent years was Marquez-Pacquiao, though, with Barrera-Morales and Marquez-Vazquez hot on its tail. The syles of Marquez and Pacquiao just gelled so beautifully whenever they met. One, two and four were instant classics and three, while more absorbing than thrilling and spoiled a little by a poor (in my eyes) verdict, was still pretty good. If they'd have fought ten times I doubt there'd have been a single dud in there.

Going back a bit, every heavy duty boxing fan should check out the Saldivar-Winstone rivalry at some point. What a trilogy. And I'd put their second fight down as the greatest Featherweight title fight ever caught on film without any hesitation at all. It was a tear up, technical master class, chess match, war and strong man contest all at the same time. Fifteen truly majestic rounds.

Nothing new to what's been put up above but I do have a soft spot for Vasquez vs Marquez, more so because it gets criminally overlooked against Barrera/Morales and Gatti/Ward.