Great Obscure fights

Any fights that you've watched and thought that was some fight, but rarely get mentioned ? Lets say post 1990.

I'll start a fight I was actually in attendance for was on the undercard of Naz's fight with Alicea many moons ago, Frankie Liles vs Tim Littles, trading knockdowns with a pulsating finishing shot.

Another great fight which was on Eurosport all those years ago Levander Johnson V Miguel Angel Gonzalez, absoultely punishing war.

Definetly worth checking out for those who havent seen them.

Any mentions of some obscure crackers.

Cheers Rodders

Carl Thompson v Ezra Sellars
Johnny Armour v Francis Ampofo II

Mercer v Cooper

Bernard Dunne v Ricardo Cordoba

Not sure if it classes as obscure but Wayne Alexander vs Paul Samuels was an absolute belter. Boxing News described it as a British Hagler Hearns and it was justified, three rounds of carnage.

Was that the one with the stunning ko, Rowley?

Katzidis v Earl

TopHat24/7 wrote:Was that the one with the stunning ko, Rowley?

You're probably thinking of Alexander vs Takaloo, which was absolutely epic. Good value fighter to be fair to him Wayne. Took on the very decent Harry Simon at something like 48 notice and did not disgrace himself. Not the best fighter in the world but if you were daft enough to let him land clean you'd certainly know about it.

seanmichaels wrote:Katzidis v  Earl

Hardly obscure, be like mentioning Alex Arthur v Michael Gomez.

Yep, that was the one, Rowls!

DAVE667 wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Katzidis v  Earl

Hardly obscure, be like mentioning Alex Arthur v Michael Gomez.

I think it was fairly obscure at the time.

seanmichaels wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Katzidis v  Earl

Hardly obscure, be like mentioning Alex Arthur v Michael Gomez.

I think it was fairly obscure at the time.

And had it been a stinker it would still be obscure, such is the nature of things. However the point is that Katsidis/Earl if often cited whenever we ask about great fights in Britain and used to crop up whenever Khan got mentioned so by that token, it can't be that obscure.

Arturo Frias vs Ray Mancini
Not really obscure but pretty much a forgotten classic, without doubt the best one round fight i ever saw and the drama of a whole fight all in less than 3 mins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuSHrILx2C8

Mathew Hilton Vs Buster Drayton..........IBF jr middleweight title..........Brawl from stsrt to finish........

Jamime Garza vs Juan Meza..........WBc superbantamweight.........Both down and over in one...

Calvin Grove vs Jorge Paez..........IBF Featherweight title...........

Ray Mancini vs Livingstone Bramble 2 WBA Lightweight title...Great scrap.....

Greg Haugen vs Vinny Pazienza...........iBF lightweight title............

Bobby Czyz vs Prionce charles williams.............IBF light heavy..............

John Mugabi v James rock Green............

Hilario Zapata vs Fidel Bassa..............WBA flyweight..........

Roger Mayweather vs Harold Brazier ...........WBC superlight

I'm sort of assuming that 'obscure' means that the fight concerned shouldn't be for any sort of a title and preferably shouldn't include a champion of any description, either.

With that in mind the best that I can offer is Caveman Lee v John LoCicero from 1981, a ridiculous middleweight shoot-out that used to be on Youtube, I think. If it's still there and you haven't seen it, do yourselves a favour.

Just noticed your post 1990 stip, Rodney. Sorry!

Don't worry about it capt, Truss certainly didn't!

Charles Brewer against Antwun Echols might be worth a shout here. I never really see it mentioned much, but it was a total war and features one of the most incredible comebacks you'll ever see. What a fight.

Some superb picks, some I will definetly be visiting.

Maybes Obscure wasn't the right word Capt, possibly a bit strong. I was toying with a word less effective than obscure but just didn't seem to have the same ring to it.

Wally Swift v Andy Till anyone ?

Cheers Rodders

Do people these days remember the absurd Jorge Castro-John David Jackson fight? Only for a strap, rather than than for all the marbles at middleweight, but it might still be a little high profile to qualify here. It remains preposterous to me that Castro won it and is perhaps a little under-appreciated when people are describing tremendous scraps. A little way under the radar, maybe, rather than absolutely obscure.

Mentioned it on the podcast last week but my nomination goes to bonsante vs Brinkley from the first season of the contender.

Yeah I have it on VHS somewhere Capt, it was on one of those mammoth Don King mega bills in Mexico if memory serves me right. It's still one of the amazing one punch turnarounds I've ever seen, surpassing Jacksons howitzer on Herol.
I may have to dig it out from the attic thanks for the prompt.
Cheers Rodders

A superb fight was Castro/Jackson, I tend to think of him more for his losses to his Norris, Duran and Jones but the guy could soak up punishment like few others. A face of crimson having been battered for 8 and a half rounds then lands a left hook I believe that changed the whole complexion of the fight, two more swift knockdowns and the greatest of turnarounds was complete.

Just remembered another one, which was on the Lennox Lewis-David Tua undercard (just as well, as the main event was a stinker).

Clifford Etienne (best remembered as the man who Tyson knocked out with a broken back!) won a ten-rounder against Lawrence Clay-Bey and it was like a (only slightly) cut-price version of Tua-Ibeabuchi. An amazing amount of punches were thrown for a Heavyweight fight and both men showed some real grit and resolve to make it the full ten rounds, particularly Clay-Bey who withstood some truly horrific shots in the last round.

Both were undefeated at the time and, laughable as it sounds, there was hope in some quarters that one of these guys might go on to pick up American Heavyweight boxing where Tyson and Holyfield had left off, but as we know, neither of them were much cop in the end! But it was a great, great fight all the same. Well worth a watch if you like the Heavyweights.

Aye Chris, Etienne is an interesting guy, was sparked in a round by Tyson, had a whale of a fight with Lamon Brewster also and I think he's in prison now for a hit and run and a murder or something?

Michael Moorer Vs. Bert Cooper is one, what a fight, Moorer is out of the fight a fair few times only to come back and keep battering Cooper about, one of the best HW dustups I've seen. Rarely ever talked about, Cooper was in some dramatic wars against good fighters when he applied himself. I think he'd quit in fights before and then acquitted himself properly and said to himself that he's going to give this everything he had and my God for the rest of his career did he, turned his life around after being on drugs earlier in his career, for any that didn't know much about Cooper.

The fight between Rahman and Corrie Sanders was dull but had weird exciting moments in with both guys getting hurt. Rahman was a lazy sod in that fight though.

Fight that never gets talked about on here anyway, is a fight I posted up on the Career Highlights one, Troy Waters Vs. Terry Norris. Waters took pummelling after pummelling before out of nowhere just decking Norris. Norris ran at him and proceeded to beat the living crap out of Waters only to start getting rocked about by right hands from Waters totally unexpectedly. Only lasts 3 rounds, but a real exciting 3 rounds, just a torrid pace from the start.

rahman v sanders

Andrew Golota vs Corey "T-Rex" Sanders. A real humdinger in which neither fighter gave an inch. Sanders wasn't quite good enough to beat Golota, but made a really good job of trying. Well worth a look.

Champagne_Socialist wrote:rahman v sanders

Didn't... Quite... Read... The... Above... Post....

Robert Quiroga vs Kid Akeem
Mahyar Monshipour vs Somsak Sithchatchawal
Dave McAuley vs Fidel Bassa
Hernan Marquez vs Luis Concepcion
Hugo Ruiz vs Francisco Arce

Castro Jackson was a good shout, one tough hombre Castro. His countryman roldan was in a few crackers too.. The hearns fight was feisty while it lasted.

Drayton was a fighter well known on these shores as he paid a couple of visits, stiffing jimmy cable and then underlining that Kaylor was never going to make world class. I remember him later sharing a few bruising rounds with Julian Jackson before adding to the hawk's highlight reel, by fielding a peach of a left hook with his chin.

Think Quiroga v Akeem is a particularly good shout, haz. Suspect that it is neglected because of the near-tragic aftermath of the fight.

As for Bassa-McAuley, I'd like to think that, at least in these islands, it isn't too obscure. It damn well shouldn't be; for me, it is one of the half-dozen greatest fights of all time. I noticed on another thread that Truss was suggesting that Hagler-Hearns was the best fight of the 80s. To me, while it may have contained the best round of that decade, it doesn't figure in the top 5. Bassa-McAuley is right at the top, stoushes like Chacon-Limon IV have already been mentioned, and then there are the high profile classics such as Leonard-Hearns I, Duran-Leonard I and Pryor-Arguello I.

There is also another fight that deserves mention at this level from the 80s which may have slipped from some people's memories. I refer to Matthew Saad Muhammad-Yaqui Lopez II, the stand-out from Saad's compendious highlight reel. Absolutely brutal throughout, with a round (the 8th) that stands comparison with the first round of Hagler-Hearns and 13 others of almost equal drama. Marvellous fight, now perhaps fading into obscurity.

Back to post 1990 - how about Chiquita Gonzalez-Michael Carbajal I or Gonzalez-Sorjaturong?

captain carrantuohil wrote:Think Quiroga v Akeem is a particularly good shout, haz. Suspect that it is neglected because of the near-tragic aftermath of the fight.

As for Bassa-McAuley, I'd like to think that, at least in these islands, it isn't too obscure. It damn well shouldn't be; for me, it is one of the half-dozen greatest fights of all time. I noticed on another thread that Truss was suggesting that Hagler-Hearns was the best fight of the 80s. To me, while it may have contained the best round of that decade, it doesn't figure in the top 5. Bassa-McAuley is right at the top, stoushes like Chacon-Limon IV have already been mentioned, and then there are the high profile classics such as Leonard-Hearns I, Duran-Leonard I and Pryor-Arguello I.

There is also another fight that deserves mention at this level from the 80s which may have slipped from some people's memories. I refer to Matthew Saad Muhammad-Yaqui Lopez II, the stand-out from Saad's compendious highlight reel. Absolutely brutal throughout, with a round (the 8th) that stands comparison with the first round of Hagler-Hearns and 13 others of almost equal drama. Marvellous fight, now perhaps fading into obscurity.

Back to post 1990 - how about Chiquita Gonzalez-Michael Carbajal I or Gonzalez-Sorjaturong?

Times like that when I think my God you've watched a lot of fights.

You'll get there, Alex! I've got a quarter of a century on you, don't forget. Where I was lucky was that when I was your age or younger, there was no PPV or satellite TV to hog fights from around the world. You got to see a heap of global fights on terrestrial channels throughout the week. World title fights involving British fighters were routinely screened live, whatever the venue, and then you had World of Sport on a Saturday morning/early afternoon that would show the best of top level boxing from just about any country you can name.

Youtube makes for a pretty substantial fight library now, but I'm pretty sure that it was possible to rack up an even greater number of viewed fights back in the day than it is in 2013.

... It's amazing he finds time to post about them Alex!

To be fair captain, both bassa Macauley fights were pretty good. Were they both fights of the year over here?

The first was the standout though.

milkyboy wrote:Castro Jackson was a good shout, one tough hombre Castro. His countryman roldan was in a few crackers too.. The hearns fight was feisty while it lasted.

just got round to the Hearns - Roldon fight milkyboy nice one for that

was a cracker so appreciated!!

Think they were as far as the UK was concerned, milky. The second was a very decent fight, although Bassa had learned leassons from the first fight and was always just the better boxer throughout. Absorbing, but not gut-wrenching and awe-inspiring as the first was.

The Ring, in its infinite idiocy, decided that Leonard-Hagler should be the Fight of 1987 and that the ninth round of that stinker was the Round of the Year. Bassa-McAuley I was, of course, in a different league.

The Ring has some really odd choices as fight of the year. Remember a thread where we did fights of the year in the year we were born. I got Frazier Foreman 1, jaw dropping enough fight but a couple of rounds and about as far from competitive as you could imagine.

rick_dagless wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Castro Jackson was a good shout, one tough hombre Castro. His countryman roldan was in a few crackers too.. The hearns fight was feisty while it lasted.

just got round to the Hearns - Roldon fight milkyboy nice one for that

was a cracker so appreciated!!

You working through the thread rick? Must have been up all night! There's a fair few mentioned I haven't seen myself so I'll try and catch a few.

Glad you enjoyed hearns roldan... You could always rely on tommy at that time to batter someone and if didnt put them away, he'd walk onto something to make it interesting.

Captain/rowley... True enough, think they get the concept of best fight confused with biggest shock or biggest event.

Believe Ali Spinks is the winner one year Milky. Cannot remember which one but does it matter? Is either a fight any of us would choose to revist any time soon?

milkyboy wrote:rick_dagless wrote:
milkyboy wrote:
Castro Jackson was a good shout, one tough hombre Castro. His countryman roldan was in a few crackers too.. The hearns fight was feisty while it lasted.


just got round to the Hearns - Roldon fight milkyboy nice one for that

was a cracker so appreciated!!


You working through the thread rick? Must have been up all night! There's a fair few mentioned I haven't seen myself so I'll try and catch a few.

Glad you enjoyed hearns roldan... You could always rely on tommy at that time to batter someone and if didnt put them away, he'd walk onto something to make it interesting.

unfortunatley not milky though would love to find the time to!

i was just filling some time on my lunch and a 4 round feisty punch fest was just the ticket!

Interesting that you think Saad-Lopez II is starting to fade from the conscience, captain. I get what you're saying in the sense that it's probably not quite as well-known and widely-seen as it should be, but if any of Saad's wars are under the radar I'd say it was his first battle against Johnson. Almost as brutal and jaw-dropping as Saad-Lopez II and just as remarkable a comeback, for me. Similar to Chavez-Taylor in the sense that one man was winning rounds but still in much worse physical shape by the end than his opponent, while one man was being outboxed but still had it in him to produce a miraculous recovery. One of Miracle Matthew's best.

I've mentioned it before, but Hector Carrasquilla against Soo Hwan Hong (WBA Super-Bantamweight, 1977) is only really known by boxing obsessives, which is a shame because it's one of the most outrageous short fights you could ever see. Well worth a look for anyone.

Sorry Rodders, back to 1990 onwards.....

Does anyone else remember Spencer Fearon against David Walker? It was outstanding. Walker down and badly hurt at the end of the first - saved by the bell. Walker, again, down and badly hurt at the end of the second - saved by the bell for a second time. And then in the third, Fearon down and badly hurt at the end of the round - and saved by the bell! The only thing which spoiled it a little was the (arguably) premature stoppage in the fourth. But it was a ridiculous fight and the two left hooks which Fearon put Walker over with were chilling.

An areas title masterpiece!

Rowley wrote:Believe Ali Spinks is the winner one year Milky. Cannot remember which one but does it matter? Is either a fight any of us would choose to revist any time soon?

Not sure even neon Leon can bring himself to watch the first one.

To be fair, in this country we have a sports personality of the year award, which we regularly give to a sportsperson who clearly isn't even in possession of a personality. Nigel mansell anyone?

rick_dagless wrote:

milkyboy wrote:rick_dagless wrote:
milkyboy wrote:
Castro Jackson was a good shout, one tough hombre Castro. His countryman roldan was in a few crackers too.. The hearns fight was feisty while it lasted.


just got round to the Hearns - Roldon fight milkyboy nice one for that

was a cracker so appreciated!!


You working through the thread rick? Must have been up all night! There's a fair few mentioned I haven't seen myself so I'll try and catch a few.

Glad you enjoyed hearns roldan... You could always rely on tommy at that time to batter someone and if didnt put them away, he'd walk onto something to make it interesting.

unfortunatley not milky though would love to find the time to!

i was just filling some time on my lunch and a 4 round feisty punch fest was just the ticket!

Ha, I suspect I'll cherry pick the 'over in a few round' slugfests myself!

Good stuff, Chris; by curious coincidence was going through Pops Johnson's career highlights a week or two ago (there are loads, of course) and watched Saad-Johnson I again. I'll say it again - Saad has only Bobby Chacon as a rival for the title of "most consistently good value for money top level fighter that I've ever seen".

Think I watched that hwan hong fight from a previous tip of yours chris... A comeback to make Lazarus proud.

Never a fan of saad Mohammed.  Completely unfairly as I was a conteh fan, and felt he through away the first fight (though I suspect many opponents of the miracle man were left with that feeling). As such my favourites of his fights is watching dwight qawi or braxton as he was then, batter him from pillar to post.

I can't remember who he was against now but I saw on KOTV Korean Lightweight Ji-Hoon Kim had a great fight against someone where he just absorbed jab after jab from the other guy getting completely out boxed but then just ended it out of no where with pretty much the first punch he landed, I found it very entertaining anyway.

captain carrantuohil wrote:Think they were as far as the UK was concerned, milky. The second was a very decent fight, although Bassa had learned leassons from the first fight and was always just the better boxer throughout. Absorbing, but not gut-wrenching and awe-inspiring as the first was.

The Ring, in its infinite idiocy, decided that Leonard-Hagler should be the Fight of 1987 and that the ninth round of that stinker was the Round of the Year. Bassa-McAuley I was, of course, in a different league.

You seem to put some real heat on Leonard/Hagler but I've to be honest I've always really enjoyed it, thought it was just fantastic boxing given the background story between the two as well to put the fight into context with Leonards comeback and fighting a genuine top MW.

Just thought that there was so little real action, Alex. One good round (9th); otherwise, far too much posturing, far too little fighting. A few decent flurries from Leonard, the odd telling blow from Hagler, but for me, "fantastic" it really wasn't. That sort of superlative needs to be reserved for the apotheosis of the sport, which Leonard-Hagler promised to be, but fell some way short of embodying.

I understand what you mean Captain, though it was hardly Haye/Klitschko! Thought it was just brilliant watching the smart tactics of Leonard slip his way through Hagler, would agree with you, not "fnatastic" and agree that too many people call certain fights "Great" when they just clearly aren't in boxing nowadays, but for me personally always found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable fight.