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Every once in a while in the world of sport, there is talk of the greatest rivalries. There are lists upon lists detailing how sportspeople through the ages have battled it out with each other on tennis courts, on F1 circuits, and even on the 64 squares. However, there is something about boxing that makes it go hand in glove with rivalries. After all, there are few sports in the world where you can patiently wait for your opponent to shoot his mouth off, and once he gets in the ring, tear him limb from limb.
Boxing is intensity, passion, power, precision, and entertainment rolled into one helluva roller coaster ride. Throw in a dash of rivalry to spice up things, and you have a fiesta ready to explode. Here, we take a look at some of the great fights which define the greatest rivalries boxing has ever witnessed.
In the ’70s, before Sugar Ray became the smiling TV presenter and motivational speaker that he is now, he was a lean mean boxing machine. An unstoppable dynamite that danced around the mat and made you look stupid if you were brave enough to step into the ring with him. Thomas Hearns, on the other hand, was an out and out brawler. If ever there was a disparity between two people fighting each other in the same weight category, it was this.
For though Leonard was undoubtedly the more technically gifted, Hearns certainly had the power to drop Leonard dead with a single right hook. The first time these two fought was at Caesar’s Palace, on 16 September, 1981, Leonard carrying a 30-1-21 record while Hearns brought a 32-0-30. Hearns entered the ring with a smile on his face; a fight which he had been denied for over a year for not being as famous as Duran, was finally his. The fight started as expected, with Hearns working his precise jab to give Leonard a bruised left eye within the first 5 rounds, all the while with a smile on his face, while leonard tried to stay out of reach.
The 6th round saw Leonard land a left hook to the chin that caught Hearns unawares, and left him staggering for two rounds that Leonard dominated. The tables had turned. However, Hearns managed to compose himself, and punched his way back to the lead on the scorecards, as Leonard’s eye took a further beating. It was only when Leonard heard his trainer shout to him those now famous words, “You’re blowing it son! You’re blowing it!”, that he came out all guns blazing in the 13th round, knocking Hearns down twice, before finally winning by a TKO in the 14th. For all the heart that Hearns had shown, Leonard left the ring as the winner.
And the newly crowned undisputed Welterweight champion of the world.
A battle between two of Mexico’s most famous sons saw “The Baby faced assassin” Barrera take on “El Terriblo” Morales, in what was yet another title unification fight, on 19 February, 2000. Hailing from a country infamous for stories of violence far beyond those measured elsewhere, this fight promised to pack a serious punch. It delivered on all fronts, as Barrera stuck to lightning fast combos, targeting Morales’ body, while Morales refused to back down, dishing out punishment of his own, leading with a lethal right hand.
There is no doubt though, that Barrera is the quicker off the blocks, leading on score for the first four rounds. The next round, the fifth, was one of the most brutal rounds of boxing ever witnessed. Towards the middle of the round, Morales takes over the fight, landing nearly 20 punches, mostly hooks, and uppercuts against a seemingly stunned Barrera, whose weak defense is blown through by Morales. It is then that Morales gets a bit careless, allowing Barrera to get him against the ropes, and land a big combination which leaves him tasting his own blood, as it pours from his right nostril.
The fighters just could not match that intensity again, and the next couple of rounds saw them exchange uppercuts as both demonstrated their chin for taking punishment. Morales, being the stronger of the two, comes out better, opening up a bruise under the left eye of Barrera, which finally gives way in the ninth round. The remaining three rounds continue to be a similar slug fest, till finally, the bout is scored in favour of Morales in a split decision, his only victory out of their three fights.
In terms of intensity, this was a rivalry that was head and shoulders above the Hearns-Leonard rivalry. Roberto Duran was a much more vicious opponent, dishing out heavy punishment with his ‘hands of stone’, and was the only one to have beaten Leonard until the latter’s last two fights at the end of his career. Leonard, on the other hand, was seething, having lost to Duran just five months ago, and was eager for revenge, with an opportunity to win back his title, when he took on Duran for the second time, on November 25th, 1980. Duran, one of the masters, carrying a record of 72-1-56, while Leonard brought a record of 27-1-18.
It was a fight that was nowhere near as great as the first fight between these two, where Leonard went toe to toe with Duran, and went the distance, only to lose. However, it was a fight that would become infamous for a reason that nobody would have dared to dream of before the fight. It was the fight wherein Leonard would make Duran quit: something that made him a villainous figure in his home nation, Panama, for a while. Leonard took the fight early to Duran, not with his boxing, but with his mind. In a well planned move, Leonard began to taunt Duran left right and centre, making faces, throwing extravagant punches, and dancing around the ring, making it impossible for Duran to tag him.
Late in the 7th, Leonard wound up, pretending to prepare for a ‘bolo’ punch, before landing a left jab out of nowhere onto Duran’s face. Duran was being humiliated, and the audience was cheering every humiliation. It was too much for the Panamanian, and he threw up his hands to say ‘No mas!’ in the eighth round. Spanish for ‘no more’!
This was a rivalry that featured two boxers with the greatest hearts ever shown in the boxing ring. Ward, with his shot at making a real name for himself, after having been a B-list boxer for a long, long time, taking on Gatti, who was adored by fans of boxing for never giving up. These were two fighters with tremendous respect for each other, and they produced three fights, each of which would be named in any respectable list of the top 100 fights of the century.
The first time these two met, on 18th May, 2002, there was simply one round that defined the fight, and their entire rivalry, the 9th round. Ward went to work early on Gatti, landing combinations that often ended with his trademark left hook to the body, badly hurting Gatti. It was no surprise when Gatti was knocked down, for a count of nine, only to stage a marvelous comeback. Ward, however, stopped the comeback in its tracks with a second spell of punishment in that very round, and made sure that it was he who would win the first of three unbelievable fights.
This is a rivalry that needs no introduction. Every man, woman, and child, whether a fan of boxing or not, knows Ali, and this is something that played an important part in this rivalry. It was a fight of the popular have-it-all Ali, against Frazier, who had made it against all odds. It was a rivalry that bordered on enmity, and one of the greatest that boxing will ever witness. It was a battle of sheer power that Frazier brought, against the crowd-pleasing performances of Ali. It was a battle of Frazier’s relentless body shots against Ali’s attacks to Frazier’s exposed head. It was a rivalry fueled by Ali’s taunts, and Frazier’s temper at being insulted as a “gorilla”, “ugly, and an “Uncle Tom”.
In the ring, however, there was little to separate the two. It would be impossible to recall the events that transpired between them on the mat in a manner that would do justice to their rivalry. Instead, it would perhaps suffice to quote Muhammad Ali on his battle with Frazier, when he claimed that it was the nearest he had ever come to dying, and said ” Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him. He is the greatest fighter of all times, next to me.”
